Almost lost in the story of the "Fall of Tora Bora" (which it now appears isn't as fallen as all that) were the first Marine casualties, to a land mine.

On a side note: A person of my acquaintance was commenting on the Afghan method of fire control, that is: None. Given an AK-47, the common Afghan soldier, Taliban or United Front (as I think they're being referred to this week) points it in the general direction of the enemy and rips off the whole magazine. This has two problems. The first is that there's virtually no chance of actually hitting anything; an assault rifle on full auto is just about the safest "weapon" in the world, to the other side. The second problem is that this requires massive ammunition resupply; there is some indication that much of Tora Bora fell because the idiot Al Quaeda shot themselves dry.

My friend was listening to a report, no video, of the firing, and heard short, two and three round bursts. As he put it: "clearly professional ... American or British special operations." I couldn't resist adding: "This was not the sand-people, this was the work of Imperial Storm TroopersSonly they are so precise." There really is a difference between professional warriors and half-trained barbarians and it became evident all over the Afghan war. Now back to our discussion of land-mines, perhaps the least "precise" weapon in the world.

Land mines are small devices, placed on or near the ground, that when triggered, explode causing injury or death. Just like Linux, land mines come in various "flavors." These range from very small anti-personnel mines, called "toe-poppers", that are designed to blow off half a foot, all the way up to anti-tank mines that can take out the most modern main battle tank. One, related to Afghanistan , that rates special mention is the "bouncing betty" series. This is a mine that has two explosive charges, one that throws it into the air and another that detonates the main portion, throwing out a cloud of ball bearings. Each of these latter is traveling as fast as a rifle bullet. So when stepped on it "jumps" into the air and then injures or kills not only the person who stepped on it but everyone around the person.

Mines are very effective weapons in the hands of professionals and a friggin nightmare when in the hands of half-trained barbarians like the Taliban. The purpose of a minefield is to temporarily deny the use of a particular area to the enemy. That is, they are emplaced to keep the enemy forces from crossing certain areas, or at least slowing them down if they do try to cross it. When they are emplaced by professional engineers, a map is constructed of their exact locations and a removal plan is part of the emplacement; my dad spent the two months before the Battle of the Bulge removing all the American and German anti-tank mines from the Ardennes forest using American and German maps.

There are two or three problems with the mines in Afghanistan . Nobody ever constructed removal maps. To the extent that anyone (the Soviets notably) did, they were lost years ago. And in many cases they were used as "terror weapons" rather than for real area denial. There is a military axiom that "an obstacle that is not covered by fire is not an obstacle." When you place a minefield on a trail in the middle of no-where, it's a terror weapon not an obstacle.

Afghanistan has more mines than any other country in the world (with Cambodia a close second) and they are thick as fleas on a hound-dog. Until recently you couldn't even move around Kabul without taking your life in your hands. Before the latest round of war (with Uncle Sam this time) the number one employer in the country was the mine-removal unit. In other words, they're only major industry is mine removal and that's saying something.

I'm sure the Marines were told this and like any soldier in a country that's peppered with mines they were cautious. But caution doesn't always keep you from getting blown up.

What helps is dogs (Jonah Goldberg, take note.) In Sinai there were packs of half wild dogs around all the Observation Posts. There were thousands of mines left over from the Egyptian/Israeli wars and moving outside the "cleared" areas was problematic. But we had to maintain patrols; it was the only way to be sure nobody was violating the treaties. So we would follow the dogs. They knew the patrol paths and they knew where the mines were and weren't.

Until they can get in trained dogs to go with every patrol, if the Marines are smart they'll send buddies over to the pounds around Lejeune and ship in a passel of hound-dogs. That way when patrols move they can move in a "cloud" of dogs. You know how dogs are; they run everywhere. Hopefully they'll smell the mine before they hit it and can be trained to shy away. But better that they hit one than you. You'll lose some, and that will be sad, but, sorry, better a pound-hound than a Devil Dog.

Semper Fi boys, and good luck.

Return to Op-eds