Why defuse bombs - BLOW THEM UP !

just heard a another soldier got blown up defusing a bomb.

very stupid.

why bother?

just shoot it.

the number of people getting blown up is just ridiculous

some people trying to be brave but very stupid and ending up dead stupid.


anyone know why these people defusing bombs?

why?

Why defuse bombs instead of just detonating them? The main reason is that it's a heck of a lot easier to obtain evidence from intact bombs than it is from ones that have been blown to smithereens. Bomb disposal units defuse bombs and inspect them for clues as to their origin. "Who made the bomb? Where did the components come from?" These are important questions.

Well if you don't at least examine it then how do you know weather it is wired up to any other bombs in the area? - Sometimes with things like land mines - and maybe IED's I'm not sure - they are wired in groups, so one mine goes off and 4 or 5 others go off taking out many people and causing chaos.

If you simply shoot the bomb you've seen you may be right next to another that you have not seen.

Also as the above poster said they need the evidence and knoledge of the design etc.

The real question is why don't they use robots that can defuse them from a distance?

Seems more logical.

reply to post by Now_Then


Also, there may be property or infrastructure that may be damaged as a result of said explosion. I am unaware of the exact details of this soldiers demise, but the bomb could have been on a bridge, in a village etc.

The soldier the OP is referring to isn't "stupid" at all. The guy had 32 defused IED's under his belt before this one went off in his face.

reply to post by ALLis0NE


The British Army has robots, they're colloquially called "wheelbarrows". They were used extensively against IRA bombs during the Troubles. However, I don't believe they are suitable against IED's or for the terrain in Afghanistan.

Originally posted by beckybecky
just heard a another soldier got blown up defusing a bomb.

very stupid.

Not stupid at all - possibly the most nerve wrenching job on the planet.

These bombs are disposed to save lives and as StuMason has mentioned they will be examined for trace components that could link them to certian factories or groups for instance.

It's called Intelligence gathering.

Take this guy for instance.

www.armchairgeneral.com...

A British Army bomb disposal specialist who became a legend by risking his life to defuse more than 60 Taliban roadside bombs was killed last weekend in Afghanistan while on his final mission before starting leave, the Times of London reported.

Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid, 30, — nicknamed "Oz" — died instantly when an improvised explosives device (IED) he was trying to disarm blew up

Schmid's exploits were described as "legendary," having defused one in every 19 IEDs found by British troops since his tour in Afghanistan began last June [2007], senior officers told the Daily Mail.

In one 24-hour operation, military officials said Schmid found and disarmed 31 roadside bombs. He deployed to Afghanistan in June, and had rendered safe 64 IEDs in that time.

This man alone has quite possibly saved hundreds of lives - civilian and military.

Go tell his family he's stupid.

reply to post by ALLis0NE


They do, but there is a limit to what a robot can do and often a bomb is suspected so requires investigation. The British use a thing called "the wheelbarrow" and perfected its use in Northern Ireland against another bunch of terrorists.

As to risking life to recover bombs, this is essential. As already stated, it provides information on how the bomb was constructed et al, but crucially recovery will help determine countermeasures.

I feel for the brave soldiers who do this type of work. My father who had three tours in Northern Ireland once told me a story, which I won't repeat, but it said alot about the character and fortitude of this branch of the military.

Regards

Originally posted by mr-lizard

Originally posted by beckybecky
just heard a another soldier got blown up defusing a bomb.

very stupid.

Not stupid at all - possibly the most nerve wrenching job on the planet.

These bombs are disposed to save lives and as StuMason has mentioned they will be examined for trace components that could link them to certian factories or groups for instance.

It's called Intelligence gathering.

Take this guy for instance.

www.armchairgeneral.com...

A British Army bomb disposal specialist who became a legend by risking his life to defuse more than 60 Taliban roadside bombs was killed last weekend in Afghanistan while on his final mission before starting leave, the Times of London reported.

Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid, 30, — nicknamed "Oz" — died instantly when an improvised explosives device (IED) he was trying to disarm blew up

Schmid's exploits were described as "legendary," having defused one in every 19 IEDs found by British troops since his tour in Afghanistan began last June [2007], senior officers told the Daily Mail.

In one 24-hour operation, military officials said Schmid found and disarmed 31 roadside bombs. He deployed to Afghanistan in June, and had rendered safe 64 IEDs in that time.

This man alone has quite possibly saved hundreds of lives - civilian and military.

Go tell his family he's stupid.

no need to disarm them.blow them up.the villages are just made up of dirt.

afganistan is a pile of rubble anyway from years of fighting by the natives.

intelligence gathering is pointless.all the enemy has to do is use american components.bombs are not rocket science.they can easily implicate others by using disinformation and components are freely available from tv sets and computers ,etc


this defusing is just nonsense.

false bravado.

i think these people do it to get kudos from their "mates" who egg them on until they get blown up....

it is called posturing.

animals do it all the time...monkeys too.

gangsters in gangs or groups .

..posturing look at me "ain't i cool..."

well you are very dead..how cool is that ?

your posturing killer "mates shed" a few tears at your funeral...have a drink and tomorrow is another day...

reply to post by beckybecky


Ah, I think you are trying to get people agitated by your disrespect for people who perform a role which you could not hope to understand. I would respectfully suggest that you do some research on bomb disposal which may help educate you.

As William Inge said (I quote loosely) - "The aim of education is knowledge, not the facts, but the values"

reply to post by beckybecky


Wow, not only a complete lack of understanding for what the EOD Regiment do but you also show complete contempt for the local civilians caught in the middle of this mess. What a horrible person you are.

Captain Daniel Read, the man who died yesterday, had defused 32 devices in his tour and was even wounded by one when trying to disarm it, only to return to duty in under a month and be back on the front line as soon as his injuries healed.

Whatever you may think, this man and others like him have saved hundreds of NATO, ANA and civilian lives by their actions and, ultimately, their sacrifice.

Originally posted by ALLis0NE
The real question is why don't they use robots that can defuse them from a distance?

Seems more logical.

Haha I guess that robots cost...while human soldiers are for free

Many bombs need to be defused because their destructive force would be so great that it makes more sense to defuse it than to blow it up and risk killing everyone and destroying every building in a city block area. While property damage is of no real concern in war, this attitude goes out the window if the bomb is located in a large apartment complex where people reside. In addition, you might have a nuclear, chemical or biohazard bomb that would only harm someone if allowed to explode and if thats the case you would want to defuse rather than just blowing it up from a distance.

When any bomb is located near certain structures with the potential for human loss would be greater if blown up, it is usually decided to defuse. Besides, when youre a fresh EOD bomb ordinance guy, it takes a lot of bomb defusing to become a respected professional where you can pretty much defuse anything without getting blown up.

Sometimes even the best pros discover or try to defuse bombs that are booby trapped and or are detonated by some secondary trigger like a cell phone. Usually they are detonated only after the response team arrives and begins to defuse the bomb. The terrorist usually blows the bomb when it can affect the most loss of human life or injury to American soldiers. Usually when they are clustered around in a group.

I hope this helps to better understand why some bombs are defused and others are blown up. There may be lots of reasons, but sometimes its just plain old subjective opinion. The luck or bad luck choice that introduces you to continued life or instantaneous death.

reply to post by MaxBlack


[SNIP]
I am not disrespectful to the "brave" soldiers who follow orders blindly to impress their fellow posturers and superiors.I am disrespectful to their stupidity in being egged on by their fellow mates and being killed.

A program on the BBC called q.e.d SHOWED how an explosive device can be neutralized WITHOUT causing blast damage.

What they did was surround the device with ordinary plastic bags filled with ordinary water and then set the explosive device off.

no damage was caused to the cardboard paper simulating human skin surrounding the plastic bags!

look it up in google.

The heavy water absorbed the heat and blast.

water has a very high specific heat capacity of 4200 joules/kg/degree celsius.

more proof is the recent bum bomber who hid a bomb up his ass so he could kill the arab prince.the bomb went off but his own body absorbed the blast!

look it up in google.

humans are 70% water.

the soldiers could use the same principles instead of trying to notch up bomb/sex conquests on the bedposts to impress their mates.



Personal attack removed.

please read Courtesy is mandatory

[edit on 14/1/10 by masqua]

reply to post by beckybecky


So water bags works for every kind of explosive, in any quantity? Fantastic! Just get some glad bags and some Evian and we're sorted. I guess 9/11 could have been prevented with cling wrap and mustard?

Your ignorance of EOD is bizarre. They are not soldiers egging each other on, but soldiers with a long history of putting themselves first in order to save others.

Your attitude towards EOD soldiers, Afghanistan and the Afghan people disgusts me. It really does.

The EOD teams make devices safe so they can figure out easier ways of disposing of them in the future. They can also learn how and where a bomb was made, not just by the components, but by how it was constructed.

But clearly beckybecky knows more about warfare than the armed forces, so they must be wrong.

Wow.

There are a few techniques that bomb disposal crews use that use water to literally blow the bomb apart before the bomb actually explodes - if that makes sense...

I saw a demonstration on TV where they loaded a car boot up with artillery shells (a typical car bomb by all accounts) - then they basically have a plastic box about the size of a large jerry can - prob held 20 to 30 litres, filled if up with any old water, it had a certain amount of explosive in it also - placed under the car boot (that could be done by robot - but because it was a controlled demo they could do that by hand) and then they blew it!

The shells were flung quite a distance and the detonotator wouldn't of gone off apparently because of the speed that it all happens in - not sure if they use that technique in the real world yet - defiantly impressive.

reply to post by Now_Then


That's all a controlled explosion is - an explosion planned to not detonate the bomb, but to simply separate all the parts sufficiently to prevent the whole thing going up.

The use of water does sound interesting, though. It does absorb a lot of energy, but the suggestion earlier in the thread to use it to shield against any found bombs is ridiculous, simply down to the unknown strength of the explosives being dealt with, and pure logistics.

reply to post by davesidious


Well clearly it's a controlled explosion! I was just noting the use of water to transfer the energy from the explosive to literally push the bomb apart without detonating the actual bomb -

Originally posted by davesidious
reply to post by beckybecky

 

So water bags works for every kind of explosive, in any quantity? Fantastic! Just get some glad bags and some Evian and we're sorted. I guess 9/11 could have been prevented with cling wrap and mustard?

Your ignorance of EOD is bizarre. They are not soldiers egging each other on, but soldiers with a long history of putting themselves first in order to save others.

Your attitude towards EOD soldiers, Afghanistan and the Afghan people disgusts me. It really does.

The EOD teams make devices safe so they can figure out easier ways of disposing of them in the future. They can also learn how and where a bomb was made, not just by the components, but by how it was constructed.

But clearly beckybecky knows more about warfare than the armed forces, so they must be wrong.

Wow.

How long is it? Does it have voices in it?


What they did was surround the device with ordinary plastic bags filled with ordinary water and then set the explosive device off.

no damage was caused to the cardboard paper simulating human skin surrounding the plastic bags!

look it up in google.

The heavy water absorbed the heat and blast.

water has a very high specific heat capacity of 4200 joules/kg/degree celsius.

You adjust the size and number of water bags after estimating the amount of explosive.Can you not figure it out.Have you ever cooked in the kitchen,you adjust the amount of ingredients according to serving needs... obviously not,too busy in the pub posturing

Your reference to 9/11 is designed to to pour scorn on me and has nothing to with my LIFE SAVING POST but if you insist waffling on about the twin towers then it is true if they had been encased in water bags then they would have survived and nobody would have died as the water bags would have absorbed the incoming energy.

I urge anyone here who is smart and understands this to forward this vital life saving information to the soldiers.

As regards my attitude to the natives of Afghanistan it is a lawless country with the ganglord natives in a endless war with anybody and everybody and has been like this for thousands of years and always will be.



I urge anyone here who is smart and understands this to forward this vital life saving information to the soldiers.

[edit on 18-1-2010 by beckybecky]

reply to post by Now_Then


Indeed! Water is very useful for that. It's much safer than using auxiliary explosives to separate the bomb components, for obvious reasons

reply to post by beckybecky


Unless you know the strength of the explosives, you can't possibly estimate how much water you'll need to suppress the blast. Also, carrying tankers full of water around in the desert is not always a good idea, especially if people are trying to kill you. My reference to 9/11 was indeed to pour scorn on you, as your rather pathetic guesses as to how EOD soldiers have been wrong over the last 50 years. Encasing a bomb in water bags is no guarantee. What if there is a secondary charge that detonates after the primary explosion? What if there is a shaped charge that will simply tear right through the water, skewering the EOD worker with shards of copper? What if it's a dirty bomb, and the explosion launches a column of irradiated steam into the atmosphere, which rains down on the surrounding countryside, and seeps into the ground water? It's impossible to know the exact nature of a bomb when it's armed and in the field. It has to be disarmed then forensically examined to know the composition of the explosives, the detonation device, any booby traps, and any other nasty surprises it has in store. Your cowboy-esque notion of just riding in on horseback, throwing some water on the bomb, blowing it up, then riding off into the sunset is fantastically ignorant. You clearly know nothing of EOD, and yet wade in with almighty arrogance, condemning the work, and character, of EOD soldiers the world over.

The soldiers know about water. They choose not to use it as you prescribe, as they know more than you.

Read your Afghan history. Please. You are so mindlessly ignorant of it it's disgusting. 'Thousands of years'? 'Endless war with anybody and everybody'? Wow that's totally incorrect. It wasn't even a country until 1747, and in its existence has been attacked countless times by external players (and never declared war on anyone else). Poverty and being used as a buffer state (hosting various proxy wars in the process) between the west and the Soviets has screwed the country over, but that doesn't matter to you.

You, after all, know more about everything than everyone else in the world. Afghan history, EOD, you name it - beckybecky is the master.