Letters from Iraq ~ The Greatest Threat
by Tate Shaneyfelt
The greatest threat we face here are IEDs' or VBIEDs'. An IED is an improvised explosive device, and a VBIED is the same thing just in a vehicle. The bad guys can't fight us toe to toe, so they plant bombs targeting our patrols. Under the road, the road shoulder, between traffic barriers, guardrails (which we have removed), medians, trash beside the road, trash in the road, power poles, on the back of street signs, overpasses, etc... Then there is the vehicle born IED. A car or truck is loaded with explosives and then parked or driven near our patrols and detonated.
In the picture is a 155mm artillery shell casing. This is a choice ordinance of our enemy due to the massive amount of explosive it contains. Just one of these 155s' can create a crater waist deep. Five shells can toss a 70 ton tank like a childs toy. The blast radius of an IED of this size is enormous.
In rural areas IEDs' of this type often cause more civilian casualties than military. Especially the VBIEDs'. Civilian traffic is advised by signs in arabic on our hum-vs' to stay back 100 meters, but in the cities and villages a close proximaty can't be helped. Its on these streets we have to be most wary of VBIEDs'. Not just for our sake, but for the innocents. A pick-up truck with six 155s' detonated in a rural area can inflict dozens, even hundreds of civilian casualties. People going
about their daily routines suddenly and viciously killed by an enemy we both share.
These IEDs' are detonated with dozens of methods. Cell phones, portable phones, handheld
radios, command wire (copper wire similar to guitar string that is extremely hard to see from a vehicle), key fobs, and remote control toys are just a few. Detonation methods vary just as much
as the charges they control.
I can't elaborate on our tactics of dealing with this threat except to say that the equipment we use
is nothing short of amazing when you consider the vast number of these bombs that are dealt with
on a daily basis. Technology and training are taking their toll. Our armor is second to none just like the men and women who use it.
These 155mm rounds are just one type of explosive the enemy uses. There are quite literally hundreds of different explosives and explosive agents used against us.

Shaneyfelt,Tate SPC
B Co. 1STB 4ID
Unit#50001
APO AE 09378-0001