Detonation fun but risky

By Chris Hawley
Associated Press

KHOST, Afghanistan — First came the pillar of flame, 100 feet high. Then came the explosions — thousands of them — shooting red tracer bullets and chunks of glowing red metal into the air.

Soldiers watched from a half-mile away as the Army burned more than a million rounds of confiscated ammunition near Khost, Afghanistan, last week. Demolition crews still had more than 2 million rounds of ammunition to destroy. Associated Press

It was probably the largest single bonfire of ammunition the U.S. military ever lit in Afghanistan, said Capt. Jonathan Hunter.

"Ah, I love this job," said Staff Sgt. Bruce Clark of Palmyra, Pa., as anti-aircraft bullets popped like popcorn.

Here in Khost, epicenter of the U.S. Army's campaign in Afghanistan, these men are known to all as the ones responsible for the booms — the really loud booms — that shake tents and rattle nerves nearly every afternoon as the Army destroys heaps of weapons and ammunition collected by U.S. troops during months of raids.

"You've got to have a bit of an edge for you to do this work," Clark said. "We're no pyros, but we like to make big bangs."

It is risky work. Four soldiers in Afghanistan were killed by a booby-trapped cache earlier this year, and others have lost fingers, hands and part of a leg.

For the past week, teams have been blowing up 5,000 pounds of confiscated bombs, grenades, mines and rockets every day, mostly by laying C-4 explosive over them. Even after Thursday's bonfire, the Army still had some 2 million rounds of confiscated ammunition in Khost, and more at other bases around the country.

The burn took hours to prepare. About 20 truckloads of mostly Chinese-made bullets were taken to a 12-foot-deep trench about a mile outside Camp Salerno, one of the two U.S. bases in Khost. Most of the ammunition was 14.5mm and 12.7mm rounds, each about 6 inches long.

Afghan militia members fill a trench with boxes of confiscated ammunition before the Army soaks them with diesel fuel to light in a huge explosion. Associated Press

Afghan militia fighters helped unload the trucks. The Army used to let the militias have their pick of the confiscated ammunition, but two weeks ago commanders ordered the practice stopped, saying it undermined efforts to create a strong national army.

Still, two militia fighters in baseball caps were seen on Thursday taking away a box of ammunition. A U.S. soldier perched on a truck stopped them, but let them continue after they showed that it was small-caliber AK-47 ammunition.

When the trench was full, soldiers covered it with felt and metal mesh, doused it with 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel and detonated it with thermite grenades attached to a 10-minute fuse.

There are only about 40 Army explosives disposal experts in Afghanistan, and they can rattle off a list of their favorite blasts nationwide.

They say the best was an Oct. 3 explosion of 417 500-pound bombs, along with 24,000 pounds of C-4 explosive. That one created a mushroom cloud and a shock wave that raised ripples of gravel in the desert near Kandahar.

Then there was one last week that made two perfect smoke rings entwining about 1,000 feet above the ground.

By all accounts, Thursday's blast was near the top of the list. As the ammunition burned on, two soldiers jumped behind a berm and struck a battle pose with an assault rifle as another snapped pictures.

"When we go home, we'll show the picture and say this was a firefight we were in," said Staff Sgt. Robert Shallbetter of Brooklyn Center, Minn.

"Yeah, except the battle's behind you, idiot," said another soldier.

"Well, someday we'll be at some reunion and we'll all say that flame was 500 feet high," Clark said.

"Nah, it was higher than the mountain," someone chimed in.

"It was a nuke!"

"You could see it from the space shuttle!"

The group broke out in laughter, and then piled into a Humvee to get dinner.