Post by Anonymous Vet on Nov 30, 2003 7:13:16 GMT -5
Detecting Mines In Vietnam Is Hallowing
At dawn five marines slipped quietly out of the camp and trudged in silence toward a muddy road.
One of them, Cpl. Miles N. Smith, of Richfield, N.C., began waving a two-foot metallic
detector like a wand. An eerie whistle split the silence. As Corporal Smith walked, the whistle grew shriller. Finally he stopped and gazed at the ground, frowning. "It ain't what we're looking for," the lanky 21-year-old marine said, picking up a chunk of metal stuck in the mud. "Let's keep going."
As members of an engineer platoon based three miles south of the demilitarized zone, the marines were engaged in finding mines planted almost nightly by enemy soldiers, probing the mines to see how deeply imbedded they were in the soil and then detonating them. "These mines don't kill as much as they maim," said one Marine captain. "They take a man's leg or arm and cause some horrible wounds."
"I'm a typical farm boy." Corporal Smith said, sitting in front of his tent after a miles-long search for mines. "I was kind of tired of doing the same thing and 1 volunteered for this. I was wounded only once. But, you know, that can happen to anyone in wartime."
The men usually work in five man teams. As soon as a mine is discovered, one man probes with his bayonet to see how far beneath the ground the mine is buried - generally six inches to a foot. Others then detonate the mine.
"You can get it in lots of ways," said Cpl. Roger Carmody, 21, of Rockville, Conn.
"When you're probing you can hit the pressure point too hard on the top ofthe mine or you can try to detonate it and it won't go off, so you get up, start walking toward the mine and then Boom."
The New York Times
At dawn five marines slipped quietly out of the camp and trudged in silence toward a muddy road.
One of them, Cpl. Miles N. Smith, of Richfield, N.C., began waving a two-foot metallic
detector like a wand. An eerie whistle split the silence. As Corporal Smith walked, the whistle grew shriller. Finally he stopped and gazed at the ground, frowning. "It ain't what we're looking for," the lanky 21-year-old marine said, picking up a chunk of metal stuck in the mud. "Let's keep going."
As members of an engineer platoon based three miles south of the demilitarized zone, the marines were engaged in finding mines planted almost nightly by enemy soldiers, probing the mines to see how deeply imbedded they were in the soil and then detonating them. "These mines don't kill as much as they maim," said one Marine captain. "They take a man's leg or arm and cause some horrible wounds."
"I'm a typical farm boy." Corporal Smith said, sitting in front of his tent after a miles-long search for mines. "I was kind of tired of doing the same thing and 1 volunteered for this. I was wounded only once. But, you know, that can happen to anyone in wartime."
The men usually work in five man teams. As soon as a mine is discovered, one man probes with his bayonet to see how far beneath the ground the mine is buried - generally six inches to a foot. Others then detonate the mine.
"You can get it in lots of ways," said Cpl. Roger Carmody, 21, of Rockville, Conn.
"When you're probing you can hit the pressure point too hard on the top ofthe mine or you can try to detonate it and it won't go off, so you get up, start walking toward the mine and then Boom."
The New York Times