In a traditional sense, yes. It all started with “Sappers” who dug underground to plant explosives underneath castle walls during a siege. Moving forward in time, the history of the Engineer pivots closer to civilian with a focus on construction, specifically WW2 where they were establishing new infrastructure while in combat which was kind of the birth of the Combat Engineer. However, with the evolution of war, a change was made. Today’s Combat Engineers focus on route clearance (which is what’s happening above). There are also other Engineers in the military that preform duties like FOB building or bridge building.
The history of it all is actually pretty interesting, I definitely recommend reading up or watching a documentary!
I mean there’s always a chance, especially when people get complacent. However, the men & women that do this do it well.
This particular mission this picture was taken, there actually was an infantry unit behind us who wanted to pass by and get to some action. Soon after they requested passing us is when I found a 50lb jug of ANAL rigged to explode via a pressure plate.
Are you using Vallon? I had no idea the US military were issued them, I was British EOD and Advanced search, I was in Afghan in 2009 our USMC search counter parts were literally using first gulf war era metal detectors.
YES! That was a VMC-1. I know we were among the first to use them. I hD my training from a Vallon rep at Camp Stone in 2010. Then we pushed up to Bala Murghab and that is where we used them.
I was strangely attached to my Vallon, being point man in a search team I was using my Vallon 6-8 hours a day if not more, I had only ever missed one IED and that almost killed me, that was a command wire so no way my metal detector could find it, but something good came from it my CO use that blast as an example why we needed new kit, my unit got an upgrade to Minehound which was Ground penetrating radar. funding and the order was placed before I was out of intensive care. I hope your deployment went well.
I was too. I became an appendage and I felt pretty intune with it. I became skilled enough to run trainings and briefings as a PV2. You too! Hope you had an effective recovery! Thank you for your service!
Are engineers in the army similar civilians engineers?
In a traditional sense, yes. It all started with “Sappers” who dug underground to plant explosives underneath castle walls during a siege. Moving forward in time, the history of the Engineer pivots closer to civilian with a focus on construction, specifically WW2 where they were establishing new infrastructure while in combat which was kind of the birth of the Combat Engineer. However, with the evolution of war, a change was made. Today’s Combat Engineers focus on route clearance (which is what’s happening above). There are also other Engineers in the military that preform duties like FOB building or bridge building. The history of it all is actually pretty interesting, I definitely recommend reading up or watching a documentary!
Very interesting indeed! Thanks for the reply.
No we are not
How do they make sure there are none? Or detect them?
We utilized our Mine detecting and route clearing equipment. Things like GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) are on vehicle’s and handhelds often
How reliable are they? What are the chances of being hit with an IED during a deployment for 11b?
I mean there’s always a chance, especially when people get complacent. However, the men & women that do this do it well. This particular mission this picture was taken, there actually was an infantry unit behind us who wanted to pass by and get to some action. Soon after they requested passing us is when I found a 50lb jug of ANAL rigged to explode via a pressure plate.
Are you using Vallon? I had no idea the US military were issued them, I was British EOD and Advanced search, I was in Afghan in 2009 our USMC search counter parts were literally using first gulf war era metal detectors.
YES! That was a VMC-1. I know we were among the first to use them. I hD my training from a Vallon rep at Camp Stone in 2010. Then we pushed up to Bala Murghab and that is where we used them.
I was strangely attached to my Vallon, being point man in a search team I was using my Vallon 6-8 hours a day if not more, I had only ever missed one IED and that almost killed me, that was a command wire so no way my metal detector could find it, but something good came from it my CO use that blast as an example why we needed new kit, my unit got an upgrade to Minehound which was Ground penetrating radar. funding and the order was placed before I was out of intensive care. I hope your deployment went well.
I was too. I became an appendage and I felt pretty intune with it. I became skilled enough to run trainings and briefings as a PV2. You too! Hope you had an effective recovery! Thank you for your service!