And now, in Afghanistan, even with custom-built MRAPs to replace our trucks modified to be MRAPs, the enemy reacts and our troops pay the price:
Stronger armored vehicles are preventing more servicemembers in Afghanistan from being killed by roadside bombs. But the bombs are still powerful enough to cause severe skeletal and spinal injuries, the worst of which are leaving some paralyzed, Army surgeons say.
Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, or MRAPs, have V-shaped armored hulls, designed to protect riders from a bomb’s shrapnel and firepower. The bomb’s immense energy is also absorbed by the vehicle. But as insurgents try to counter the vehicles’ protections with bigger blasts, much more of this energy is reaching soldiers’ bodies, especially their spines.
This has led to a new type of broken-back injury called a combat burst fracture, said Army Dr. (Maj.) Brett Freedman, director of spine and neurosurgery service at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.
War sucks. Don't forget it. It may have a worthy goal, but real people pay the price to win it (or die trying to win it). It only appears clean from 20,000 feet.
On the bright side, it takes far more effort for the enemy to emplace bigger bombs. That means we should face fewer and have more chances to discover the IED builders and emplacers, and even detect the IEDs themselves.
