Marines, Afghan National Army clear roadways of IEDs

PATROL BASE BUJI, AFGHANISTAN

05.17.2010

Story by Sgt. Shawn Coolman  

1st Marine Division

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PATROL BASE BUJI, Helmand province, Afghanistan- Marines with 3rd Route Clearance Platoon, Alpha Company, 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion, have a unique and dangerous mission within the Marine Corps.

Their primary job is to locate and safely eliminate improvised explosive devices that are emplaced on the roadways, for the safe travel of coalition forces and the Afghan people.

"We provide mobility to any tactical convoy passing through our area of operations," said Sgt. Chris H. Belcher, a combat engineer with 3rd platoon. "We also escort logistical convoys so they can get supplies to Marines, and infantry Marines so they can have freedom of movement through their area."

On a recent mission, 3rd platoon was clearing IEDs during a 30- mile mounted patrol from Camp Delaram to Patrol Base Buji. During the movement they were able to uncover one IED successfully. Unfortunately along the way three of the vehicles were damaged by IED strikes.

"It's a tough mission, doing route clearance. The find to hit ratio is a lot higher in this area," Belcher said. "We had to overcome different types of low metallic IEDs, which we're running into a lot lately."

Our military vehicles have the ability to 'blaze their own trail,' or travel off the main roads. Other coalition forces and Afghan vehicles don't always have that luxury. Our job is to clear the main route so that coalition forces and the Afghan populace can travel the roads safely, Belcher said.

As with this mission, and numerous others, uncovering IEDs sometimes means inadvertently striking them either on foot or in up-armored vehicles.

"It's always in the back of our minds about what if we get hit with a huge IED, but you have to trust the Marines up front and your detection gear to find the IEDs," Belcher added.

Route clearance has disciplined themselves to meticulously search the section of the road they are clearing for possible IED indicators, but unfortunately many are well hidden.

"We hope we can see some kind of visual indicator so we can go and investigate possible IEDs," said Belcher. "We move slow and methodically to find some of the well-hidden IEDs."

Two members of the Afghan national army accompanied the platoon while they conducted their missions, becoming more familiar with the procedures of route clearance.

"We're training the ANA so they can get an idea of what we are doing so eventually they can create their own route clearance platoons," Belcher said.

The ANA continue to provide a vital link between the Afghan people and the Marines clearing the road, and continue to show an increasing presence to the local Afghans.

"The ANA provide a buffer between us and the locals. Were trying to win over the populace, and were doing that partly with the help of the ANA," said Sgt. Anthony R. Williams, 22, combat engineer, from Safford, Ariz. "With the ANA out there it shows the population that we're willing to work with them, and it instills more confidence with the locals in the ANA."

The two ANA soldiers spoke with local Afghans while the Marines searched the surrounding area, gathering local intelligence on possible IED emplacements.

"We're happy to know we can go out and help clear the roads with the Marines so that the people can be safe. It's our duty," said Mazullah Mazlumyar, 18, an ANA soldier. "The locals are happy we're clearing the roads. The IED emplacers are enemies to both the Marines and the ANA."
However arduous, the Marines and ANA soldiers continue to work, keeping the roads of the province safe.

We're sharing the roads with the Afghan people. We're going to continue doing our job so that both the military and the Afghan people can safely travel the roads, Belcher added.