Explosive Devices and Their Effects on the Government Essay

“I have never seen anything like this in my life,” said Istar Mohamed, a mother of three who was penetrated with shrapnel in her arm hip and leg.” “You can’t imagine the devastation that happened there. After a few moments I fell unconscious from the impact of it all.”

Homemade explosives are the arsenals of choice by the terrorists not just around the world but also in their own backyards as seen in the recent war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thanks to the hard work of our Department of Defense, many of our soldiers are surviving these blasts due to improvements made to their uniforms and armor. Even though, we have been able to quickly identify and treat their visible injuries; we tend to overlook the more traumatic brain injuries and disorder these soldiers face when they return home to their families. However, the U.S. department of Defense and Veterans Health Administration have raised the awareness of promptly identifying the disabling symptoms of these injuries that may negatively affect the quality of life of our brothers and sisters that sacrifice their lives for our freedom. PTSD is a complicated disorder that affects veterans in general. The department of Veterans Affairs is devoted to provide the best care for our veterans that are diagnosed with this terrible disorder.

The response to a terrorist attack is very different from that of a typical natural disaster. Unlike a natural disaster that just happens, a terrorist attack is caused by a person or particular group; therefore, the scene is viewed as a crime scene and treated as such. Medical responders must answer to police authorities and follow their protocols in assisting victims

In the aftermath of a terrorist attack, local law enforcement is often the first responders on the scene. First responders have the most dangerous job of all since they can not always be sure that the threat is over when they enter a scene. These law enforcement officers, as first responders, have the responsibility of coordinating emergency services within the area and restoring the site. They do this by establishing an emergency command center in which they coordinate their efforts with local emergency personal such as paramedics and firefighters. They are responsible for anything that happens at the scene, including damage, until they have secured the scene (Maras, 2013).

In responding to a suicide bomber, members are reminded to keep paramount the safety of the public safety responders and by-standers, that may be impacted by the threat. Members must realize that deadly force may have to be deployed immediately to prevent the bomber from detonating an explosive device. Members responding to the scene will notify communications of their location and request immediate dispatch of supervisor and a bomb technician. Seek appropriate cover and be aware of blast concussion from rebound and shrapnel effects. Responding officers shall keep a minimum safety distance of 680 feet in all direction. Do not get close to the bomber, if the suspected bomber is unable to reach its target, he may detonate to avoid arrest, and in the process, kill many law enforcement officers. Even if the bomber wants to surrender, is wounded or dead, maintain the safety distance, since he may be carrying a secondary command detonated devices. At no point will a member approach the suspect until a bomb technician has examined the suspect and rendered any located material safe. Just like responding to a bomb threat, Command will be established. Command post should determine the resources needed, including the assistance of other

Once physical wounds were discounted, emotional and mental disorders were responsible for one-third of injury and illness (Bourke). Corporal Henry Gregory who served with the one nineteen machine gun company says, “As soon as the first shell came over, shell shock went nearly mad...it took eight men to hold him down...it is heart breaking.” Most casualties were from larger caliber artillery. These shells caused concussion, which is where the term “shell shock” is derived (Bentley). Shell shock is psychological disturbance caused by prolonged exposure to active warfare. Brutalities from the shells resulted in over eighty thousand psychologically wounded (Bourke). Unfortunately, all that was learned before World War I about psychological and emotional injuries had been forgotten. This became a massive crisis. Arthur Hubbard suffered this psychological trauma and records he was unable to sleep or eat. He continually had nightmares with a bayonet in his face. In the winter of 1914 British doctors were struggling (Jones). Doctors and nurses did not obtain adequate

During an emergency, large quantities of multifaceted information should be gathered, examined, interpreted and handled to control incident factors. Information is required for accurate determination of patient numbers and distribution, the range of illness and injuries, recommendation for treatment and evaluation, and post-impact conditions of the medical assets and public health.

This event goes to show how a simple truck hijacking could have produced a large amount of materials for several dirty bombs. Fortunately in this case law enforcement acted quickly detaining the individuals and recovering the radioactive waste. The explosive component is no impossible task to attain either, gun powder from Wal-Mart will do. There have been documented occurrences where the exploding component of a simple dirty bomb was comprised of traditional dynamite (King, 2004). That shows, that any terrorist organization with the least amount of motivation could easily gather the materials required to cause destruction. The ease of acquiring materials for a dirty bomb is dwarfed by the simplicity that it takes to construct the device.

The ways and reasons land mines are used has changed dramatically since WW1. What was once considered to be cutting edge defensive technology has turned into an offensive tactical device and extremist’s tool to wreak havoc on an enemy or marginalized population. Connecting the history of landmines to the conflicts we have discussed in this class will take several steps. The first part of this paper will discuss the history of landmines, how they are detonated, and the different types of landmines. The next section looks at the ways landmines are used defensively in war time, and as an offensive weapon in past wars and by current day extremists. The third section examines examples of the devastation that

Any patient that has experienced traumatic physical injury may be seen by a trauma specialist. Upon arrival to the emergency room, patients are quickly assessed to identify the extent of the injuries and which are the most threatening to function and life. Resuscitation and stabilization are key priorities prior to surgical operations if urgent surgery is not necessary to save the patient’s life. This is then followed by definitive surgical

Throughout history different terrorist groups have used a variety of methods to attack innocent civilians and infrastructures. Groups such as Aum Shinirikyo, Al Qaeda, ISIS, and other domestic terrorists have been known to attack innocent communities by using IEDs, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons. Attacks, such as the Sarin Attack in Tokyo in 1995, is a prime example in which a terrorist group, Aum Shinirikyo, used a chemical nerve agent to attack citizens in Japanese subway. These chemical attacks as well as other WMDs pose unique threats for first responders. It is important to consider these threats as well as the time, location, number of anticipated causalities, and the type of chemical agent used when responding to a chemical attack. It is the responsibility of officials on a local, state, and federal level to facilitate not only the initial response in a chemical attack but also the recovery and cleanup efforts weeks after.

My initial reaction after reading the case study was how impressed I was. Even though the responders expressed their inexperience with handling a real life mass casualty event, they were able to plan and conduct their triage smoothly. They were able to quickly set up a designated area for the minimal and no injuries individuals to stay while they assessed the more serious individuals. After reading the chapter, I noticed some areas of improvement that could have occurred during the response phase of the incident. There were some personnel resources that were not being utilized correctly in triage efforts. For instance, half went to the minimal and no injuries area to triage while the other half went to triage the more serious individuals.

Usually, trauma department will be divided into three to five designated levels depending on the hospital’s regulations. In this case, I will briefly explain the three basic level of trauma center. The first level is level 1 trauma case which is total care for all aspects of injuries from prevention to rehabilitation. They have complete access to transfer facilities such as the units of helicopter rescue that enable the most extreme injured patient to the department in a short time. In this level, it is filled with staffs such as surgeons, physicians and support personnel. For level 2 of trauma department, an emergency department (ED) physicians, trained nurses and radiology staffs will be on 24-hour duty. They are responsible in initiating

The late 18th and the early 19th century saw the rise of the Industrial Revolution. The transcontinental railroad across the USA was being built; in Australia and California, gold-rushes were driving people crazy trying to get rich; in Seuz, a great canal was being dug through the earth; and in England, London’s famous Underground Railroad system was being built. For these engineering projects to be made possible—for all the blasting, tunneling, trenching, mining, and excavation to be made possible—we needed explosives.

Since man’s first experiences with fire we have longed to control it and we wished to will it to do our bidding. For very long we failed mostly, and we still do sometimes, but with the trials and experiments we have done and died doing, we succeed now, mostly. The first formula that is still written down of an “explosive or pyrotechnic composition” are the three examples of gunpowder in the 1044A.D. Chinese military guide Wujing Zongyao which showed a few uses of this powder they had experimented with for near a hundred years. The most used formula from it was approximately 50% KNO3, also known as Saltpeter in those times, and formally called Potassium nitrate today, ~25% S, Sulfur, and ~25% carbonaceous matter (mostly charcoal and