What It Was Like To Be Hit By A 40lb IED—Stories from Sangin: Part 1

In the first three and a half months of our deployment to Sangin, Afghanistan it seemed like every day you heard about someone else getting shot or blown up. The IED (Improvised explosive device) situation in Sangin was a phenomenon in the worst way imaginable, not only physically but psychologically as well. I couldn’t believe how many IEDs were with us in that town, we literally had to watch every single step we took.

There were a few different types of IEDs that we ran into typically but usually they were either command-wire or pressure plates IEDs. Put simply, command wire IEDs are remotely detonated by a trigger-man watching a patrol and pressure plate IEDs are victim detonated when someone steps on a plate completing a circuit attached to the explosive charge.