Texas guard unit on an explosive mission

Dallasnews (subsrc) ^ | June 5, 2005 | VERNON SMITH JR

[Critical Bill]

AD DIWANIYAH, Iraq – The young Iraqi shepherd spoke little English but found a way to get the Texas soldiers' attention. "Boom!" he said, pointing to a culvert in his field. The shepherd approached on a recent morning as the Texas Army National Guard convoy stopped to scour a section of highway for the deadly homemade bombs used widely by Iraq's insurgency. Since they landed in Iraq in January, the 56th Brigade Combat Team has had the dangerous job of searching for roadside bombs along one of the U.S. military's major supply routes. The crude bombs have killed and maimed hundreds of U.S. and allied troops and have sparked intense pressure for the Pentagon to provide American forces with more, better armored vehicles. After confirming the shepherd's discovery – two 122 mm mortar rounds bound together in the culvert – soldiers stopped traffic on the six-lane highway in both directions, and cars soon began to stack up. It would be more than five hours before Navy experts arrived to destroy the mortars, enough time for the Texas soldiers to experience the improvisational rhythm of life in a world thousands of miles from home. Hours before the 56th BCT soldiers inspected the highway, ditches and culverts for bombs, Lt. Ben Garcia of San Angelo reviewed the game plan for the morning's patrol.

[Critical Bill]

At the Dallas Morning News, Vernon Smith Jr. has a riveting report on the dirty and dangerous job being done by the 56th Brigade Combat Team of the Texas Army National Guard, as they search for improvised explosive devices

[Critical Bill]

IEDs have been hidden in soda cans, plastic trash bags, and animal carcasses and under piles of rubbish. They have been stuffed into the frame of a child's bicycle and encased in concrete to make them look like harmless concrete blocks.

Holy shiite.

[Racehorse]

. . . a riveting report on the dirty and dangerous job being done by the 56th Brigade Combat Team of the Texas Army National Guard . . .

These guys and gals proudly wear the 36th "Texas" Infantry Division "T-Patch."

A lot of us cheered when the famed 36th was brought back into active service last year.  Some of the Division's units (the 141st) date back to the Alamo and the Texas War for Independence.  This is the Division's first combat deployment since WWII and these guys and gals carry on a proud tradition . . .

Anyone curious about that history can find it here:

• World War II Pictorial History
• Summary WWI History
• Detailed WWI History

Now, these T-Patchers ae writing the next chapter or maybe writing their own book.

[Allegra]

Yes, we are told here that if you didn't drop it, don't pick it up. Those terrorists can be devious, hiding bombs in just about anything.

They also figured out that if you put ice down a mortar tube, it delays the launch so that the terrorist scum are long gone when the mortar comes out of the tube and our military can't vector in on them.

It's got to be a chore for our forces just to stay ahead of their nasty, deadly stunts.

[Critical Bill]

ice down a mortar tube

wouldn't the mortar just slide down the tube as the ice mels and nestle at the bottom?.I thought it (mortar)needed to be dropped to trigger the firing pin/cap.

[Allegra]

wouldn't the mortar just slide down the tube as the ice mels and nestle at the bottom?.I thought it (mortar)needed to be dropped to trigger the firing pin/cap.

I'm not an expert on launching mortars (I have only seen them launched in my general direction on occasion...LOL). I just know the intel folks told us last summer they were packing ice in those things and delaying the launch so that they could get out of the area.