Task Force Paladin wages war against Afghan IEDs

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Task Force Paladin wages war against Afghan IEDs
By Dianna Cahn, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, November 24, 2009

It was hour six on the convoy traveling through the quaint villages and apple orchards of the Tangi Valley and the armored vehicles were just minutes from their destination in the heart of insurgent territory.

Then, suddenly, came the explosion, its sound unmistakable even inside a vacuum-sealed Buffalo vehicle two back in the convoy chain.

“IED! IED! IED!” the radio erupted. The convoy had struck an improvised explosive device.

The bomb technicians and their counter-IED colleagues were already out the doors, running toward an incident that the rest of the world would run from, ignoring the knowledge that one exploding bomb could mean there were more nearby.

For forces on the ground, the IED evokes an almost mythical terror. But for Task Force Paladin, a specialized bomb-hunting unit that is waging war against the IED, the top killer in Afghanistan is simply another weapon they have to defeat.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/m/article.asp?section=104&article=66273