Just found an Aardvark

[gunboy1656]

Need to mount the flail to the front of my truck and clear traffic.....

 

[jhr513]

My first post, but i operated these in Afghanistan when i was there in 2005-2006. We didnt use them much because of most of the areas we cleared had to be double proofed and most of the time we used mine dogs to do the second proofing and if they did hit a mine it would be scatted everywhere and confuse the dogs.

 

[FireFighterHill]

JHR513, Did you guys ever use the MICLIC? Ive only ever scene video of the army using the MICLIC to clear the road of mines on there way into Baghdad.

 

[Chief_919]

My first post, but i operated these in Afghanistan when i was there in 2005-2006. We didnt use them much because of most of the areas we cleared had to be double proofed and most of the time we used mine dogs to do the second proofing and if they did hit a mine it would be scatted everywhere and confuse the dogs.

Well crap now you need to send me an IM so I know who from A co this is, but I have a pretty good idea.

If you are interested in trucks drop by the shop.

Chief

 

[Chief_919]

JHR513, Did you guys ever use the MICLIC? Ive only ever scene video of the army using the MICLIC to clear the road of mines on there way into Baghdad.

We come from the same unit. A MICLIC is used to breach a hasty lane through a minefield under fire, when you need to do it very fast and can accept some risk that not all the mines will be removed.

A flail is used for clearing an entire area, instead of a hasty breach through a minefield.

A MICLIC is too messy for area clearance, and a flail is too slow for breaching under fire.

As mentioned, we learned in Afghanistan there were numerous problems with flails, and they saw little use. In fact I know at Bagram they had some that were actually hitting AP mines, tossing them without detonating them, and they would later find an AP mine lodged in the engine compartment or even behind the flail. Not a good day to go check the oil and find an AP mine lodged between the fender and engine compartment.

Instead, at least at Bagram, they used armored D7's to remove all the top layer, mines and all, and then sorted the bad stuff out once the contaminated soil was in contained piles using Rotars and some other methods. I think JHR and crew used similar methods where they were.

Flails are rapidly falling out of favor with the US Army for clearance. They are very good for clearing vegitation and possible tripwires from an area to be cleared without hitting the ground with the chains to get ready to clear by other means, but a damm expensive way to do that.