UPDATE 07 October 2009 £12,700 - Thanks to all your help and the hard work of all the soldiers in the Joint Force EOD Group we have well and truly smashed the £10000 target.  We are now catching up on some well earned rest before heading back to our friends and family in the UK.   I will stick a final update on when we present the final cheque to BLESMA and will try and upload as many photos as possible over the next few says.

We look forward to seeing you all soon and we wish the very best of luck to those who have taken over from us out here. 

UPDATE 06 October 2009 (2200hrs) - £10,463  as well as $2,900 (£1,700 approx) raised offline in Camp Bastion from ISAF (UK, US, Danish and Estonian amongst others) soldiers.

12 hours into the event and we have now covered over 65Kms.  We have had a professional photographer in to take pics so they will be on the website within 12 hours of the event ending. So far in addition to the money raised online the teams have also been given over $2900

Thankyou to you all for you continued support, it is spurring the teams on every metre of the way, they have a board up with how much has been raised so far.

UPDATE 06 October 2009 (1015hrs) - £10,333

The event is officially underway!  The OC has led the first loop and set an impressive laptime of 25mins 20 secs  for 3Km.  We'll see how competitive everyone gets as the day progresses.  If you have BFBS TV/radio please tune it as there have been a few interviews over the day so you may get a chance to hear your loved ones. 

UPDATE 05 October 2009 (1900hrs local) - £10,243

WOW, we made the target and the support keeps coming in.  Thanks everyone, your support is appreciated from us all.  Please keep supporting us if you haven't already done so, every penny counts. Photos to follow tomorrow...

UPDATE 05 October 2009 (1000hrs local)- £8645

24hrs to go until we start.  The event will begin at 1000hrs local (0630hrs UK); the kit has been prepared, the posters are made and the vaseline has been issued by the Med Centre (lots of it!!!).  We're edging ever closer to the £10,000 target so for those who have supported us, we thankyou, and those who have yet to sponsor the event please could we ask to give generously before 10 Oct 09 when the cheque will be written for BLESMA.

UPDATE 29 September 2009 - £6765

One week to go until The Bomb Suit Challenge and the temperature is still touching 40 Degrees in the heat of the day.  For those of you who listen to BFBS some of the EOD lads and girls will be interviewed on BFBS Forces World on Sunday 4th October between 1000hrs and 1400hrs. 

You can get BFBS on

DAB Digital Radio in the UK  
Sky Guide Number 0211 
Freesat Channel 786 
On-air around the Forces' world or at www.bfbs.com/

 

UPDATE 19 September 2009 - £5045

Thank you to everyone that has supported us so far, we are HALF way to our target which we hope to raise by 6th October 2009 so that we can present the cheque to BLESMA on the 15th October.  Everyone has been so generous, it really has been appreciated by all of those serving with the Group out here as well as by the very people who will benefit from the funds raised.

Some of you will have noticed that £900 popped up a few days ago, that was thanks to a certain Mr Reynolds who has arranged that if over $1000 was raised the dog section would allow the OC, 2IC and Sergeant Major to be chased by an attack dog.  Amazingly the money came rolling in from all the lads and the boss is feeling as though a conspiracy has taken place!  Needless to say, it's all for a good cause so roll on the 6th October.  Photos of the 'Dog Suit Challenge' will go on the site too!

As you can see in the photo, Actor Ray Winstone came over for a morale visit and had a go with some of our kit, he even tried on the bomb suit.  It was great for all of the teams who were in Camp on the day as he got to meet all of them and have a bit of a laugh.

UPDATE 29 August 2009

Thank you to every who has been generous enough to donate to our fund.  Some of the guys took the bomb suits out to train with this morning and realised just how big the challenge is that we have set ourselves.  However, everyone is keen to take their turn and we'll make sure there are plenty of photos put on this site and the Facebook group for you to look at.

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The Joint Force EOD Group (JF EOD Gp) is currently deployed on Operation HERRICK 10 in Afghanistan where our soldiers are responsible for searching for and destroying Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and Conventional Weapons across the Helmand Region of Afghanistan.  As a mark of the hard work completed by our soldiers of all ranks we will be running this charity event with the aim of raising £10,000 for BLESMA, The British Limbless Ex-Service Men's Association.

To raise these much needed funds we will be carrying out a 24 hour Bomb Suit Challenge in Camp Bastion on the 6th October 2009.  As many members of the Group as possible will take part by putting on the bomb suit (which weighs 50Kgs) and walking round the perimeter of the camp.  This will be done as a relay so while one person is walking, one will be getting ready to walk; as you will no doubt be aware the temperature here is normally around 36 degrees centigrade at this time of year so this will be no mean feat.

BLESMA is a charity for disabled Ex-Service Men and Women, their dependants and widows. It operates throughout England and Wales and is a Registered Charity, Number 1084189.  The Association works to assist Service Men and Women who have lost a limb or limbs, or one or both eyes, or the use of limbs as a result of service in any branch of Her Majesty's Forces or Auxiliary Forces, and to provide help and support, where called upon to their dependants.

We have chosen BLESMA due to the hard work they carry out to improve the lives of those who have been maimed whilst in Service and, as many of our friends and families will be aware, we have not been without our own incidents and hope that this event will help our own soldiers directly.

Please help us to raise our target of £10,000 by donating online up to and on the date of the event.

Thankyou in advance from all soldiers and officers of The Joint Force EOD Group, we're looking forward to seeing all our friends and family when we get home.