Dominic J. Brittain, senior bomb-disposal officer, Hong Kong Police.
Age: 38.
Career path: I was raised in Surrey, England. After school, I joined the Royal Navy because I didn't want to be a garage mechanic in the Air Force and, besides, navy officers were more my kind of people - and the uniform is nice. I had already decided my career would be in bomb disposal. As a child I saw a bomb-disposal officer take charge of an IRA bombing incident and was so impressed that I was determined to do the same one day. By the time I joined the navy I had read everything I could find on the subject. The training was very complex: it was a good year and a half before they let me loose near a bomb.
I became an internationally certified bomb-disposal officer but after six years I decided to move to Hong Kong. I joined the Hong Kong Police in 1984 and worked for five years as a policeman, while completing the mandatory four-year training to join the bomb unit. In February 1997, I became senior bomb-disposal officer and am now in charge of the unit and training. I am too young to be married.
Brittain's day: There is a bomb-disposal officer on duty 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Even as head of the unit, I am on call day and night every third week. During that time a mobile phone and pager never leave my side. When I am not on call, I come to work at about 8 am and leave at about 8 pm. There is so much to do and not enough of us: there are three trained bomb-disposal officers, including me, in Hong Kong. A fourth officer has nearly completed his course but cannot be deployed yet. I am training a further three officers - they take exams every six months - and four special bomb assistants, who must complete a two-year course.
In addition, I have the usual department-head responsibilities, such as budgeting, administration, and so on.