Worse yet the soldiers were unprepared, unprotected since they were riding in an unarmored ATV. An ATV for gods sakes.
Three Canadians travelling between two checkpoints just a few hundred metres apart died Wednesday in Afghanistan when their all-terrain vehicle hit a roadside bomb that insurgents apparently managed to plant without being detected.
The small John Deere-made open-top six-wheeler had no armour to protect its occupants.
Brig.-Gen. Tim Grant, commander of the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan, shrugged off questions about what soldiers were doing riding around dangerous trails in an all-terrain vehicle primarily used to whip supplies around military bases. The risk seemed manageable and, besides, it was about the only type of vehicle that could weave through the tight off-road trails in the area, he argued.While the accident could force the military to give its procedures a second look, the sketchy details suggest the military has already decided this is a tragic accident and not a case of procedural or protocol carelessness.
"The vehicle was appropriate for the task at hand and the terrain that they were travelling in," he told reporters.
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