Watch: Inside a Truck, Blown to Hell in Afghanistan

[Ryan Ruck]

Watch: Inside a Truck, Blown to Hell in Afghanistan

June 7, 2011



A deafening noise. An awful lurching sensation. Impact. Dust obscuring everything. And the sight of injured men, blood and shattered equipment. Groaning, cussing and, from the most badly injured, a deathly silence.

That was the view from inside a U.S. Army blastproof truck I was riding in, in Logar province, Afghanistan, on March 19. An improvised explosive device exploded under the front of the vehicle, sheering off one axle, hurling the truck a dozen feet and hurting five of the seven occupants. Only myself and an Army medic, sitting in the rearmost seats, walked away unscathed.

In March we posted a video from the incident, showing only scenes from outside the vehicle. Now C-SPAN has my footage from inside the truck, in the seconds following the blast. They’ve disabled embedding for some reason, but you click through to Youtube to view the clip. Also, check out my long-form news feature on Logar for the non-profit broadcaster.

With the spring fighting season in full swing in Afghanistan and extremists increasingly turning to IEDs to level NATO’s technological advantage, the terrible sensations of being struck by a bomb are becoming a common, if life-changing, experience for American and allied troops. Now you can gain some sense of what it feels like.

[Ryan Ruck]

Post attack video outside of the truck:

YouTube: IED Attack On Coalition Patrol, Logar, Afghanistan

[Ryan Ruck]

Post attack video from inside the truck immediately after attack:

YouTube: IED Explosion in Afghanistan - Freelance Journalist David Axe

[catfish]

Wow, that's impressive. My cousin has been hit with two ieds in Iraq, suffered an injury on the first and spent some time in the hospital. He often said it was the only thing that scared him when he was there. He's done two tours in Iraq, one of them was the year and a half tour for the surge. He has done one tour in Afghanistan and I'm pretty sure he is headed back for another.

[Ryan Ruck]

Yep, my brother in the Marines got hit by an IED on his first tour in Afghanistan. He was in an uparmored Humvee though, not an MRAP. Blast threw the truck at least 10 feet in the air and landed flat. Their truck which was loaded down with ammo and explosives was on fire and, he pulled out his vehicle commander who was stuck. My brother took a little shrapnel and the shock did some nerve damage to his back along with some TBI (affects his short term memory mostly).

It's bad enough that he was placed in a light duty battalion and is going to end up being medically retired. Fortunately, he didn't physically lose anything!

I could probably dig up some pictures of the aftermath...

[Ryan Ruck]

Found a couple of the "better" pictures. They decided to let the vehicle burn because of the amount of explosive/flammable material in there. These pictures were taken after the fire was mostly out. The blast happened at night and everyone was a safe distance away so no good pictures of the immediate aftermath.

Of the 4 in the truck no one died in this blast. Everyone was injured to one degree or another with the worst being their turret gunner who lost a couple fingers.

I have edited the pictures to remove the dates and faces (including EXIF data ya sneaky bastages! ).

Notice the differential internals at the front!






This is the heavy duty bumper from the truck. Thrown a couple dozen feet away:


The truck's Mk19 automatic grenade launcher and a couple M4s recovered:


That's the receiver side of the M4 on the right side of the picture:


Crispy!

[catfish]

First off, I'm glad your brother survived although that sucks about his injuries. Also, that was a very heroic thing he did pulling that guy out. You can tell it would have been a horrible way to go, burning alive. Those pictures you have are incredible, I've never really seen the aftermath up close like that, especially that one of the guy holding the burned up rifle.

I know my cousin was in an unarmored humvee as well, not sure about casualties. I think that was the one he got his first Purple Heart for. I talked to his dad about a month ago and he said they were looking at giving him a cluster for it, I didn't ask what the second injury was. Add to that a Bronze Star for Valor and you can understand why I call him my little Johnny Rambo. I should find the story on his Bronze Star and post it, its pretty amazing. I have another cousin who is due in Iraq any day now. It's his first tour, he is a tank commander and totally gung ho. I have a feeling he is in for a rude awakening and I hope he makes it through. I saw on the news last night that a kid from MN was killed in Iraq, shit is still popping over there.

[Ryan Ruck]

I know my cousin was in an unarmored humvee as well,

Unarmored or uparmored? If unarmored...

Danny's (my bro) Humvee had the uparmoring which was likely the only reason they all made it.

One thing I forgot to mention is that the suspension was busted on it and they think that may have been one of the contributing factors to the IED going off when it did. His truck was second from last in the convoy with several other trucks having driven over the same spot first.

I have another cousin who is due in Iraq any day now. It's his first tour, he is a tank commander and totally gung ho. I have a feeling he is in for a rude awakening and I hope he makes it through. I saw on the news last night that a kid from MN was killed in Iraq, shit is still popping over there.

There's still stuff that is going on there but by and large, from what I've heard from guys who have been over, it really is a snooze fest, especially if he is a TC. I've always thought being a TC would be a cool job.

[Backstop]

Whew!

[catfish]

You know, I thought he said unarmored but I could easily be wrong. He lives out Rick's way so I don't get to see him much. When I do see him I don't like to ask a lot of questions so its more him bringing it up and I listen. I saw him last year when he was in town and part of a parade in his small home town, haven't talked to him much since.

My other cuz says being a tank commander is actually cooler then you think I saw him at the going away party and all he talked about was riding around on top of a tank. The kid is 24, a butterbar in command of four tanks. If that doesn't sound like fun then you are in a coma. I remember making a smartass comment about there being a lot of tank battles going on in Iraq right now and he told me they will be going out on patrol in trucks. Not sure what kind though.

[Phil Fiord]

Its been my observation that Under-armored vehicles have been the more tragic and preventable reason for some casualties. Ryan's brother was indeed fortunate in his case.

[catfish]

I was under the impression that those Iranian IEDS's with the copper projectile were unstoppable with any armor. I think that's why my cousin was so afraid of them. He did mention one thing that could stop it, but it didn't sound right and I never got the opportunity to ask follow up questions.

[Ryan Ruck]

If my understanding of those Iranian mines is correct, the copper "projectile" operates on the same principle as an RPG where it liquifies the copper into a molten metal jet. So, you basically have an RPG being fired at the underside of a vehicle.

[Phil Fiord]

So, you basically have an RPG being fired at the underside of a vehicle.

Why didn't we think of that as a weapon?

[Ryan Ruck]

Probably because we are too busy making mines that deactivate so they are "humane".