How to beat the bomber
Ten years ago on Feb. 19, an improvised explosive device was found under a major road in Afghanistan.
The device was placed about 10 metres down a small culvert—out of reach of equipment, impossible to shield. A robot couldn’t finish the job. There was nothing for it but to send in someone—a volunteer—to defuse the nasty thing.
Corporal Dale Kurdziel put up his hand. He had only been in the country a few months, on his first tour to Afghanistan, working with the counter-IED task force.
The culvert was tight—too small for a man wearing protective equipment. Before going in, Kurziel had to take off his bomb suit.
It was impossible to crawl inside. The opening was only wide as his shoulders, tall as his boots, he said later in an interview with the Ottawa Citizen. He had to propel...
