On the road with a bomb-hunting unit in Afghanistan | 60 Minutes Archive
In a Nutshell
Task Force Paladin bomb-hunting units in Afghanistan face IEDs that caused 75% of U.S. casualties and cost as little as $10 to make. In two days, a Michigan National Guard patrol found five IEDs, suffered three injuries, and had two vehicles damaged or destroyed while traveling at 2 mph along roads near the Pakistan border. Success is measured by soldiers returning home alive rather than by eliminating the enemy who quickly replace each bomb found.
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Last month was the most lethal yet for American forces in Afghanistan. Most 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 US 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.
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 contain the remains of Americans who have been killed by roadside bombs in Afghanistan.
It's been a terrorist tool of choice for many, many years.
A terrorist tool. Absolutely.
Colonel Jeffrey Jarowski was in charge of Task Force Paladin when 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.
That's their intent. Yes. We'll have front team again to the west and rear team to the east.
The colonel says his squads are having more success finding those bombs. 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 was found had a 107mm rocket connected to a command wire. As the team was doing dismounting and ops, they found the command wire. 107 millimeter rocket has approximately about eight pounds of explosives in the warhead. 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, Cabrera picked up the bomb and to avoid civilian casualties, he carried it behind that 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.
You are scared.
Yes, sir.
Everybody is. Let you know you're still alive.
Being scared lets you know you're still alive.
Yes, sir.
Sergeant Cerra is 26. His home is on the island of Saipan in the West Pacific.
You talk fast.
Yes, I do, sir.
Well, I guess in your business, you got to think fast, too, right?
Roger, sir.
What does it take to do that job, you think?
A belief that you're making a difference. And a little bit of craziness.
A little bit of crazy goes a long way in Afghanistan.
Yes, sir. It does.
In World War II and Korea, artillery and shrapnel killed more American troops than any other weapon. In Vietnam, it was small arms fire. Here in Afghanistan, it's the roadside bomb that has caused more than 75% of the deaths of American and coalition forces. Were in eastern Afghanistan, post province, walking distance from the Pakistan border, where many of the bomb makers are trained.
You guys know the threat. There's a lot of stuff going on up there.
On this mission, the Paladin squad was working with a Michigan National Guard unit to clear bombs from roads in the area. It's called Route Clearance Patrol, and there are 35 of them in Afghanistan. The Pentagon plans on sending 13 more this winter.
Specialist Christopher Parsons has been a Guardsman for 3 years.
I love the pressure and it puts a lot of pressure on me to make sure I do my job correctly.
What skill does it take to do your job? Honestly, I'm from Michigan, so I love to hunt and that helps a lot.
So whether it's hunting deer in Michigan or hunting IEDs in Afghanistan, same skill set.
Roger.
One of his commanding officers told us, "Deer hunters like Parsons make the best bomb hunters." With his sharp vision, he was able to find one with a trigger smaller than his index finger.
It was a close pin.
30 m away, you're moving at what speed?
About 10 15k. And you saw the clothes pin and thought what?
I thought at first when I thought I thought trip wire right away and so I just started looking more and I saw the wire.
Thanks to Guardsman Parsons, the bomb was destroyed.
The devices can be triggered by clothes pins, but the blast are often massive. That's why paladin teams travel in these specialized, highly armored vehicles. Each one costs nearly a million dollars. This one, called a buffalo, has a large claw-like arm that can dig for bombs in the road. Another can snag trip wires lying across the road. Thomas Lefay, captain of the National Guard unit, says the vehicles are targets every time they leave base.
They know what my purpose is when I roll out with that buffalo, and they've watched it enough to know exactly what that vehicle does.
You leave the gates and people are watching you, you think.
Right.
Yep. every time we leave.
Every day they're going to be out there trying to kill you.
Every time we leave.
Their job was to clear a road so the base commander could drive safely to a meeting with a local official 12 mi away. Outside a village, the Buffalo, the most highly armored vehicle in the convoy and the biggest target, stopped to dig for a bomb because the squad was attacked here just the week before.
No bomb.
The convoy moved on. But 6 minutes later, Buffalo.
The buffalo filled with smoke as two powerful bombs buried in the dirt road exploded, engulfing the vehicle in a huge cloud of dust. Despite their training and experience, the squad never saw it coming.
- We're good. We're good.
10:00 is a guy running 10:00
above our vehicle.
Look at the tree line. Watch the tree line.
Shoot them sons of [ __ ]
Two bombers got away. The buffalo, which collapsed in a huge hole, lost its wheel and drive shaft. But all three soldiers inside survived. One of them, Sergeant Daniel D. Roach, that's him with the drive shaft, was relieved, but frustrated.
Same goddamn spot that happens every time we roll up here.
How many times is that for you?
This is my second hit.
Cat got the mouse this time, I guess you could say.
Sergeant Cabrera found the detonation wires buried in the road. Easy to do here because there are so many dirt roads in Afghanistan. Cabrera and his partner, Specialist Joshua Gross, told us the first bomb hit its target, but the second one, 30 yards away, missed.
This right here was the first explosion that went off. This right here was the second one.
In this instance, did the trigger man make a mistake or were you guys just lucky?
Trigger man made a mistake.
And we were lucky. And we're lucky he made a mistake.
Lucky because it's usually the second bomb that causes the most casualties. After the first explosion, men like Sergeant Cer go to investigate, and that's when insurgents often set off the second bomb.
Something with your name on it.
Yes, sir.
Meant to maim or kill you?
Yes, sir.
Roadside bombs are also meant to prove to Afghans the United States with its superior military still cannot protect its own troops or them.
How much do you think it cost to make a IED in Afghanistan?
I would say maybe $10 US.
$10. You could lose your life over $10.
One soldier we talked to had been hit by IEDs on the same road within a half kilometer three times.
Right. Well, the the enemy is relentless in the way he employs these. And so you you can't stop. Ours is a fight of constant consistent pressure where we have to be relentless just as that enemy is. This is not a fast fight. It's warfare at a snail space.
We stopped so often we averaged just 2 miles an hour. Captain Foster thought there might be a bomb hidden in this field. The local farmers seemed friendly enough, but a bomb wire was found on their land.
It's still sitting here all on the school on the east side of the road.
We're pulling security on uh the east side of the road. You're watching their back now. Roger.
One of the vehicles dug for explosives but couldn't find any. With darkness falling, it was up to Sergeant Cabrera again. So, he put on his 80 lb bombsuit and took what soldiers call the long, lonely walk. The road appeared safe, but to be sure, he set off two explosive charges. Turns out there wasn't a bomb connected to the command wire.
The convoy presumed the road was clear enough to move on when another bomb exploded behind us.
Looks like we got out of there in time.
Just before midnight, we made it safely to an old farmhouse turned military outpost. While his men slept, we talked with Captain Foster about a difficult 17-hour day.
So, did you accomplish your mission today?
Yes, sir.
So, after mortars, IEDs, this was a good day.
Yes, sir. Everybody came home safe.
You seem a bit somber or you just exhausted?
Uh, no. It's at the end of the day knowing that all my soldiers are safe. That's when I sit down in a quiet time and thank God for watching over them.
Yeah, roger that. He said uh to pull forward.
Hours later, near the end of their mission, Captain Foster's men were attacked again. Vehicles were hit.
Around that bend in the road, the smoke in the distance meant that a massive bomb had exploded under the lead vehicle just 2 m from the base. The vehicle appeared to be total. All three men on board were injured. Within minutes, soldiers climbed bridges on both sides of the road looking for the bomber.
They went looking for the trigger man.
But your expectation is that someone had to be eyeballing this convoy in order for it to go off?
Yes, sir. as the initial expectation.
Several men and a child in a car nearby were questioned and released.
In our two days on the road, the bomb squad encountered five bombs. Three soldiers were injured, two others shaken up. One US vehicle was damaged, another wrecked. Not a single bomber was captured or killed.
You've been briefed on the mission we went on. Was it successful?
Overall, yes. It was successful in that that force was able to find IEDs.
Did they find the IEDs or the IEDs find them?
Some of both. Uh, some were found and rendered safe and I think we destroyed them and at least one of them. Uh, others we found the hard way.
For the American people who see those scenes of the explosions, vehicles being damaged, you say, "America just got his butt kicked that day." You say, "What?" Not at all. A vehicle getting blown up, doing what it was designed to do to absorb that blast is not us getting our butts kicked. It's us removing that threat.
Do you ever think this is a fight you can't win? They go out, they place a bomb, you remove it. The next day, they put out another bomb.
Right. I mean, I I try not to think about it too much because it doesn't really help anybody, you know.
What do you think? Is this the fight you can win?
It's me, I guess. Guess I guess winning to me is going home. Really? After our deployment's done is going home.
Going home life.
That's how you measure success in Afghanistan.
Yes, sir.
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