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The hunt for roadside bombs

Feb- 5-2005 » Filed Under: TF Freedom

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By Steve Walsh / Post-Tribune staff writer

TALL AFAR, Iraq — Roadside bombs around Tall Afar are stalked by what looks like a small payloader with oversized wheels.

The Indiana National Guard 113th Engineer Battalion inherited the Meerkat from the Virginia National Guard unit that had been working at the remote outpost Sykes.

Sgt. John Grafton of Hobart and Sgt. David Barker of LaPorte work as a team to find and detonate roadside bombs and unexploded shells.

They are on call 24 hours a day, in case one of the units in the city finds a suspected bomb or explosive.

“I ride in front of him in another vehicle,” Grafton said.

“I’ve got to tell them if there is anything in front, like a car coming or a civilian or an animal, or anything that might hurt the vehicle.”

Very little can hurt the Meerkat. It’s designed to explode.

The thick metal crew compartment with 5-inch-thick glass is designed to deflect the blast and keep the driver safe. The rest of the vehicle is pieced together so it can be blown up and reassembled with new parts in less than 15 minutes, Barker said.

Two metal pans under the driver spread like wings near the ground. They detect the explosives.

Grafton and Barker have been told that each pan costs $6,000, as part of a warning to not scrape them on the ground or catch them on a stray piece of wire.


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