Combat Engineers: Force Multipliers in the Fight Against IEDs

摘要

IEDs are the single greatest cause of American casualties in the current operating environment. Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) personnel in the Marine Corps have been designated as the sole subject matter experts of IED reduction and removal. However, the abundant IED encounters and attacks across the Iraq and Afghanistan theater of operations have made the timely reduction of IEDs difficult. As a result, combat engineer Marines should be allowed to blow IEDs in place because there are not enough EOD personnel to handle all IED encounters efficiently, engineers have the resident knowledge of demolitions and initiation devices to destroy IEDs, and cross training with EOD personnel would equip engineers with the ability to facilitate the mobility of units on the roads of Iraq and Afghanistan.