Pfc. Steven Meier, 20, right, and another U.S. soldier load cannisters into a Volcano mine-laying system. (Seth Robson / S&S)
Pfc. Steven Meier, 20, right, and another U.S. soldier load cannisters into a Volcano mine-laying system. (Seth Robson / S&S)
U.S. and South Korean soldiers practice laying Volcano mines at a training area in South Korea's Western Corridor on Thursday. (Seth Robson / S&S)
WESTERN CORRIDOR, South Korea — The 2nd Infantry Division’s 2nd Engineer Battalion has temporarily taken over mine-laying duties from the 44th Engineer Battalion, now serving in Iraq.
In the event of war with North Korea, the unit would be tasked with laying thousands of mines in the Western Corridor to slow an enemy advance, said Company B, 2nd Engineer Battalion commander Capt. Mel Juan, 31, of Honolulu.
The mine-laying mission was assigned to the 44th Engineer Battalion before it deployed to Iraq in August. The 2nd Engineer Battalion will eventually hand the mine-laying duties to the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army, Juan said.
“This is one of 10 missions (assigned to the U.S. Army in the Western Corridor) that will be turned over completely to the ROK Army,” he said.
On Thursday, Company B practiced laying Volcano mines in a ROK Army training area in the Western Corridor. Soldiers from the ROK Army’s 1st Infantry Division provided security during the training.
It was the first time Company B had trained in the field with the mines, Juan said.
The Volcano mine laying system deploys dozens of canisters containing almost 1,000 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines in only a few minutes, he said. To deploy the mines, the engineers load the canisters into launch systems carried by an M548 tracked vehicle.
Ten U.S. and 10 ROK soldiers worked to load the mines as fast as possible Thursday.
Sgt. Matthew Grove, 31, of Manalapan, N.J., who supervised the process, said it is supposed to take 20 minutes, but the 2nd Engineers reloaded one vehicle in less than 7½ minutes.
The team loaded nine vehicles during the day, a total of 160 canisters, he said.
When they are working, the soldiers look a bit like baggage handlers at a busy airport. However, Grove said the canisters, which weigh 40 pounds each, are much heavier than travel bags.
Once the canisters are loaded, the engineers drive the M548 down the center of the area where they plan to place a minefield while the Volcano fires the mines off to either side.
Pvt. Jose Payes, 20, of Chicago drove one of the M548s Thursday.
The key to laying a good minefield is driving in a straight line and maintaining speed, he said.
“If you don’t maintain your speed, your mine field won’t be a half moon (the correct shape). It will be scattered in the wrong area,” Payes said.
The South Korean soldiers were good to work with, he said.
“They were real friendly and they wanted to learn about the Volcano system. They wanted to beat us at loading and unloading because we were timing each other,” he said. The U.S. soldiers won the race, he added.
Pfc. Steven Meier, 20, of Rhineland, Wis., stood on top of an M548 loading the canisters during the training. The loader, who stands on top of the vehicle, has a lot of stress on his upper body, he said.
“It would be good baseball training because you are swinging. You plant your feet and swing at the waist,” he said.
The mines do not arm themselves until after they land, Juan said.
“The great thing about this system is we can emplace a minefield within 17 minutes. We simulate now, but if the siren went off we would do it for real,” he said.
Juan said he does not feel good when he sees photographs of civilians injured by land mines but stressed that the U.S. Army documents the position of any mines it lays.
“If we train in an area of operations we can say here is where we emplaced our mines. Knowing that, we can inform the public where our mines are,” he said.
