This is the latest dispatch from the field in Iraq by Michael Yon who is probably providing the best reporting from the front. He does not work for any organization as he prefers to maintain his independence. He is a former Special Forces soldier and a writer.
"Concussion from the shots slapped the ground and popped up moon dust around the Bradley. It sounded like a giant jackhammer. Each bullet weighs about four times more than a golf ball, and traveling thousands of feet per second, 25mm shots are devastating to human bodies. A single shot can pop a man into barely recognizable chunks and bits. The four bullets traveled at nearly one-mile-per-second toward the van in front of us. Each bullet contained explosives. The first 25mm penetrated above the right rear taillight leaving a bowling ball-sized hole, exploding inside with a brief fireball caught by my video. A benefit of explosive rounds is that after they explode, they don’t travel a mile or two and possibly whack someone who was not involved.
All four rounds hit the van, and instead of the bullets shoving through and knocking a wall down, they exploded in the van. The driver died instantly and crashed off the road into a ditch. His body was blasted partially outside the van, his foot caught by the steering wheel leaving him hanging upside down, oozing and dripping blood and bodily fluids into Iraq. One shot somehow managed to strike the roof behind the driver. The Bradley gun must have been higher than the van. (Bradleys are taller, and the roads seemed flat.)....
All four rounds hit the van, and instead of the bullets shoving through and knocking a wall down, they exploded in the van. The driver died instantly and crashed off the road into a ditch. His body was blasted partially outside the van, his foot caught by the steering wheel leaving him hanging upside down, oozing and dripping blood and bodily fluids into Iraq. One shot somehow managed to strike the roof behind the driver. The Bradley gun must have been higher than the van. (Bradleys are taller, and the roads seemed flat.)....
IEDs are easy to emplace. The bombs can be emplaced in just a minute, and the enemy knows that if they can predict which way we are going, and get in front of us, they can get us. That tire on the front right could contain enough explosives to obliterate us. One of those shops could be stacked to the ceiling with explosives, or enemy fighters who could do a quick and hard ambush....."
Read the rest of Michael Yon's Dispatch at: http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/hunting-al-qaeda-part-iii-of-iii.htm
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