We hear a lot about IEDs, and not all of it.. shall we say “accurate”? (Deliberate understatement.) IEDs are mines. These devices have been the largest single cause of GI casualties in Iraq. Iraqi civilians have suffered even more than occupation troops.

Mine warfare is a delaying tactic; it forces an advancing enemy to slow his movements, and devote precious resources to detection and removal rather than pursuit. They are also defensive weapons, a good relatively inexpensive way to help defend a particular strongpoint. Minefields can also be used in the defense as obstacles to canalize an attacking force into a specific fire sack.

Besides being excellent tactical weapons, IEDs also serve as strategic weapons. The US has expended huge sums of money and effort to develop successful countermeasures to these mines, and the effort to defeat them continues year after year.

The counter to IEDs that is most popular with GIs (and hometown politicians) is the MRAP, a generic term for a heavily-armored vehicle built to withstand the IED explosion.

I’ve written a lot about MRAPs, and highlighted various types, but I haven’t paid much attention to the Husky, an MRAP designed to find IEDs. This is a pretty damned interesting job, because sometimes you find the mine when it explodes underneath the Husky.

UPI recently published a nice piece about the Husky and the soldiers who operate it in convoy defense.

AL ASAD, Iraq, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- IED, the acronym for improvised explosive device, is shorthand for terror in Iraq and with good cause. Since the capture of Baghdad in 2003 and the start of the insurgency, the jerry-rigged bombs have accounted for more than half of U.S. military deaths.

The number of Iraqis killed by the devices, whether planted along roads or packed into vehicles, is even higher.

No wonder, then, the U.S. military has fielded a number of high-tech and expensive countermeasures to the devices. But in the end, it all still comes down to anxious men who must seek them out and destroy them.

The armor on the Husky is all around the cab. You could probably say the wheels and suspension are expendable.

The Husky Metal Detecting and Marking Vehicle is part of a larger system called the Vehicle Mounted Mine Detector (VMMD). The VMMD is a mine protected, vehicle mounted mine detection and proofing system which is capable of finding and marking metallic explosive hazards. VMMD consists of two mine detection vehicles and three detonation trailers. Early versions of the VMMD consisted of a Meerkat and a Husky, while more recent procurements consist of two Husky vehicles.

The Husky a single occupant four-wheel drive vehicle designed for mine blast protection and rapid field reparability using a "redpack" of replacement items that travel with the VMMD. Husky acts as the prime mover for the full width mine proofing/detonation trailers and redpack. It can also serve as an alternate detection vehicle with two detector panels that raise and lower depending on terrain. Additional detection and protection improvements are being incorporated into the system in response to the changing threat and technology advances.

[Marine Pvt. Anthony "Chase"] Watson, 23, has a particularly dangerous role in the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion based at al-Asad. By choice, he drives a vehicle called a Husky, which looks like an outsized, armor-plated dune buggy, as a member of a route-clearance team.

Watson's job is to drive slowly along the sides of roads and through visual abilities and highly sensitive and adjustable electronic sensors find and mark mines for neutralizing by other team members, who do so through the use of a larger MRAP (Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected) vehicle that has a huge hydraulic arm that digs mines out and snips their wires or destroys their detonators.

Finding and marking means Watson rolls right up to them so a special sprayer on the elongated front end of the vehicle can mark the site with ink. A trailer is sometimes attached to the rear of the Husky to set off any mines the eyes and sensors missed.

If a Husky does set off a mine, it's designed so the front or rear portions of the vehicle absorb the blast and detach from the cab.

Watson has so far avoided the experience. He said a friend wasn't so lucky, but suffered no serious injury. "These hulls are designed to withstand a blast," he said.

This sounds like the second-least popular military job available.

The expenditure of treasure is nothing compared to the cost of lives. Every IED detected and disposed of safely is a life saved, a family back home spared the pain and agony of loss.

A tip of the too-small Kevlar helmet to Erdla of Gorilla's Guides, who not only has time to edit there and raise a family, but also finds a few moments to feed me news leads.

Main & Central Articles on MRAPs

Mine Resistant Vehicles

17,700 MRAPs

Marine MRAPs Mired in Minutiae

A Minor MRAP Problem

The Super-MRAP

The Cougar MRAP

Baby Huey Needs Feeding

What Does the JIEDDO Do?

MRAPs Go Mainstream

MRAPs AirShipped to Iraq

MRAPs Get Bad Press From Pentagon

The Struggle Between Armor and the Projectile

Death of an MRAP

Marines Call For a Mark Time on the MRAP March

Stryking Out For Hearts and Minds

Rethinking MRAPs

Cruising For a Bruising