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KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – “They're in the area guys, they're
more active,” said 1st Lt. Justin Vogt as he stood in the early
morning darkness and addressed the men he would soon be leading on a
patrol. “The fighting season is coming to a close ... they're going to
try to [mess] with us and see what they can do before they stop
fighting for the winter.”
The morning's mission was simple;
drive down a few designated roads and look for improvised explosive
devices.
Many people, both military and civilians, would be hoping that
they don't find an IED, but not these men.
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U.S. Army Spc. Ryan Barber, a native of Rochester, N.Y., who
serves as a combat engineer, Company A, Brigade Special Troops
Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, drives
his vehicle- mounted mine detector while conducting a combined arms
route clearance mission in Kunar Province, Oct. 15, 2013. The
purpose of the mission is to ensure that the roads are clear of
improvised explosive devices. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by
Staff Sgt. Jerry Saslav, 129th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)
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“It would be nice to find something,” said Vogt, a
platoon leader with Company A, Brigade Special Troops
Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division,
“[to] show some successes.”
Vogt and his men comprise
a combined arms route clearance operation; a unit comprised
of combat engineers, horizontal engineers, explosive
ordinance disposal technicians, and infantrymen. It is their
job to find and safely remove any IEDs the enemies of
Afghanistan may place.
“We're trained to find the
IEDs,” said Vogt, a native of Las Vegas, “I have a lot of
guys with a lot of experience ... multiple deployments [to]
Afghanistan, Iraq ... different locations in Afghanistan;
they're used to it ... I trust them. I trust our vehicles, our
equipment, they're designed to take a blast, so if we miss
something and get hit, it's not catastrophic.”
“I
drive the vehicle mounted mine detector,” said Spc. Ryan
Barber, combat engineer, Co .A, BSTB, 4th BCT, 10th Mtn.
Div., “This vehicle is capable of doing lots of things ...
finding underbelly threats and finding deeply buried treats
with ground-penetrating radar.”
It is Barber's job to
drive up to, and possibly over, suspected IED's.
Barber's vehicle has an additional feature, a giant rake
attached to a protruding arm and extending off the back. If
he did find what he believed to be a buried IED, the rake
would safely dig it up. This would prevent a Soldier from
having to do the job by hand. If the device did go off, the
rake extends far enough from the back of the heavily armored
truck to lessen the blast and protect the driver.
It
was still dark when the patrol left the base and began the
job of ensuring that the roads were clear. The enemies of
Afghanistan will usually try to use the darkness as cover
when placing IEDs.
The vehicles drove down the road
very slowly. While their vehicles carry electronic jammers
which can prevent the enemies of Afghanistan from remotely
detonating an IED, the Soldiers were also scanning the area
with night vision devices and other means to ensure that
they were not driving into an ambush.
Spc. Zachary
Price, who serves as a combat engineer, Co .A, BSTB, 4th
BCT, 10th Mtn. Div., was driving one of the vehicles.
“We drive around, look for IEDs,” said Price, a native
of Maysville, Ky., “[We] check the mountainsides ... make sure
that there is no enemy watching us.”
Price, like many
of the men in his unit, is married and his wife knows what
he is doing over here.
“She knows it's what I want to
do so she supports it, but she looks to that phone call when
I get back. She doesn't know when we go out,” said Price,
“But as long as I talk to her every day, it keeps the nerves
under control.”
Driving around and looking for IEDs
is exactly what Price wants to do.
“I feel that this
is the most important job in the war,” said Price. “[The]
IED is the biggest threat against our forces, so if I can go
out and mitigate that threat ... that's what I want to do.”
Slowly the patrol searched the various roads in
their area looking for IEDs. Some of the roads were in
nearby towns, others in the middle of nowhere, but for the
Soldiers, it didn't matter. They kept looking for anything
out of the ordinary on or near the road.
On one road,
the convoy turned a corner and spotted something that
brought the vehicles to a complete stop. Up ahead, on an
otherwise barren stretch of road was a pile of burnt debris.
In both Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorists have buried IEDs in
piles of trash.
With the rest of the patrol a safe
distance away, Barber's vehicle left the convoy and drove up
to the heap to examine it with his radar and rake. Once he
was certain it was safe, the patrol continued on its way.
The whole mission was a short one, only a few hours.
With the exception of the pile of debris, it was uneventful.
It didn't bother the men that they didn't find anything.
They had done their job and ensured that their assigned
routes were cleared.
“I chose to hold an honorable
profession,” said Barber, “we get bad stuff off the
streets.”
They would do it again the next day.
By U.S. Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Jerry Saslav
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2013
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