- Reaction score
- 63
- Points
- 530
McGREGOR RANGE, N.M. -- A mound of sand the size of a small loaf of bread blended into a McGregor Range road on Friday, looking to the untrained eye like every other wave and ridge along the well-trodden path.
As about 20 soldiers from the Third Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, marched by, boots landed on one side and then the other until one hit directly on it.
A loud bang came from the side of the road and a starburst of sparks shot into the sky.
In Afghanistan, where the soldiers are headed in September, there would have been casualties, said Sgt. Juan Santana, an instructor with the 5th Armored Brigade, 1st Army Division West, which runs the range's training operations. The simulated roadside bomb was what the Army calls a "victim-operated improvised explosive device."
About 3,000 Canadian soldiers with the 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group traveled to Fort Bliss and began a month-long training routine on Thursday. The Canadians transported about 500 pieces of equipment, including tanks and light armored vehicles, or LAVs, the rough equivalent of a U.S. Stryker vehicle and the Canadian Army's workhorse.
About 2,500 of those soldiers will deploy to Kandahar, where they will form small teams to embed with and train Afghan istan security forces. "IEDs are the biggest problem we have in Afghanistan," said Lt. Andrew Hennessy, the 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group spokesman.
The bomb's trigger was fashioned from two hacksaw blades separated by thin pieces of wood at each end. Each blade is connected to one lead on a detonator, which is connected to a pipe bomb that would have been filled with explosives. The hacksaw blades were wrapped in a white plastic bag and buried in the sand. The weight of a human easily pushes the blades into contact, detonating the bomb.
On Friday, the soldier's misstep creates a harmless, but startling, bang. However, in the "after-action review," Santana points out that the unit's leadership was close enough to have been killed or injured by the explosion. He points out the importance of having a plan to regroup in such a case.
Maj. Alain Carrier, one of a group of Canadian instructors who also traveled to Fort Bliss, tells the soldiers not to get bunched up. "When there are more casualties, there is more work and less boots on the ground," he said.
Back home at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, in Ontario, Friday's temperature was minus-40 degrees. The base normally is blanketed by 3 or 4 feet of snow at this time of year, Hennessy said, and is in a heavily forested area.
"That's why we come down here," he said. "We can get the big pieces moving around."
Pvt. Mike Flood, a light armored vehicle driver, added another reason -- learning to drive in the sand. "It's a lot different," he said. "I normally have it in four-wheel drive, but to get through the deep sand, I had to put it in eight-wheel drive."
The Canadians are taking advantage of expansions on the Fort Bliss ranges in preparation for the arrival of thousands of 1st Armored Division soldiers as the division relocates from Germany. The training "lanes" have been lengthened, have been made more realistic and always are changing to mirror the ingenuity of coalition enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"I stand up in the morning and I look at the mountains and I think I'm in Afghanistan," said Sgt. Maj. Brad Montgomery, a Canadian instructor.
As the day progresses, the Canadians find their rhythm.
Down the road, in the distance, one soldier notices a 5-ton truck on the side of the road, and asks Santana, "Hey sergeant, is that vehicle in play?" Santana says it is, and the soldiers discover it is wired with artillery shells. They acquire it without detonating it.
"Good job, excellent execution," Santana said, adding that the soldier who first spotted it "was looking, not only in front of him, but out to the distance."
"What you just found is a diamond," Carrier said, explaining that a military forensics team can find evidence such as fingerprints that would help track down the bomb-makers.
"Anytime you find an intact IED, it's like being the hunter instead of the hunted."
Chris Roberts may be reached at chrisr@elpasotimes.com; 546-6136.
Link to Pic's
http://gallery.elpasotimes.com/photoweek/photosUNIT/
![medium_0116140_4[1].jpg](/forums/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fgallery.elpasotimes.com%2Fphotoweek%2FphotosUNIT%2Fmedium_0116140_4%5B1%5D.jpg&hash=731d1c8080a0ba158f6837de55ce61f4)
A military vehicle from the 3rd Battalion Royal Canadian Regiment makes its way through the IED course at McGregor Range Friday. Victor Calzada / El Paso Times.
