Daily Dose of Splodey- Esli in Iraq Version

From Esli-

Alright, this is not my infamous GMLRs video, but it is a video file I can actually send via e-mail.

On 7 February 2008, I accompanied members of B Troop on an area clearance mission in an area called the Salt Flats in Arab Jabour, south of Baghdad.  We discovered several dead civilians, a large quantity of buried ordnance, and what appeared to be one half of a ZU-23-2.  We left the dead, backhauled the cannon back to the squadron area, and brought in EOD to conduct a controlled detonation of the ordnance.  EOD used 135 lbs. of C4 to blow the ordnance.  Before they blew it, we moved all of our Soldiers behind a small hill, and my gunner placed his camera on the top of the hill and ran back to the track. I filmed it from the turret of my Brad, but alas, that file is too big to send.  This day was also significant because it was the second time I let my driver run over an Iraqi car, albeit an old piece of abandoned, inoperable, junk….

687:  This is an overview of the Salt Flats.

686:  This picture shows the ordnance lined up and being inspected by EOD.

690:   This is me with the cannon, which I actually found.  We found a ZU-23-2 mount, sans cannons, in a different field, on a different day.

691:  This is the single cannon after burning off the underbrush.  B Troop was the quickest to burn stuff.

(somehow Esli forgot to send that one!)

696: Here is EOD rigging the whole package to blow.