Reserve on the Frontlines: IED Searchers

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Reserve on the Frontlines: IED Searchers

By SSG Matthew Acosta

August 1, 2006


A Buffalo vehicle belonging to the Army Reserve’s 467th Engineer Battalion uses its hydraulic arm to probe a trash pile thought to contain an IED.
SSG Matthew Acosta
IN AN effort to make Iraqi roads safer for fellow Soldiers, an Army Reserve company of combat engineers patrols selected roads near Baqubah, Iraq, searching for trouble.

Soldiers from Company A, 467th Engineer Battalion, from Memphis, Tenn., recently took over operations from the 141st Engr. Bn., a North Dakota Army National Guard unit, at Forward Operating Base Warhorse, continuing the mission known as Operation Trailblazer.

Their mission is to search predetermined supply routes in the Baqubah area for improvised explosive devices planted by insurgents, said SFC Dallas Bryan, a Co. A combat engineer.

With teams of 18 Soldiers or more, the “Trailblazers” set out in convoys of several supporting vehicles and one ground mine-detection system, called a “Buffalo,” to scour the roadside for signs of terrorist activity.

The Buffalo uses a hydraulic arm to sift through trash piles or probe areas where IEDs may be hidden.

“A few rotating teams search the roads several times a day looking for conspicuous things that might be used to conceal explosives, or anything that looks like it’s out of the ordinary, such as freshly patched potholes in the road or new road signs close to the road’s edge,” Bryan said.

When a team finds a suspicious-looking site, it closes off the road and sends in the Buffalo, Bryan added. If an IED is confirmed, the unit marks the coordinates and calls for the explosive ordnance disposal unit to neutralize the device.

“The more explosives we find, the fewer there are out there to kill or maim Soldiers,” said SGT Michael Cochran, a gunner in the battalion. “It’s a dangerous job, but it needs to be done.”

The convoy patrol travels at a relatively slow speed, because if it drives too fast, “by the time we see a device it’ll be too late to stop before it goes off on us or the next vehicle,” said Bryan. “We need to keep a slow, steady pace. And and if we suspect something, we call in the Buffalo.”

Bryan said once members of the team get their minds on the job and start the mission, their focus is on the road. A .50-caliber machine gunner protects each of the vehicles.

Normally the Trailblazers cruise the routes looking for explosives, but sometimes they’ll encounter a vehicle they think needs to be searched. Sometimes the decision to do so is based on a tip from someone at an Iraqi traffic checkpoint.

“We do anything we need to do to make the roads safer,” said Cochran. “If we feel we need to pull a vehicle over to search it, we’ll do it, then go back to where we left off, searching the roadside.”

For the Trailblazers of the 467th Engr. Bn., the job has just begun. Since the operation started, countless IEDs have been removed from the streets of Iraq, preventing an untold number of civilian and military casualties, battalion officials said.



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