The Pentagon celebrated its Mine-Resistant, Ambush-Protected vehicle program at the Pentagon on Monday, but the biggest …
IEDs
“My Husband is a True American Hero”
My husband, Staff Sergeant Jeremy Breece, is a True American Hero.
In 2008, my husband and I thought it would be best that I separate from the Air Force because of two reasons. One being I was pregnant and two, my husband had …
Walking Through an IED Minefield “On a Daily Basis”
Last Thursday the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee held a hearing on the Pentagon’s efforts to defeat improvised explosive devices, the homemade bombs that are now the leading cause of death among U.S. …
Defense In Depth
Blast Effects
War is action v. reaction. The insurgents got the upper hand in Iraq with their improvised explosive devices. We countered with $40 billion worth of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles. That worked for a while.
But the advantage is shrinking. Six U.S. troops, all inside a single MRAP, died Sunday in Afghanistan in the blast of a …
CREW
It’s a Marine program designed to protect leathernecks from IEDS. It stands for the corps’ Counter Radio Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare – CREW. OK, so they cheated a little bit. This CREW contract just got bumped up to a half-billion dollars: 16.8% of it to be spent in Charleston, S.C., 5.5% to be …
WIA
Earlier this month, Taylor Morris became a member of perhaps the most elite group among the 2.5 million U.S. men and women who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ten troops have won the Medal of Honor. Only five have lost pieces of all four of their limbs.
Thank You, Lieutenant Mosko
Humpin’ It…And Jammin’ It…
Up-Armored Marine, Un-Armored Best Friend
Iraqi IEDs: Payback Time
This doesn’t happen very often:
1. An Iraqi made IEDs during the most violent years of the conflict.
2. One of his bombs may have killed four members of the Pennsylvania National Guard in 2005.
3. The bomb-builder, …
Dear John Letter 2.0
David Wood has done some of the finest reporting on the wounds of war, both seen and unseen. His latest lays bare the serious genital wounding of hundreds of U.S. troops that’s rarely acknowledged:
“Who’s going to want to be with me now?” wondered Marine Staff Sgt. Glen Silva, 39, after an IED blast shattered his leg, ripped open his
…
The Pentagon’s New IED Report: Impressively Expressed Dawdling
IEDs are an interesting tool of war: they have accounted for nearly half of the U.S. KIAs in recent years, and their very simplicity is an erect middle finger to U.S. military might and technological prowess. The Pentagon’s Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization has just issued its Counter-Improvised Explosive Device …