Aug 21
This morning, I rode in a vehicle that was intentionally driven through a minefield—seriously.
Bagram Airfield, home to more than 20,000 American troops and one of the largest Coalition bases in Afghanistan, is also the dumping ground for more than three decades’ worth of land mines and unexploded ordinance (UXO)—some left behind by Soviet troops after their disastrous war here, others planted by the fleeing Taliban. Now the soldiers of the base’s Mine Action Center (MAC) and their contractors are tasked with making more than 1.2 million square meters of land on the base mine-free. Said 2LT Scott Walters of the MAC, “Seven or eight years into this war, you’d think an airfield like this would be cleared, but it’s not. We still have pockets where land mines are located that we need to clean out and allow for new construction here and for the expansion of Bagram Airfield.” Added UXO expert Richard Weaver of MAC contractor RONCO, “The bad thing about the mines is that they’re randomly placed, and that is a problem because you just don’t know where they are. So we actually have to go in and clear an area and assume that there are mines there, because you just don’t know. And we have run across mines in unmarked areas.” Yet in other places, mines lay clearly exposed just a few hundred yards from the runway, and foreign contractors with metal detectors, special vests, helmets, and clear visors probe the soil as fighter jets streak past.
The first step in clearing these danger-laden fields is taken in massive, 11-ton armored vehicles called Casspirs. The Casspir is a South African creation developed in the 1980s as a mine-proof troop carrier. Its v-shaped single-hull design allows it deflect mine blasts, and is the inspiration for the MRAP of today’s American military. The soldiers of the MAC and their contractors use the Casspirs at Bagram to make initial forays into suspected mined areas, intentionally rolling its heavy metal wheels over spots where they think explosives have been hidden. Explained 2LT Walters, “The CASSPIR will roll over anything that’s on the surface or near the surface, and reduce some of the threats before we get any people going in there and demining the old fashioned way with mine detection equipment and old fashioned probes.” When LT Walters offered me the chance to ride along this morning, I had to accept.
The Casspir rides roughly like most armored vehicles, bouncing over bumps in the uneven terrain surrounding the airfield. We drove around for several minutes before hitting our first anti-personnel mine, then struck six more in quick succession. The noise made by the small blasts sounds like a combination of a loud “pop,” coupled with someone banging a hammer on the outside of the metal hull. The sound is followed quickly by a rising cloud of dust, about the consistency of talcum powder, which envelops the vehicle and settles inside through the open gunner’s turret on top. When I asked Walters to describe in his words how it feels to drive over a mine and cause it to detonate, he said, “You get a nice little boom there. It’s more noise than it is percussion. It’s an interesting experience, something you can take home and tell your friends about. ‘Hey, I rolled over a land mine.’ My count is up to about 85 now. I don’t know too many of my friends who can say that.”
My count is seven. I think I’m good for awhile.
Until next time - Michael
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