Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Suicide Car Bombers

If you watch my videos and got here from Google Video, you may have seen my music video where I speed up some convoy footage to music. Even though it's sped up, you'll notice that we move around, through, or stop all traffic around us. Our M1114 Armored Humvees move through traffic unhindered because we will shoot anyone that's deemed a threat. That aggressive posture is because of the above threat, the Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device or VBIED. (Pronounced "Vee-Bid" or "Vee-Bed" among soldiers.) This may also be coupled with other tactical threats like machine gun or rocket fire in an ambush.

In the above photo (CLICK ON IT TO SEE FULL SIZE), some MPs were on a convoy and the attacker simply crossed the median and drove straight at them at high speed. Fortunately, he prematurely detonated at about 20 feet away. The gunner was burned very slightly in a few small areas. The vehicle tolerated the blast and drove back to Rustamiya on it's "run-flat" rim. This was a very disconcerting situation, to say the least, to the crew and the gunner didn't have any real warning. They were all very lucky.

Often, VBIEDs have fail safe methods. More than one person may be in the same car, each with the ability to detonate the charge. New as well as old cars are used. It makes spotting them very difficult. There may be markings on the vehicle for someone making a video of the attack that may give them away but many cars are held together with tape and have 4 colors of paint and primer. There are so many cars around you at any given time, especially in a large city like Baghdad, any vehicle is a potential threat. Hence, the reason we own the road when we move. No local cars are let into convoys...EVER.

1 Comments:

Blogger A Nail In My Head said...

Either term is understood by most soldiers to mean a car bomb or vehicle borne improvised explosive device.

12:44 AM  

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