Vicious Weapon

" Number one killer. Of US troops on the battlefield but what exactly is. An improvised explosive device known as an IED. How do they war. There's a whole organization. That is devoted to get feeding. I -- these vicious weapons that have killed so many of our young men and women Steve Centanni is live at the Pentagon. What tonight the -- Talked me a little bit about why it's still a growing threat and how they keep changing. And reinvent what."

" Yeah they do although it's fairly simple technology that hasn't changed. The reason it's still such a huge danger double over two years ago and Afghanistan is that there are more American troops in the field more possible targets. And it's so easy for the bad guys to build these things they can. Get the ingredients on the Internet put it together fairly simply -- get up by the side of the road. And they've got fatalities or casualties or injuries. Among American troops and it's happening more and more often. They're very easy to make and there's a joint IED defeat organization within the Pentagon. That's trying to counteract this threat they're working very hard with new training programs. And trying to figure out who best is gonna be suited to finding the danger in defusing it before it can become a fatality --"

" Looking at the stunning video these explosions and you know the biggest question is perhaps. How can they be detected these weapons are we getting better at detecting them in defusing them in the field. So that our troops don't ride over them in a truck and and -- have what happened on that video happen again."

" Exactly that's what they're working on and -- training the troops to do that they also have technology -- two ways to go about this one as the technology. They have things that go out in front of a patrol. Vehicles called a buffalo big go -- hold very strong -- mine resistant vehicles that can take the force of an explosion. And it has a remote controlled arm on the front they can reach out and actually find dig up and defuse some of these things. But technology is one thing and just. Plain old common sense is the other situational awareness the more the troops are aware of their environment what subtle changes might have taken place. Along a patrol route that weren't there yesterday. Things like that anything out of place there's one sergeant major working on this program. Who -- talked about it and we can take a listen if we have time to what he had to say about who's best suited to find these dangers."

" on the Turkey hunter. They found within guys did a better job locating. In detecting IDs. And I think it's because they they grew up in area. They go out to go continent if you have been -- hundred Turkey and that's that's a very tough feat due to sit some place he still. In scan your whole area."

" And people who grew up in the inner city also more aware of their environment and a -- major Burnett knows what he's talking about. He's been and controls that were hit by IED's forty times nineteen of -- more directly. They lived to tell about it Steve Centanni thank you very much for the big issue in the."