On a wall near a makeshift classroom at Camp Pendleton hang 27 portraits. They are pictures of U.S. Marine Corps bomb technicians who have been killed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The portraits are a reminder to members of a newly commissioned bomb squad of the perils they face as they prepare to deploy to the war-torn region.

"There's no question, it's one of the most dangerous jobs out there," said Capt. James Shelstad, commander of the base's newly created 1st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company.

Shelstad and several members of his company sat down last week with the North County Times to talk about the squad and its mission, one that has taken on added urgency as the number of deaths from roadside bombs climbs.

Also known as improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, the bombs have been responsible for 242 of 394 U.S. troop deaths in Afghanistan so far this year, according to the Web site icasualties.org, which tracks battlefield fatalities.

In Iraq, bomb technicians are usually protected by heavily armored Humvees. That's often not the case in Afghanistan.

"There aren't many roads in Afghanistan, so now we're dismounted and out on foot with Marines on patrol," Shelstad said.

Marines who hunt and disarm roadside bombs are a confident lot.

"It's a risk, but it's a calculated risk," said Camp Pendleton Master Sgt. Rick Oldham, a veteran of three combat assignments.

Oldham is one of a new, highly skilled breed of bomb technicians ---- all sergeants and above ---- who constantly train to keep up with the latest insurgent tactics.

Originally formed to deal with unexploded battlefield ordnance, the company's primary job these days is to find and disarm the often cheap, crude roadside bombs that have caused the widespread carnage in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Numbers grow

As roadside bombs became the most common weapon in Iraq and recently gained that same distinction in Afghanistan, the Marine Corps nearly doubled the number of explosive techs from about 300 six years ago to just less than 600 now.

That growth resulted in Shelstad's unit achieving company status within its parent organization, the 1st Marine Logistics Unit.

Shelstad's unit has about 140 members, all of whom volunteered for the duty that requires them to pass a series of exams to assure physical ability and calmness under pressure.

After successful passage of those tests and a background check, the troops attend a nine-month explosives school at Florida's Eglin Air Force Base.

Upon graduation, techs pin on what is simply known as "The Badge." It includes a wreath in memory of those lost, a bomb representing the work, lightning bolts symbolizing explosive power and the courage of the technician, and a shield representing the mission of protecting life and property.

It's a badge not worn lightly, Staff Sgt. Brian Meyer said.

"A lot of Marines will display the Marine Corps globe and anchor and other stuff all around them, but not these guys," he said, pointing to his fellow technicians. "For most of us, having the badge is enough."

Camp Pendleton has about 3,000 troops in Afghanistan.

Several thousand more will deploy there next year, including the 4,000-plus-member Marine Expeditionary Brigade and a Special Operations Battalion.

If President Barack Obama orders additional U.S. troops there, Camp Pendleton will be expected to provide even more.

"Everyone's champing at the bit to get over there," Meyer said.

First, they've got to finish their training.

The bombs

Inside the 1st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company on Camp Pendleton is a room that houses examples of explosives and triggering devices from around the world.

Much of it is stuff the technicians can expect to encounter.

Each piece is deconstructed by company members so they gain a full understanding of what goes into munitions manufacturing.

Land mines, anti-tank mines, plastic mines and a host of small and large shells, as well as rocket-propelled grenades, fill the room.

A veteran of three Iraq deployments, Gunnery Sgt. Kelly Minkler said a growing concern is the increasing use of plastics, which are more difficult to detect despite the more than $15 billion spent in recent years by a Pentagon agency created solely to combat them.

That agency, the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, provides training funds and some supplies for the elite bomb technicians.

The constant training they undergo is provided by private contractors who stay on top of the latest worldwide developments in homemade bomb use and construction in a seemingly never-ending ---- but deadly serious ---- game of cat and mouse.

When the techs find an unexploded or exploded roadside bomb, they employ crime-scene investigative techniques to try to trace the components to their source.

"Whenever we render a device safe, we bag it up and begin looking for the biometrics that will lead us to whoever is responsible," Shelstad said. "We can trace the way a wire was cut to the exact type of tool that was used. If we have a suspect and we find that tool, we can often link the two.

"That's what we do when we go downrange," he said, using the military term for a war zone.

Suits and robots

The techs have a bomb suit and robotic devices to aid their work. The most commonly employed robot is named Talon and is manufactured by Foster-Miller Inc. of Massachusetts.

Last week, the new bomb squad displayed two of its Talons, which are battery-operated and driven via remote control.

The units provide eyes and an arm for a technician standing at a safe distance, but they aren't used to trigger a bomb.

"It simply gives us good intel on what we are facing," Shelstad said.

The Talons now in use require a vehicle to take them to a bomb site. Shelstad said the company hopes to secure smaller ones that weigh as little as 30 pounds so they can be carried by techs on patrol with Marine rifle teams.

The bomb suit, which weighs about 100 pounds, is not equipped to absorb the force of a typical roadside bomb blast.

"The suit's just a tool, not a silver bullet," Shelstad said. "It's not something we use all the time."

In fact, he said, if a tech is wearing one and working directly over a bomb that explodes, the suit does a good job of keeping the body largely intact, but not such a good job preventing death.

Because their work often takes them to the scene of bombings, most technicians have taken part in "live tissue training," which involves the deliberate wounding of anesthetized pigs to practice life-saving skills. The pigs are later euthanized.

"Increasingly, we're often the first responder, and the injuries we confront are usually massive," Shelstad said.

Despite the dangers, his troops are supremely confident in their abilities as a result of their training, he said.

"There's not one guy who would rather have a different job. There's nothing else like what we do, and there's no rush like it."

Call staff writer Mark Walker at 760-740-3529.