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Marines Use Humvee To Push VBIED... It Explodes
Published 3 years ago
A video reportedly filmed in Iraq in 2005 shows Marines using one of their Humvees to push a suspected VBIED (car bomb) off the road, and it explodes.
This video may appear to show a boneheaded decision, and it does, but it's easy to criticize these guys from behind a keyboard or phone screen. In Iraq, broken down cars along the roadway are in abundance. Even if you're certain they are not rigged with explosives, you still need to get them off the road, or they will be armed by insurgents within a few hours.
If you were to call EOD to investigate every suspicious vehicle, you wouldn't get very far on your 12 hour patrol. After calling EOD, it would take them at least an hour to get spun up before they can leave the wire, and you would also need to find an available unit to escort them to the site, which isn't easy since every combat unit is either refitting or on a specific mission. It would then take several hours for EOD to investigate and reduce the possible device. Meanwhile, you have your own objectives to complete on your patrol, so why not just push it off the road and continue mission? That is the mindset we are looking at here.
The VBIED in the video must've been wirelessly command detonated, and explodes in a fiery blast that is more visually stunning than it is militarily effective. The lone occupant of the Humvee, the driver, escapes unharmed, but then the Marines must scramble to remove sensitive items from the burning vehicle before the ammunition starts cooking off. The Humvee is a complete loss, but no Marines were injured in the incident.