80,000 cans of Silly String to the troops

[ZenGum]

Originally Posted by tw

Mama is still fighting Vietnam war IEDs. Today's IEDs use remote control radios, buried wires, infrared transceivers, and optical sensors. Trip wires were how another set of insurgents defeated the US Army by not confronting that Army in combat.

I thought that was punji stakes.
And trip wires to mines (usually stolen from the US minefields).
and supplying them with drugs
and sniping
and...
and...

I'm not sure what your point is.
If it is that the soldiers don't need silly string because the insurgents don't use trip wires, well I'm not in Iraq so I can't confirm, but it seems the soldiers want silly string so I suppose there must trip wire bombs about.

[tw]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

I'm not sure what your point is.

Point would be obvious if so many front page articles describing IEDs were read. In a long list of the technologies, trip wires are not even listed. What trips IEDs? Some of the more common include pressure, buried wires, remote controls using everything including toy remote controls, cell phone, and anything else that uses radio waves, optical sensors, magnetic detectors .... Some IEDs have an optical sensor to identify which target should be destroyed. Some also include delay functions. Mama is fighting Nam - not "Mission Accomplished". Nam used obsolete 'trip wire' triggers.

Tools used to find IEDs including U-2 aircraft, multi-spectrum satellites, and even long sticks hung in front of humvees hoping to trip IEDs prematurely. Before a soldier can get close enough to spray silly string, he would probably be dead. Easier is to throw a grenade. IEDs clearly are not using obsolete ''Vietnam era" technology. Wireless is only one in a long list of IED triggers. Trip wires do not even appear in that list. Yes, they are even using buried fiber optics to identify the targetted vehicle before exploding it.

The point is obvious. Silly string to detect bombs? Useless. Obviously useless. Mama apparently did not understand what they kept telling her.

[glatt]

we all know that IEDs are often triggered remotely by a wireless control, tw. Especially the roadside ones. But there are sometimes others that use a trip wire, mainly inside buildings, as Bruce already said.

See this discussion, for example.

While in Iraq (on dismounted infantry patrols) we would sometimes come across areas that we deemed suitable for someone to plant one of those horrible little mines in with a good tripwire.
Gentlemen, you will not use silly string when breaching a room or clearing a building, but when time is available to be careful, believe me it is very useful.
Case in point, my platoon was doing a patrol in an area of Bahgdad, clearing buildings for a convoy to move through a couple hours later. When we would enter a suspicious building (not that any of them weren't) we would sometimes spray the silly string in front of the doorway or around the building to check for tripwires. My commander was in the area one day and saw a yound specialist using the stuff. He threatened the young soldier with an article 15 for spraying flammable substances around, that was until the soldier pointed out the silly string magically floating in air just before a doorway. The silly string had landed on top of a trip wire and give us a heads up on it's location. You won't regularly notice fine fishing line run across the front of a doorway, unless something lets you know it's there.
NO you will not use silly string 24/7 in your AO to recognize ied threats, but when it saves the life of a young soldier (and maybe some higher command) it is a cheap investment.

Posted by: John | August 04, 2007 at 01:49 AM