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Stryker BCT paves way for convoys

Nov- 7-2004 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

Another great aricle from Stars & Stripes, photos included.

[Link to Full Article]
By Juliana Gittler, Stars and Stripes

FORWARD OPERATING BASE MAREZ, Iraq — Before the convoys roll out, members of the 73rd Engineer Company of the 1st Brigade (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), 25th Infantry Division make sure they have a smooth passage.

The company’s soldiers sweep the roadsides for bombs and help dig out anything they find. In the three weeks they’ve been in Iraq, they’ve uncovered a number of bombs and tank rounds burrowed into roadside dirt.

The engineers have two basic missions: They reinforce the camp to protect it from the daily barrage of mortars, and they make sure the convoys can move safely.

The latter involves nerves of steel and help from a few new toys in the Army’s anti-bomb arsenal: a Stryker modified to sweep for explosives and a mine-clearing device created in South Africa called the Buffalo, a hulking mass of metal with a long arm capable of digging out explosives.

Days ago, engineers doing a Stryker sweep came across a mound of dirt on a convoy route.

The Buffalo, called Al Jamoose in Arabic, was summoned to investigate.

“It looked like a dump truck had dropped down some dirt,” said Staff Sgt. Daniel Morak, section sergeant with the mobility support platoon. “It wasn’t there before so we checked it out.”


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