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IJC Courtesy Story
It became the catchphrase of the day - "I might as well be God d---ed Sherlock Holmes."
A bit vulgar with a touch of arrogance, but the U.S. Marine saying it had a right to be cocky. Sgt. James R. Humerick had tracked down an improvised explosive device cache as if he'd had a premonition. The squad leader didn't just call the compound it was in; he narrowed it down to the room.
Shortly after departing for a patrol from the company's newly established observation post in Southern Shorsurak, June 20, Humerick led his squad east toward empty compounds.
No more than a minute after telling his Marine to sweep a room, the handheld metal detector emitted a high-pitched whine. A little digging revealed an IED cache: two directional fragmentation IEDs weighing 16 kilograms each, five meters of detonation cord and seven kilograms of home-made explosive.
Triggered by the rush of the find, the Sherlock Holmes line was born. It would be repeated through the day, often as a joke, sometimes variations would take form, "Sgt. James Humerick, aka Sherlock Holmes," was the most popular.
The patrol that day was a success, and other patrols by other squads during the first week of the operation would also yield cache finds.
For Humerick, from Great Falls, Mont., the find was a welcome change of pace. He is on his fourth deployment and said in previous experiences, "We didn't really find the IEDS, they kind of found us."
Even though he seemed to be a natural detective that day, he'd later admit the find was part luck, part experience. The discovery came on just the fourth day of Operation New Dawn, a joint operation between the Afghan National Army and ISAF units to disrupt enemy forces which have been using the sparsely populated region between Marjah and Nawa as a safe haven.
The Marines had limited their patrols to the north and south of their position for the first few days of the operation. Humerick's patrol was among the first to head east.
"I decided to go straight east and see what was out there," Humerick said. "We came upon that compound and it just looked like somewhere where I'd hide something.
According to Master Sgt. Jeffrey A. Bratcher, an explosive ordnance disposal non commissioned officer, IEDs like those found by Sgt. Humerick are primarily used to hit dismounted patrols.
The Marines were able to see what the IEDs could have done when Bratcher and another EOD technician destroyed the cache a few hours later. The blast sent shockwaves through the earth, and smoke and sand high into the sky.
"Everyone wants to find a fight, but bringing everybody back is the most important thing," said Humerick. "Finding those IEDs, you're saving lives. When you find them you're pretty much keeping someone in the fight," he added.
| Date Taken: | 07.04.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 07.04.2010 22:07 |
| Story ID: | 52378 |
| Location: | SOUTHERN SHORSURAK, AF |
| Web Views: | 219 |
| Downloads: | 194 |
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