IED!!
Things remain pretty much the same.
New job, new responsibilities, same old enemy.
I guess the bad guys don't know that one job is suppose to be "safer" than another - they attack indiscriminately.
On a road near the out skirts of Tal Afar this morning an HHT (Headquarters and Headquarters Troop) command vehicle, with a driver we all know, came under attack from an IED (Improvised Explosive Device). The two 125 mm shells went off directly alongside the Stryker as it sped down the highway. (Key word here is "sped". High speeds throw off the ability of a coordinated attack.) The vehicle bucked like a horse, felt as if it would topple over, rang like a bell and continued down the road. Shrapnel, rocks, sand and mud peppered the side of the vehicle from the engine compartment on down to the back hatch.
Immediately turning the Stryker around the driver returned to the scene of the attack. Pouring the gas to the engine got the Stryker up to nearly 40 mph in the short distance on it's run flat tires. The 50 cal on the roof started chattering almost immediately as the gunner set his sights on two rapidly retreating figures. Fountains of dirt kicked up to one side of the running Iraqi's - the remote control weapons system had been knocked off center by the explosion and pressure wave. Mud and dirt also obscured most of the video sights. The close impacts of the machine gun rounds stopped the two men dead in their tracks though. Dead in their tracks mind you, not "dead". Guess they thought they were warning shots - not misses. They surrendered. They were lucky, extremely lucky and I don't mean just the Iraqis. They are also in jail. The shots fired were meant to be square on target - they weren't. Two more bad guys off the streets though - the world is a slightly safer place.
The Stryker suffered only superficial damage in the attack. Flat tires, damage to the RPG skirt, minor dings and dents plus the damage to the weapons control system on the roof. One good thing about a close call is that you end up staying off the road for a while so that repairs can be made. Maybe that's why it's safer being in HHT.
Two Iraqi's, two "spare" artillery shells (which there are thousands of literally laying all over the place), a doorbell, a battery, some wire and a detonating cap. That's what an IED consists of. It's cheap, not all that effective really but devastating for Soldier morale. Had this been a Humvee or a truck we would be reading about this incident in the news - (maybe we'll still read about it since it involved an Army Major).
How does the Army determine what was used in an incident like this? Usually there's enough "residue" left in the crater to show them what was used. Shell pieces, wire and other identifying pieces are still there. Many times there will also be nails, bolts and glass found in the crater as well. They pack the hole with whatever they can think of.
New job, new responsibilities, same old enemy.
I guess the bad guys don't know that one job is suppose to be "safer" than another - they attack indiscriminately.
On a road near the out skirts of Tal Afar this morning an HHT (Headquarters and Headquarters Troop) command vehicle, with a driver we all know, came under attack from an IED (Improvised Explosive Device). The two 125 mm shells went off directly alongside the Stryker as it sped down the highway. (Key word here is "sped". High speeds throw off the ability of a coordinated attack.) The vehicle bucked like a horse, felt as if it would topple over, rang like a bell and continued down the road. Shrapnel, rocks, sand and mud peppered the side of the vehicle from the engine compartment on down to the back hatch.
Immediately turning the Stryker around the driver returned to the scene of the attack. Pouring the gas to the engine got the Stryker up to nearly 40 mph in the short distance on it's run flat tires. The 50 cal on the roof started chattering almost immediately as the gunner set his sights on two rapidly retreating figures. Fountains of dirt kicked up to one side of the running Iraqi's - the remote control weapons system had been knocked off center by the explosion and pressure wave. Mud and dirt also obscured most of the video sights. The close impacts of the machine gun rounds stopped the two men dead in their tracks though. Dead in their tracks mind you, not "dead". Guess they thought they were warning shots - not misses. They surrendered. They were lucky, extremely lucky and I don't mean just the Iraqis. They are also in jail. The shots fired were meant to be square on target - they weren't. Two more bad guys off the streets though - the world is a slightly safer place.
The Stryker suffered only superficial damage in the attack. Flat tires, damage to the RPG skirt, minor dings and dents plus the damage to the weapons control system on the roof. One good thing about a close call is that you end up staying off the road for a while so that repairs can be made. Maybe that's why it's safer being in HHT.
Two Iraqi's, two "spare" artillery shells (which there are thousands of literally laying all over the place), a doorbell, a battery, some wire and a detonating cap. That's what an IED consists of. It's cheap, not all that effective really but devastating for Soldier morale. Had this been a Humvee or a truck we would be reading about this incident in the news - (maybe we'll still read about it since it involved an Army Major).
How does the Army determine what was used in an incident like this? Usually there's enough "residue" left in the crater to show them what was used. Shell pieces, wire and other identifying pieces are still there. Many times there will also be nails, bolts and glass found in the crater as well. They pack the hole with whatever they can think of.
posted by deesci | 8:29 PM
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