MovieChat Forums > Bomb Patrol Afganistan (2011) Discussion > Bothered by one aspect of the show..

Bothered by one aspect of the show..

posted 12 years ago by theemaster
1 reply | jump to latest

I like this show.. it's neat.. but what really seems stupid.. is they defuse the bombs and the bomb makers make 2 million more.. basically in a war like that it's "unwinnable"

I guess.. I wonder if the army/whoever.. has thought about camping out special ops on random and selected pieces of road and killing the bomb makers slowly?

Perhaps were not privy to that information..?? but otherwise seems like a exercise in stupidity! Better to just leave Afghanistan.. then fight another war on drugs! :(

Another thing I think could be done.. is to sweep the roads with predators (if there silent) lots of bomb makers could put out of business..

[–] dubyahsrobotminion 12 years ago

Seems stupid is the key phrase here. Things arent always what they 'seem'. It seems or appears to be futile, I get that. But the reality is that the mission makes a huge impact. The numbers, which you really arent going to be privvy to and not something I can provide reference to, are the reality. EOD plucks up 1000s of IEDs each year in AStan. Thats 1000s less for Coalition and Afghan Forces and Civillians to stumple upon. Even if only 10 percent of those 1000s could have caused casualties its worth it. Regardless if the IED makers keep putting them out, it makes a difference.

And to be honest the hunting of IEDs themselves often leads to the parties responsible for placing them. While EOD is out disposing them, Civil Affairs CATs and SF ODAs are out amongst the population finding who put them there. Another reality is that many times and I do mean many, placement is detected and met with direct action. Ground Patrols, both Conventional and SOF type, as well as aerial patrols detect and engage IED placesetters on a constant basis.

One thing that must be said here, is that the people making the bombs are almost never the same people setting the IEDs in place. AQ and the Taliban almost always contract out these kinds of things. That way if the setter is caught or killed in the process it doesnt effect their manpower and it cant lead back to the source. And it must also be said that the effective lessening of IEDs is noticeable as a result of counter-IED operations.

There is a vast amount of technology in place and under development to counter IEDs. The very vehicles used by the Navy EODMU DET in the show have technology for defeating IEDs passively and actively, as well as detecting IEDs either through visual aides or signal/signature sniffing. The show does a very good job of not exposing what is 'what', and how 'what' works. The show does a very good job of making it seem like every IED mission is like the Army calling 911 for their help after physically finding it on their own. While Im quite sure it most likely happens that way more often than not, Im also quite sure EOD has other tricks in their bag.

Warmonger by day, poet by night!