IED PETTING ZOO?

Last Friday and Saturday we learned about IED's, ambush attacks, snipers, etc. They went over all of the ways terrorists are attacking us, how to identify them, how to counter them and things of that nature. The training was very informative. There are alot of things going on over there that we don't hear too much about here. So anyway, the petting zoo was basically set up something like a zoo, but instead of looking at animals, they had stations set up with mock-ups of the IED's and things of that nature. We then went on patrol in a mock Arab city to find IED's and to see how we react to them. Below is one of the stations at the IED petting zoo:

Note the taillight is hanging by a string.


This would be the haji with a sniper rifle sticking outside the hole from where the wires from the taillight would normally go. Fire a shot. Pull the string and we'd never know what hit us. This is very similar to what the DC sniper was doing, as well, I believe. This picture above was made up in reference to an actual set up that was used in Mosul, Iraq. The sniper supposedly had hundreds of kills using this method. He would also have a driver with him who would video tape his kills. Both have since been captured.

IN LIGHTER NEWS, I found out I got promoted today. I will soon go from an E-5 to an E-6 or as its called in the Navy, Petty Officer First Class. Also known as, with specific to my job, MA1. They promoted 58 out of 409 candidates, so roughly 14% I think. So I was pretty happy to be one of the lucky ones.