Dimmzy had said in another thread>>>but we can't provide protection against IEDs? Doesn't ANYBODY make a bomb-proof vehicle?"
My basic impression or thought has been that the IED situation is basically an arms race of measures and countermeasures.
I was privy to a very interesting conversation a couple of days ago about IED's and so forth from a first-hand participant.
The soldier had been there for basically all of 2005-so it is likely several iterations of IEDs have passed since his tour.
Some of his comments in no particular order.
1)The Apaches get a lot of the IED setters. They sit up in the air and you don't know they are there-they get them with nigt vision/infrared stuff. You can see some of these videos on the internet.
2) He was there when they used jammers to prevent cell-phone detonation of bombs-HENCE
3) the enemy started using infrared beams to set them off-(I may not have the right term-but if the beam is broken the IED goes off)-any way he said the only way to see those was with infrared scopes-so he would ride up top and look through his scope-He said he did not like these as you probably would not see them in time to stop.
4) He described a newer IED type that acted like a cutting torch-Cut right through metal-also said RPG can go through most metal as well.
This was my Iraq report week.
The day efore I had sat at a table of 4 where the other 3 had loved ones serve or serving.
1) The dad of a recently retired Marine major said his biggest poroblem once they got back from a tour was keeping his sergeants at home (in his unit?) as they all wanted to go back right away because of the extra money.
2) The dad of a female guardsman is going back for at least the second time-previous tour she got bored behind the wire and took a test on the 50 so she could do convoy duty-she was the only female to do so in that unit-He said she got blown up 3 times and the last time they just about lost her-Her comment on going back was "They couldn't keep me behind the wire the first time-they won't be able to this time either."