US Specialist Christopher Saenz looks out over the landscape during a patrol outside the village of Musa Qala, Helmand province. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
This Is What Winning Looks Like
My Afghanistan War Diary
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"There have to be IEDs on this fucking corner," Hancock said.No one knew it at the time, but Hancock was absolutely right. Buried underneath our feet was a seven-IED-long daisy chain, designed to kill or maim an entire platoon. Two command wires led down a pair of alleys; at the end of one, someone watched, waiting to detonate the bombs. That person held the power source, probably a battery, in one hand and the command wire in the other. As soon as he connected the two, the daisy chain would go off. This method left no metal in the ground for the soldiers to detect.
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Go buy Ben's book, No Worse Enemy, now out in paperback, and send him tweets at @BenJohnAnderson.More stuff from Afghanistan:Inside AfghanistanLife in AfghanistanThe Black Tar Tits of Afghanistan