She gets an ENTIRE banana for every mine?

Oddly enough, I just started a new job working in landmine clearance (I'm not doing the clearing, I just manage the process) and they asked me what I wanted as far as professional development, and I said I wanted to see the rats in action at some point since we aren't using them in my country. Guess I can cross that off the list - so much for my free trip to Africa.

Probably still worth a shot to see the training regime etc and whether it could be adapted to local species.

Kudos by the way, even though you're not working in the field, must be a hell of a high stress job.

I'll still push for it; I was half-joking when I told them that anyway.

I am still in the field, just not clearing the mines. I work with the communities to educate them on the dangers and to identify the suspected locations of mines and explosives. My teams and I are the eyes and ears of the operation, the clearance guys are just the grunts.

I've already seen my fair share of UXO. Even had a guy bring a mortar to a risk education session as we were discussing how you shouldn't touch or move them; that was fun.

So far, not as stressful as I imagined. What I hear from the clearance guys is that it's actually a pretty boring job. Accidents are very rare if you do it right. In order to keep the risk to basically zero, it is a very slow, deliberate, and methodical process. So, basically, they wear heavy gear, sweat all day, and move through an area with a fine-toothed comb.