Quoted:
Quoted: Where did all these IED, VBIED, etc names come from? Didn't we used to call them bombs and car bombs?
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The way it was explained to me, it was a US .mil thing.
.mil loves acronyms to classify stuff.
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Army speak to describe an explosive device typically made from surplus munitions...
'Bomb' could be the kind the Air Force drops, or a properly constructed explosive device (eg C4 with a blasting cap, a satchel charge, etc), and so on...
So the Army folks came up with a fancy, governmenteze descriptive name -> IED
Improvised because they're cobbled together from anything the BGs think will go 'Boom'
Explosive Device -> This is what the Army calls any non-aireal bomb...
And of course 'Vehicle Borne' because we have to be all-inclusive (to cover trucks, cars, tractors, donkey-carts and so on...)...
P.S. As for the tank, IIRC it was 'normal' to destroy a wrecked tank by thermite grenade or airstrike if it is being abandoned, to prevent capture.... If the crew isn't dead inside, then the turret is probably on fire from being scuttled... The Abrams has a VERY good record of keeping it's crews alive...