On The Hunt For Roadside Bombs In Afghanistan
Marines detonate a homemade explosive device. - Marines from an explosive ordnance disposal team detonate a homemade explosive device, which was discovered near a compound outside of their base. (David Gilkey / NPR)
The Marines of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment — known as "America's Battalion" — have been fighting the Taliban in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province since July.
They have set up numerous outposts along the dusty roads and cornfields. And now they are moving farther south, looking to extend their area of operation and avoid the deadliest of threats just outside the wire: roadside bombs.
On a recent morning, a platoon of Marines from Fox Company leaves the remote patrol base, a small patch of sandbags, camouflage tents and gravel. Within minutes they're cutting through a cornfield, walking in single file.
(David Gilkey / NPR)
It could be any cornfield in Iowa, except for the Taliban radio chatter the Marines are picking up on their radio. The Marines intercept a radio transmission from the Taliban that says the militants are "ready for the guests."
"Guests" is Taliban code for the Marines. On this patrol, the Marines are searching for roadside bombs, commonly known as IEDs.
"We're lucky if we find them. Better than when they find us, I guess," says Lance Cpl. Dan Leary, from Boston.
(David Gilkey / NPR)
Leary will be going back to the United States in just a few weeks, and he's worried his luck will run out.
'They're Always Watching Us'
"We had like one week where we found like 21, 22 of them. They were everywhere. We went back two days later. They were everywhere again. They were putting them — like everywhere they put them were places that we had stopped and taken cover," Leary says. "They're watching. They're always watching us."
(David Gilkey/NPR)
The Taliban plant bombs everywhere — along dirt paths, in the fields and especially along the main roads. The insurgents are brazen, placing the explosives in the middle of the day.
They have either intimidated the local population, or they have support among them.
The Marines walk on patrol for about two hours, cutting through cornfields, hopping over irrigation canals and trudging along dirt paths.
At the front of the patrol, a Marine sweeps the ground with a hand-held minesweeper, a flat green, angular version of what people use on a beach to find coins.
Before long, he finds a bomb at a dirt-road intersection just outside a compound of mud houses. It's a perfect example of why they call these devices improvised. It is a 5-gallon yellow jug stuffed with a mix of fertilizer, diesel fuel and metal.
The Marines set some plastic explosives to detonate the IED. They call out a 10-second warning, and the Marines take cover in a ditch beside the dirt road. The explosion propels a wave of dirt over the squad.
The Marines talk about the unsettling feeling of walking along the trails and fields, slopping through canals, just waiting for an explosion.
'A Morale Killer'
"People would rather deal with firefights than IEDs. Like, IEDs are just a — it's a morale killer, definitely," says Lance Cpl. Raymond Grabau, from Minnesota.
Since July, 40 Marines in Helmand province have been killed, and more than 160 have been seriously wounded, most by IEDs.
But four months into their mission, the Marines are getting better at finding these crude and hidden bombs.
Another hour goes by, and the patrol detects two more IEDs. One is found by a Marine combat engineer, Pfc. Brad Sexton. But not with his metal detector.
"Yeah, I found it. Stepped on it, actually," he says.
The IED was rigged with a trigger known as a pressure plate. Just enough pressure, from a foot or a truck tire, and it detonates the buried explosive charge. Luckily for Sexton, this one had no batteries.
"Yeah, I'd probably [have] lost a leg or maybe even more. It was a metal cylinder, so I'd have had a lot of shrapnel. It would have been bad. I feel extremely lucky right now," he says.
A Marine lifts the pressure plate from the ground. It looks like a poorly wrapped Christmas present, a long rectangle covered in plastic and heavily taped.
'Everywhere You Go, It's Dangerous'
The Marines stuff the pressure plate into a backpack. It will be shipped to Bagram Air Field, where a special forensics team will look for clues — fingerprints or materials that could help identify the bomb maker. The Marines suspect that in their area, IEDs are manufactured and set by three or perhaps four insurgents.
Many Marines say they could do a better job going after the bomb makers if there weren't so many restrictions on the use of force. Some Marines say they have identified insurgents but had to wait for approval from higher-ups to call in artillery or other firepower.
Lt. Sam Oliver recalled an incident involving a man on a motorcycle who had a hand-held radio. The Marines intercepted his conversations with the insurgents.
"By the time we passed all the information, made sure [that] no, there's no civilians around — by the time that all goes through, he was gone," Oliver says.
But the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Christian Cabaniss, says the Marines have to take care not to kill innocent civilians in their pursuit of the Taliban. It makes their job more dangerous, he says, but in the long run the cautious approach will do more to gain the support of Afghan civilians.
"There is a little bit more risk upfront. Everywhere you go, it's dangerous," he says. "The reality is to be, you know, in an environment where we're completely safe. As we move, we would be destroying buildings and tree lines everywhere we went. We're not going to win the consent of the people that way, and the fight is actually going to get worse over time."
Some Marines still grumble about having to keep going out to search for IEDs. They were a lot more willing when they first arrived in Helmand province in July.
'The Unknown Is Real'
"Well, now they know that the unknown is real," says 1st Sgt. Derrick Mays, the top enlisted man in Fox Company. "And that the possibility of you getting shot or blown up could be the minute you step out on your next patrol."
But some of the Marines wonder if the patrols to find IEDs are reckless.
"You're going to have the ones that are going to probably ask that question, 'Why are we still doing this?' " says Mays. "Because we still have a job to do. And it'd be unfair to those individuals that are coming behind us to not do our job."
Fresh Marines are already arriving in Helmand, and some are following along on patrols to learn what they can from Fox Company's veterans.
Near a mud compound, Afghan adults and children squat on the ground shucking corn and glance at the advancing Marines on patrol.
Outside a small mosque, a Marine questions the local mullah about who is making the bombs.
The mullah says he knows nothing — about the bombs or the Taliban.
"How are we supposed to keep your mosque safe if you don't let us know what's going on out here?" the Marine asks, using a translator.
More than five hours after they started their foot patrol, the Marines get the signal to head back to their camp.
They peel off their helmets and gear, and grab some food. Inside their headquarters, a Marine sticks red pins on a large map, representing the IEDs found on the patrol.
And in a day or two, the Marines of the 2/8 will head out again in search of bombs and the insurgents who plant them.
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MELISSA BLOCK, host:
Well, let's listen to what the Marines told to you. You were out on patrol in the Helmand Province.
Unidentified Man #1: (unintelligible), we'll cut over that open field like we did then we'll just cut straight south.
TOM BOWMAN: It's mid-morning when the platoon leaves their remote patrol base: a small patch of sandbags, camouflage tents and gravel.
Unidentified Man #2: I count (unintelligible)�
BOWMAN: Within minutes, they're cutting through a cornfield in single file. It feels you could be in Iowa. Taliban radio chatter is picked up.
(Soundbite of radio beeping)
Unidentified Man #3: (unintelligible) guests.
BOWMAN: Guests, Taliban code for the Marines. On this patrol, they're searching for roadside bombs, commonly known as IEDs.
Lance Corporal DAN LEARY (U.S. Marine Corps): We're lucky if we find them. Better than when they find us, I guess.
BOWMAN: Lance Corporal Dan Leary will be going back to the States in just a few weeks, and he's worried his luck will run out.
Lan. Cpl. LEARY: We have like one week where we found like 21, 22 of them. They were everywhere. We went back two days later. They were everywhere again. They were putting them � like everywhere they put them were places that we have stopped and taken cover. Like they're watching, they're always watching us.
BOWMAN: Watching and digging. The Taliban plant bombs everywhere, along the dirt paths, in the fields and especially, along the main roads. The insurgents are brazen. They're placing explosives in the middle of the day. They've either intimidated the local population or they have support among them. We've been walking about two hours on this patrol. We've probably gone a couple of miles through the cornfields, hopping over irrigation canals and trudging along dirt paths. At the front of the patrol, a Marine sweeps the ground with a hand-held minesweeper, a flat green, angular version of what people use on a beach to find coins. Before long, he finds a bomb at a dirt-road intersection just outside a compound of mud houses.
Unidentified Man #4: One minute.
BOWMAN: The Marines are ready to detonate the IED. It's a perfect example of why they call these things improvised. It's a five gallon yellow jug stocked with a mix of fertilizer, diesel fuel and metal. The Marines set some plastic explosives before sending a final warning down the line.
Unidentified Man #5: Ten seconds.
Unidentified Man #6: Ten seconds.
BOWMAN: The Marines hunker down in a ditch beside the dirt road.
(Soundbite of explosion)
BOWMAN: A fan of dirt pelts the squad.
Unidentified Man #7: That's a good shower.
Unidentified Man #8: That was poop, too, by the way.
(Soundbite of laughter)
BOWMAN: The Marines talk about the unsettling feeling of walking along the trails and fields, slopping through canals, just waiting for an explosion.
Unidentified Man #9: Like people would rather deal with firefights than IEDs. Like, IEDs are just a � it's a morale killer, definitely.
BOWMAN: There's good reason for that feeling. Since July, 40 Marines in Helmand have been killed, and more than 160 have been seriously wounded, most by IEDs. One of them lost both his legs. He's still struggling for his life at a Texas hospital. But four months in, the Marines are getting better at finding these crude and hidden bombs.
(Soundbite of helicopter simulator)
Unidentified Man #10: Command wire that they'd use in their IED. They like the bury it - trying to dig it up out of the ground. They'll bury it too deep most of the time.
BOWMAN: Another hour goes by. The patrol detects two more IEDs. One is found by a Marine combat engineer, Private First Class Brad Sexton, but not with his metal detector.
Private First Class BRAD SEXTON (Marine Combat Engineer): Yeah, I found it. Stepped on it actually.
BOWMAN: Is it?
Pfc. SEXTON: Yeah.
BOWMAN: Stepped on it. The IED used a trigger known as a pressure plate. Just enough pressure from a foot or a truck tire, and it detonates the buried explosive charge. Luckily for Sexton, this one had no batteries.
Pfc. SEXTON: Yeah, I'd probably lost a leg or maybe even more. It was a metal cylinder, so I'd have had a lot of shrapnel. It would've been bad. I feel extremely lucky right now.
BOWMAN: A Marine lifts the pressure plate from the ground. It looks like a poorly wrapped Christmas present, a long rectangle covered in plastic and heavily taped.
Unidentified Man #11: Two pieces of wood with metal in the middle.
Unidentified Man #12: You got another one over there, you said?
Unidentified Man #11: He's working on one, yeah.
Unidentified Man #12: Okay.
BOWMAN: The Marines stuff the pressure plate into a backpack. It�ll be shipped to Bagram Air Base, where a special forensics team will look for clues � fingerprints or materials that will help identify the bomb maker. The bomb and another nearby are destroyed.
(Soundbite of explosion)
Unidentified Man #13: Wait. There's another one.
(Soundbite of explosion)
Unidentified Man #13: Right here in this whole area, there's probably about three or four guys that make all the IEDs.
BOWMAN: Many Marines say they could do a better job going after the bomb makers if there weren't so many restrictions on the use of force. Marines here say they have identified insurgents. They had to wait for approval from higher-ups to call in artillery or other firepower. Lieutenant Sam Oliver told us about one example, a man on a motorcycle had a hand-held radio. The Marines intercepted his conversations with other insurgents.
Lieutenant SAM OLIVER (U.S. Army): By the time we passed all the information, made sure there's no civilians around � by the time all of that goes through, he was gone, so.
BOWMAN: But the battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Christian Cabaniss, says they have to be careful not to kill innocents.
Lieutenant Colonel CHRISTIAN CABANISS (U.S. Army): There is a little bit more risk upfront. Everywhere you go, it's dangerous. I mean, the reality is - is to be, you know, in an environment where we're completely safe, as we move, we would be destroying buildings and tree lines everywhere we went. We're not going to win the consent of the people that way, and the fight is actually going to get worse over time.
BOWMAN: Some Marines still grumble about having to keep going out in search of IEDs. They were a lot more enthusiastic when they first got on the ground in July.
Sergeant DERRICK MAYS (Fox Company): Well, now they know that the unknown is real.
BOWMAN: Sergeant Derrick Mays is a top-enlisted man in Fox Company.
Sgt. MAYS: And that the possibility of you getting shot or blown up could be the minute you step out on your next patrol.
BOWMAN: Some of the Marines take it further - wondering if the patrols to find IEDs are reckless.
Sgt. MAYS: You're going to have the ones that are going to probably ask that question: Why are we still doing this? Because we still have a job to do. And it'd be unfair to those individuals that are coming behind us to not do our job.
(Soundbite of cornfield)
BOWMAN: The Marines coming behind are already arriving here in Helmand. Some are following along in patrols to learn what they can from Fox Company's veterans. They push through another cornfield. Near a mud compound, Afghan adults and children squat on the ground shucking corn and glance at the advancing Marines. Outside a small mosque, a Marine questions a local mullah about who's planting the bombs. The mullah says he knows nothing about the bombs or the Taliban.
Unidentified Man #14: How are we supposed to keep your mosque safe if you don't let us know what's going on out here?
Unidentified Man #15: (Foreign Language Spoken)
BOWMAN: The patrol is coming to an end, as the Marines slog through a muddy, recently-harvested field. More than five hours after they started out, they cross a swaying footbridge as they get the go-ahead to go back into camp.
(Soundbite of radio beeping)
BOWMAN: They peel off their helmets and gear, and grab some chow. Inside their headquarters, a Marine will stick red pins on a large map, representing the IEDs found on the patrol. In a day or two, the Marines of the 2/8 will head out again searching for bombs and the men who plant them.
Tom Bowman, NPR News, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
BLOCK: And we've been following the Second Battalion Eighth Marine regiment, the 2/8, since the unit deployed to Afghanistan in May. You can hear all our stories about the battalion and see photos from the patrol you just heard about at npr.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
