Topic: Quick Thinking Saves Troops From Iraq Bomb

Team Infidel

Arizona Republic (Phoenix)
February 24, 2007
By Lauren Frayer, Associated Press
BAQOUBA, Iraq - A grainy video screen cast an eerie green light on those of us huddled in the back of a Bradley fighting vehicle, rumbling down roads through the heart of insurgent territory.
There was no moon and no light, only a thermal imaging display from the gunner's turret above.
"I see a mortar round partially buried on the left," said Spc. Brandon Osborne, the gunner.
The vehicle halted.
Something shiny protruded from a mound of mud to the side of the road. Could it be a harmless piece of metal? Or a deadly roadside bomb?
The decision about what to do next could spell the difference between life and death. Such decisions face soldiers across Iraq countless times each day.
"There may be a wire there. I think I see one. I'm not sure," Osborne, 25, said in a steady voice.
Minutes before, we had been groggy passengers en route back to a base after a long patrol. Now we were fully alert while the soldiers pondered what to do.
The decision would not be made lightly. Four soldiers from the unit, the 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, had died the previous week from a blast on a road like this one.
"I think you can avoid it if you pull all the way to the right," said Sgt. Albresie Williams, 27, from Tylertown, Miss.
On Williams' order, the vehicle lurched. I braced myself. The soldier across from me closed his eyes.
We made it. There was no explosion.
Later, an explosives team retraced our path and found a large mortar round wired to explode. They safely detonated the bomb the next day.

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