Following more than a year of travel restrictions, GCS CEO Philipp von Michaelis finally returned to Iraq. During his recent visit to local GCS teams, he witnessed unprecedented progress and took the opportunity to express his gratitude in person for their tireless commitment.
International Travel Resumes
As global travel restrictions finally start to lift after the pandemic, CEO Philipp von Michaelis’ first priority was to pay a long-awaited visit to the GCS teams in Iraq, which despite all the challenges of the past year, have been working relentlessly to remove explosive threats from their communities. GCS currently has 100 employees contracted on numerous UN contracts throughout the country.
Mosul and Sinjar- Inconceivable Destruction
During his trip, he visited the most recently awarded UN project in Sinjar and met the team for the first time. The project is the first of its kind and conducts Residential Area Clearance (RAC) with explosive hazard teams, aiming to return as many internally displaced people (IDPs) as possible to their homes, as well as to clear and declare infrastructure such as hospitals and schools safe. Philipp was briefed on upcoming operations, which are expected to commence this month.
In addition, the Mine Risk Awareness team presented their educational material that has been developed to teach school-aged children about the risks of injury from mines and unexploded ordnance as well as how to identify, report and protect themselves.
Philipp also visited the explosive hazard clearance teams in Mosul. He was briefed on operations to date, which involve highly complex tasks involving the search, identification, neutralisation and removal of IEDs. The operations project manager gave a tour of the task site and the UXO pits, giving Philipp a close-up look at the deadly range of explosive devices that had been cleared most recently.
“The devastation and destruction of Mosul and its surroundings is inconceivable,” Philipp says. “Once a flourishing region of iconic cultural heritage - it will take an enormous effort by all Iraqi and international stakeholders to stabilise this part of Iraq for the common good,” he adds.
The Necessity of In-person Interaction
While he had been kept up-to-date on the progress of all of the projects in Iraq remotely throughout the year, no amount of technological innovation could replace face-to-face interactions with the staff and the locals whose lives were positively impacted by the vital clearance of IEDs. Experiencing the work of the teams in person gave Philipp an entirely new perspective. “It was truly humbling to witness the commitment and dedication of our teams working under such perilous conditions to make their communities safe again.” Philipp looks forward to being in Iraq on a more regular basis.