[GSlob]

Wouldn't blowing that IED from a safe distance [say, one 20mm HE round into it could do the job] be simpler, cheaper, less risky and so on? One suchround is something like $10; one captain is much more valuable.

[Stoat]

Wouldn't blowing that IED from a safe distance [say, one 20mm HE round into it could do the job] be simpler, cheaper, less risky and so on? One suchround is something like $10; one captain is much more valuable.

Perhaps the bomb was in an area where it would have not been possible to detonate it safely?  Unfortunately, the article doesn't go into that level of detail.

[Stoat]

There's a bit more on this from The Guardian

Guardian Unlimited Special reports Medals for acts of valour in Afghanistan and Iraq

<<<snip>>>>

Captain Kevin Ivison of the Royal Logistic Corps is awarded the George Medal for risking his life to defuse a bomb after an explosive device killed two of his colleagues in Amara, southern Iraq, in February 2006.

"An angry crowd of Iraqis had gathered and disabling the device was necessary to protect them and to allow casualties to be removed," his citation says. "Without a robot to defuse it", it adds, Capt Ivison "took the decision to approach and disable the bomb himself. He realised the device was highly likely to detonate and kill him, and that terrorist snipers may still be in the vicinity. [He] set off past the casualties on the 'long walk' to the device" before detonating it from a safe distance.

 

 

<<<snip>>>>