Posted: 5/7/2010 8:20:36 PM EDT
I ran across this clip the other day. I thought it was a missile strike but the save info says it was a massive IED. If that's true than the trucks are probably US troops  Does anyone know anything about this vid or how they make IEDs this powerful? I assume it's Iraq. Do they steal weapons from us or buy it from the Iranians or mix some fertilizer bomb themselves? How do they learn to build such large and seemingly complicated explosives with their limited education and training?
Feel bad for the troops/people caught in that blast. God bless you guys that serve over there.... kick their ass and come home safe.
ETA: Removed vid out of respect. Sorry. |
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I couldn't see the vid but I imagine its one that erupts the road. Big f'n bombs are how they do this. Wire a few 155mm shells in detcord, throw in some C4 if you can get it and you've got a massive bomb that would crumble a city block.Missiles over there usually come in the form of RPGs or unguided rockets that sit on timer or a block of ice...not as much exploosive power. There were some reports early in 2003 of SCUDs being wired and used but it was really a couple of arty shells.
The one we came across that did actually explode was ill timed thank God and was a single mortar round...that's like a fire cracker compared to some of the big ones. Nevermind the Iranian supplied and Hezbollah trained/perfected EFPs that don't pack as much explosive power as compared to others but the EFP is a shaped charged that shoves a steeel penetrator through armor and flesh. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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We pulled a 250lb bomb buried under the road in our sector when I was there in '06-07. Before we were there...at least one 500lber went off in the sector, disabling an M-1. Slightly smaller (probably 250) basically vaporized a humvee... (the in-brief was filled with some scary pics...) We mostly saw propane tanks surrounded by mortar rounds and filled with HME. Enough "oomph" to toss a fully armored humvee over 6ft in the air. We found a couple EFPs....my CO caught one just below his seat...lucky bastard. Those guys are very, very creative. And don't forget the EFP grenades. RKGs...those started coming out when I was there...being shipped in from Iran (crates more or less had big "Made in Iran" on them). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RKG-3_anti-tank_grenade They got a couple of our guys with those...hit two gunners...took their head clean off On the flip side of all that...it's amazing what one can survive with all the armor they've added. And in the new trucks...they can take a huge, huge hit and survive. Broken back and scrambled brains...but alive. |
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The HME is an indicator of a rather low-tech organization or a network that has been starved and is on its last legs. When we started seeing in Iraq we knew we'd turned a corner and was winning. In Afghanistan? Its an essential part of the network order of battle because of the old munitions and difficulty of trafficking effective weaponry across the terrain. So you'll run into it more frequently. Little bit of pre-deployment info for someone who may be going over.
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