Remote Control Toys Used By Iraq Patrols

Send in the Hummer! Sgt. Greg Papadatos of the 69th Infantry Regiment writes: “Yesterday, I was “outside the wire,” patrolling with the 2nd Platoon. We came upon a possible IED in the middle of the road, and stopped all traffic to check it out… trying to figure out if the cardboard box in the middle of the road is merely a windblown piece of trash or a bomb planted there to kill us! A young private in that platoon has one of those radio-controlled toy cars. When they find unidentifiable debris in the road, E.S. sends out his little RC car and rams it. If it’s light enough to be moved or knocked over, it’s too light to be a bomb, so we can approach it and get rid of it. If it’s heavy, we call EOD. At night, they duct tape a flashlight to the car.” While specialized Explosive Ordnance Disposal groups have robots of their own, there aren’t very many of them available and sometimes time is of the essence. Hence this simple solution for the field.