Defusing "poor man's minefield" in Afghan south

By Golnar Motevalli

BARCHA, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Coming face-to-face with Afghanistan insurgents' deadliest and most effective weapon -- improvised explosive devices (IEDs) -- is a near daily event for U.S. Marine Staff Sergeants Tony D'Amato and Aaron Irvin.

Irvin and D'Amato are stationed in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province where they defuse the home-made bombs and where some 10,000 Marines have been deployed to try to turn the tide on the Taliban insurgency there.

Facing death at such close range on a daily basis is something they try not to dwell on while they work.

"It's just something we're trained to do ... I like it because you're trying to figure out a problem. Because, honestly if we mess up we're not going to know about, we'll be gone," 25-year-old Irvin from Pennsylvania said.

He sounds casual but goes on to add: "Sometimes when we sit back and lay back here at night you think 'what are you doing?"

Both men are regularly hands-on with a range of deadly home-made bombs that may contain household objects such as bolts, rocks, screws, spark plugs and nails, as well as more conventional armament like mortar rounds.

As real-life experts in the dangerous art of bomb disposal, Irvin and D'Amato have mixed views of the much discussed movie on the subject, "The Hurt Locker."

While they say the film's depiction of the structure of an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team in Iraq is realistic, they are livid about what they see as the film's characterisation of their army counterparts.