IEDs in Afghanistan: The Deadliest Weapon

Bryon Pitts Reports On The Dangerous Mission of Clearing IEDs in Afghanistan

(CBS)  Last month was the most lethal yet for American forces in Afghanistan.

And most of the Americans were killed by the deadliest weapon in the enemy's arsenal: the roadside bomb, or IED, an improvised explosive device.

IEDs killed more than 40 American and coalition forces in October alone, up from five two years ago.

In response, the U.S. military has gone on the offensive.

Search and destroy missions are carried out across Afghanistan by a small army of elite units called "Task Force Paladin."

Only volunteers are allowed to serve on Paladin teams because the mission is so dangerous.

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It was after midnight last month at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. President Barack Obama went to the base as America's war dead came home.

Eight of the flag-covered caskets contained the remains of Americans who had been killed by roadside bombs in Afghanistan.

"It's been a terrorist tool of choice for many, many years," Col. Jeffrey Jarkowsky told 60 Minutes correspondent Byron Pitts.

Col. Jarkowsky was in charge of Task Force Paladin when we visited Afghanistan.

"'Look at us. We can kill, we can maim, we can destroy when we want to, and the Americans can't stop us,'" Pitts remarked.

"That's their intent, yes," Jarkowsky agreed.

The colonel says his squads are having more success finding those bombs. We spent two days on the road with Army Captain Dave Foster and his Paladin team. They were on patrol for less than an hour when they discovered their first bomb. It would not be the last.

"The IED that we found had a 107 millimeter rocket connected to a command wire. As the team was doing dismount and ops they found the command wire. A 107 millimeter rocket has approximately about eight pounds of explosives in the warhead," Capt. Foster explained.

They spotted it near a family's home. Staff Sergeant Max Cabrera found and then disconnected the command wire - or detonation wire - disabling the bomb.

Six Paladin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since 2008 on similar missions.

Despite the risk to himself, Staff Sgt. Cabrera picked up the bomb, and to avoid civilian casualties, he carried it behind an abandoned building and blew it up.

"You get scared, but when you got so many things going through your mind, you just don't even know what to concentrate on sometimes," Cabrera told Pitts.

Asked if he's scared, he said, "Yes sir. Everybody is. Lets you know you're still alive."

Cabrera is 26. His home is on the island of Saipan, in the West Pacific.

Asked what it takes to do the job of disabling bombs, Capt. Foster told Pitts, "A belief that you are making a difference and a little bit of craziness."

"A little bit of crazy goes a long way in Afghanistan," Pitts remarked.

"Yes sir. It does," Foster said.

[Stillfighting]

Incomplete reporting. Go figure. These guys are on the tip of the spear and they are collecting the information/intelligence to put these murdering SOB's back in their hole. This is a multi echelon, multi level fight that includes the brigade combat teams and a host of reachback that will ultimately mitigate and defeat the threat and provide the US and the Afghan Gov't with viable options. Defeatest attitudes and mentality are NOT what our troops should be hearing from a homeland perspective and thank God that they continue to do what they do despite mainline media that would slant to a story that they wish to portay for political purposes unrelated to National objectives.

[mysteriousjz]

A Question: Who is in whose country, who is occupying and bombing whose territory?

[rwsmith29456]

Is this NEWS? We've known that for years.

[bubbadubba]

The Republican plan for victory in Afghanistan, keep sending troops until the enemy runs out of IED's killing and wounding them (and innocent civilians of course).
No joke. Republicans are EVIL brownshirt neo nazi thugs.

[pierave1234]

Stop praising CBS/60 minutes for this story!!!

Yes the subject matter of the story was amazing, the fact that these men volunteer for such a dangerous mission gives me chills, and I cannot express how thankful I am.

However, this reporter was a jerk. Yes, that is a childish word to describe another person, but it gets my point across. His closing line of questioning was so condescending. He asked questions and then edited the piece to make us believe that soldiers believe the measure of success is going home.

How dare you! You had the opportunity to be with heros, true heros, and that is sound bite you close with? You should be disappointed in yourself, but because your goal is agenda reporting, you are probably patting yourself on the back...how sad.

It is clear you took no time this week to reflect and give thanks to the men and women who fought to make it possible for us to have free speech, and you to have a job.

[eodzzz]

I'm an explosive ordnance disposal technician stationed in southern Afghanistan right now. We are a part of Task Force Paladin and roll out everyday with Route clearance patrols just like the ones in this story. We drive, they dig, they find an IED, we take care of it. I've read a lot of people's comments on here saying there is no point to us being over here, and that these patrols we do are especially pointless. But understand that by us clearing these routes, we save a great deal of lives, and if you think a soldier surviving the day does not equal success than there is something seriously wrong. People back home can argue all day about what the goal is for us being here in Afghanistan. But you ask any one of us who put our necks on the line everyday and the goal is to make it back home. So please take all of your negativity and your insults somewhere else. To you our counter IED operations may not make a difference. But to the locals who get hurt by them, the soldiers who are killed by them, and the families of those people...we are making all the difference in the world.

And to the families, thank you for your support. It means everything to us over here.

(By the way come to Afghanistan, spend some time in the country side, then let's talk about paving all of these roads)

[Mandella1979]

Thank you for saying this. My husband is one of those route clearance guys. I'm proud of what he (and you) are doing--saving lives every day. It's easy for these people to think of all the solutions in the world as they sit in front of their computer screens and sleep in their cozy beds at night. God bless you, all the men and women over there, and the families who are keeping the home fires burning.

[steverenoj1]

Hey, ignorance should be ignored. Unless someone has been where you are at there is no reason to heed ugly comments. I for one believe that no matter what anyone's position is on the actual involvement of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, that you guys over there are fantastic. Keep on trucking. Don't sweat the small minded commentaries. You are heroes.

[db612]

My son is a Marine and just returned from a deployment in Afghanistan. I would like to say "thank you" to ALL those who support our deployed troops with your thoughts and prayers. They mean so much to us families who have loved one's serving over there. It is a very stressful situation, but I am so very proud of my son and the millions of others all over the world who willingly serve and make so many sacrifices.

Most of us are too weak to do what you do. God Bless each and every one.

Thank you CBS for a great story.

[RudyHarburg]

So a $1,000,000 armored bomb detector was destroyed by a $10 bomb ? 3 US soldiers were injured. The US commander declared a partial victory. Waste is astronomical when an agency (like the multibillion dollar agency JIEDDO ? Joint IED Defeat Organization) has virtually unlimited access to other people?s money.
Imagine a few thousand of the US troops already in Afghanistan, with night vision - setting up hidden cameras in probable locations - infrared, conventional, ? - cameras watching cameras ? catching people hunting our cameras - complimentary detectors? . Imagine the gargantuan, comprehensive, integrated observation network that could be set up for a billion dollars if a cost effective approach were taken (like if you were spending your own money).
Smart people within JIEDDO have likely hatched simple cost effective solutions ? maybe better and cheaper than a computer integrated satellite/camera/detector system. But JIEDDO has a budget to spend ? and a bigger budget to justify - little incentive to find a lasting solution to the road side bomb problem ? and certainly no incentive to find low cost solutions - infinanty more incentive to blunt the the Government Accountability Office.
Like dealing with the Colorado DOT a few years back. They were planning to build a temporary road around a mountain to divert traffic so they could hang lights in an arch shaped tunnel. Showed them a plan for an arch shaped rolling scaffold with brakes - bearing on the unused walks on each side of the tunnel. The scaffold would have allowed two men to hang the lights in a week without interrupting traffic. The CDOT guys got a big laugh - actually didn?t hesitate to point out that the project wasn't realy about hanging lights. Their job was to spend and justify bigger budgets.
Of course they cut down trees and built the temporary one way road, and backed up traffic for four and a half months while mammoth crews completed the project. Likewise, we can probably expect that JIEDDO will stifle any creative solutions and continue to send $1000,000 Goliaths out to battle $10 Davids.

[ridedaup]

You seem like a pretty smart person.....but its to bad that all you know how to do is complain about other peoples decisions, instead of getting involved in the solutions. What should the soldiers be doing then? How should this war be won? I'm guessing by how much you complain about the money spent, you make good money, probably upper class, and hate paying your taxes that go towards soldiers safety???

[morgan378]

This is why the offensives need to be maintained along with the surveilance of these roads. The offensives push the militants away from roads being used mainly by our military and makes planting of IED's dangerous for these marauders. Helicopter fly overs, upper air reconnaisance and patrols are the only way to keep our troops safe from these devises. The Americans in WWII would "cage" the area on both sides of the roads with a steel mesh that prevented the mining of the roads and even made previously planted mines less dangerous when detonated from the main supply beaches of Normandy. The Germans were very effective at planting mines that would go off two or three weeks after a road was being used. Why we can't designate some of these roads for such treatment I'll never know. Paving and heavy steel corridors should be used on main roads to prevent or at least help detect these killers.

[Califsue]

Thank you 60 Minutes for this amazing piece of journalism. To our military personel - be safe. I am very touched by your bravery and loyalty.