grave diggin.......

Well, as it turns out, today was not in fact my last patrol. I assumed I had ended on a high note today, however when I returned to camp the guys had told me I'm not leaving for another 3-4 days. Which means I'll have one more walk before leave.
Today we were escorting our OC, Maj. Nevin to an objective we have been occupying for about a week now. Elements of D Coy Recce platoon, a rifle platoon and Forristalls section have been staked on on a high feature in the middle of N******** holding ground in the south west. We patrolled through the town and made our way to the objective. Good to see ole Forristall and his small det of engineers. They had built a par 3 hole with tee box, flag stick, and yard sign just in the front of their mud hut. It's pretty checked. I think Yan is bound for HLTA now so he wasn't around. We hung out for a small while and then it was time to step off.
We made our way to a graveyard just to the north west of their position and began searching the area. We had been in the cemetary on a previous occasion and had found nothing. Today would prove different. About halfway through our search I noticed a large area of fresher dirt around 10 or so graves. This struck me as odd, as the whole area ( about the size of a football field) was all hard packed undisturbed earth. I began sweeping the area, and then moved on to the graves. The second one I searched was the size of a small child ( the graves in Afghanistan are mounds of dirt with small rocks and flags as decor). This one yielded a large metal hit about the size of the grave. I called Browny and the Warrant over explaining that this could be either a small tin coffin or a significant weapons cache. They gave the go ahead to start digging. I was unsure as to what we were uncovering, however such things as metal coffins or metal of any type to Afghans is valuable, therefore I found it unlikely that they would have buried a small child in one. I got Riley to stick his bayonet in the side of the site first and it went to the hilt. I then moved to the shovel, explaining to him to be careful and begin digging a trench into the side of the mound. Well, Riley digs right in about 2 feet down and uncovers the edge of a tarp. He puts his entrenching tool in the grave again and strikes what he thought was to be bone. I got the detector in the hole and the thing lit up in its familiar chime. It was at this point when I realized that we were uncovering something metal. It was no holds barred at that point and we began digging the whole thing up. Eventually we unearthed the top of a 45 gal. drum with det cord protruding from the top. It was sealed shut and the detonation cord was running down the side of the drum into the earth below. I reckon it was rigged for anti-handling (booby trapped), however we went ahead with a pull anyway. 3 of us on the line and the thing did not budge. At this point we called EOD assets and waited for tehm to get on site. They arrived about 2 hours later and the little guy was all in a huff. I explained the situation and it was as though he couldn't be bothered with what I was telling him. This particular EOD operator hasn't made too many friends since they began working with us. At any rate, Riley and I moved further north to let them do what we could have done and began prepping a wall breach required for our exfiltration. The EOD guys were working for ahwhile trying to get it out of the ground to no avail. They ended up blowing the thing up in the graveyard. Riley and I were perched on a rooftop approximately 200 meters away and when this thing went off it sent a plume of smoke 200 ft in the air which quickly dispersed due to the wind. The crack was deafening and it began to rain chunks of shrapnel all over the area. Riley got a bolt in the leg and bits were flying everywhere. By far, the best BIP on tour. I went back to check out the hole. It was a massive crater and I asked the guys how many blocks they used.. "only 4" was what they replied. This would not create a hole of this magnitude. I assume the drum was filled with HME, presumably Aluminum Nitrate, and the thing was rigged for anti tampering. Pieces of rebar were stuck in the ground everywhere and I'm sure a few bodies died again, launched as dust into the atmosphere. There was really nothing we could do about the collateral damage to the other graves and we certainly do not take pride in a situation where this action was the only option. Digging in the graveyard was bad enough and I'm sure we'll hear about it from the locals in the next meeting. We certainly took another HUGE cache from the insurgents and yet another small victory was celebrated.
Shortly after the BIP we blew our hole in the wall and exfilled out of the area. Made our way north to a prominent route and back into camp. An excellent day and one hell of a way to end my patrolling for 3 weeks...... or so I thought. I got back and Red informed me that my ride out of here was delayed for another few days. No big deal, one more patrol..... one more time..... I reckon I'll have yet one more tale from the next one..... standby..... out