Re: Afghan Bridge Update and Sad News

On Sun, 18 Nov 2007 02:59:24 -0800 (PST), kennethandholly@xxxxxxxxx
wrote:

Hi Everyone.

Thanks for all the help and advice on the Bridge Project. It's
currently on hold, as the FOB Mayor wants to see if we can score some
honest culvert from an Engineer Unit rather than build some. Works
for me.

On the 12th, we lost two good men and had a third badly injured
courtesy of an IED. If I've figured the time zones right. it would
still have been Memorial Day back home.

I have been wondering if there is any way to inductively couple enough
current to prematurely detonate these suckers. Maybe an R/C car with
a rotating coil sort of thing. My knowledge of electricity pretty
much ends with "Don't stick coathangers into the wall socket". I know
that high-tension lines will sometimes induce power in fences running
parallel to the lines. Could this effect be useful against pressure
plate IEDs at a range of a foot or so? If any one has any thoughts on
the subject, no matter how bizarre, I'd love to hear 'em. (Other than
"Just Leave." While effective, it's not in the cards.)

The only really reliable way to trip a pressure plate is to trip the
pressure plate. And they can always rig up a remote bypass and only
flip it on as the truly tempting vehicle approaches.

If you ever watched Mythbusters, you know it's fairly easy to rig up
a car with a garden variety radio control on the gas, steering and
brakes. With a little ingenuity you can do the same to a Humvee, and
a little ingenuity can cover the shifter and other auxiliaries.

Take an un-armored Hummer and rig it to remote control from an
Up-Armored rig a car or two back in line, with dummies in the front
seats to fool the remote trigger folks.

Might even take a second remote control and rig it to the Ma Deuce
on the back - but you need multiple video links (wide angle and aiming
point) to do that right...

Any experimental inductive trigger coils are going to need serious
power to run them. Generator in the back seat will do it.

Might be more effective to just hang a big metal detector coil off
the front of the remote-control lead car - when you drive over the IED
made of old artillery shells it'll scream like a banshee, and you can
let the EOD guys decide if it's a trick or a treat...

Or "borrow" a skid-steer loader from the Seabees, toss a bulletproof
windshield and some armor plate around the operator's position, and
hang the metal detector loop off the bucket. When you get a hit,
retract the loop and dig a hole - the loader bucket should deflect
quite a blast. If it's a dry hole you can fill the divot back in and
compact it before proceeding.

Could use a backhoe tractor, but the little dipper bucket means
armoring the operator position will be far more important.

Too bad you can't call Dig-Alert and have them mark all the mines.
;-) But if there are any working utilities down there, might be a
good thing to know about before you start digging holes in the road.
Digging into a 35KV power feeder cable or a natural gas main would
make a pretty good blast, too.

Way smarter people than me are working on this I'm told. I thought
I'd bring it to the attention of some of the smartest people on the
net. If anyone knows where Fitch Williams hangs out now, he'd be a
good one to ask, too.

Remember that the Field Expedient Modification is a time honored
tradition, the "Hedge-Chopper" tank attachments from WW-II and the
"Flail" style land-mine detonator/clearer being a few famous examples.

You have to be smarter than the enemy. "Your job is not to die for
your country - it's to make the other stupid sonofabitch die for his."

In closing, we can't remember our fallen in the traditional way until
deployments end. If anyone would care to hoist a glass in salute,
I'd be grateful. Godspeed guys.

Thank you for dealing with the baddies over there, rather than
letting them come over here.

--<< Bruce >>--

.

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