Brian in Salerno: An afternoon with special forces

Given the nature of our mission in the hospital, we see a quite a few injured people. Often they are locals or Afghan military, but sometimes they are US soldiers. One of the more active groups here on the FOB is special forces. They have the occasion, quite frequently, to visit the hospital with injured enemy or buddies and use our surgical services, typically in the middle of the night. So seeing these guys as often as we do, we get to know some of them pretty well.

Every now and then we are invited to go out with them and blow stuff up.

Nate and I pose for the camera before the action begins.

This is one of the trucks they drive and was the one I rode in this day. The truck is loaded with toys, both inside and out.

So, I really did not think that after going through med school, I'd ever have the chance to hold a block of C4 explosive, but here I am! They showed me how to cut a wedge out of the end, embed detonation wire, and tape it up for use.

The guys are explaining how to tie the ring of detonation wire so that all 6 of our blocks of C4 will explode simultaneously.

Robyn and Derek are working on their blocks.

Our work is surveyed by our "instructor" for the day.

The rest of the group also checks over the placement of the blocks. As you can see, the SF guys can pretty much wear what they want, so they usually wear civilian clothes.

Not to waste any explosive, 3 pounds of C4 is molded into a shape charge and placed in front of this iron plate. The iron plate is about 1 cm thick. This charge is linked to the other 6 blocks, giving us about 12 pounds of C4!

Rich calls to the command post to inform them of our impending explosion. The people in charge probably wouldn't appreciate any large unannounced blasts. We set the fuse, which ignites the detonation cord. Since the det cord burns at a controlled rate, we have a set number of minutes to drive to our observation point.

After we blow a hole in the side of the mountain, we return to check the damage.

I would say the shape charge did its job.

But the fun is not over quite yet. I am holding a grenade I am about to throw over the side of the hill. Like I said, all kinds of toys in the trucks...

Get down! You can see the grenade over my head as I am falling to the ground.

After all the festivities, we join the guys back at their "SF compound" and are treated to a cook out. They built this bar area for themselves in their spare time.

Usually on Sunday nights they have one of these get togethers and light up the grill. You can pretty much see all the people who go around the base in civilian clothes and beards---SF, CIA, and FBI.