When I wrote part one on the 28th of July, I made it clear that this was just a theory, and I had not the experience of the war conditions to be certain that it would work. In consequence, I sent a copy of the post to a friend, a now retired senior army officer, who had served in those Middle East war zones. His reply was very cogent, interesting, and pointed up aspects that one who has not been to the area, will be unaware of.

I thought it would be interesting to put down information concerning the use of explosives, which I encountered in the 50s, and is not as straightforward as films like Sharp, and some of Clint Eastwood’s, would make one believe. Explosives, to be truly effective have to be under pressure, and so are placed with a tight packing to maximise the effect, and fired either by a burning fuse, but more recently in general by an electric charge. The electric charge, coupled with packing which can give a directional effect, enable large tall buildings in built up-areas to be demolished in short order and with minimum effect on the surrounding district. This is achieved by having charges placed to weaken the structure seconds, or milliseconds, prior to the main blasts going off, and these would be angled and synchronised, in such a way that the building imploded instead of exploding. I add this note because the way in which Roadside bombs are packed would really influence the effect of the charge and the direction of it.

My friend made a number of points, he pointed out that a lot of the ground was rocky, which I take to mean that the holes were being drilled for the charge, and thus would not be as easily brought to light as one dug in sand. While I have seen the use of water cannon repeatedly in the north of Ireland, on local television, where large quantities of water were sprayed some considerable distance, he pointed out than in the Middle East water was a valuable commodity and waste would only play into the hands of the politicians who were against our presence. He also pointed out that the distances travelled by our soldiers at any one time were considerable and would thus aggravate the water situation, and progress of the units would be unnecessarily slowed down, inducing obvious additional dangers. I admit that I had been considering men walking, not fleets of vehicles. I am indebted to him because it demonstrates that armchair design badly needs on- site knowledge. Nonetheless, if my comments on the first post induced even a little lateral thinking, it wasn’t all wasted.

What I am writing about is little waterproofed tabs, in packets, that we use to cover inadvertent damage to our skin, some call them Band Aids or plasters. You know sort of thing, it is kept in a box with a red cross on it, out of harm’s way, and when you cut yourself, you can’t remember where the box is, and when you ultimately find it, you can’t get the plaster out of its wrapping, any more than you can get crisps out of the bag, or your dinner out of a plastic box. Recently, I was speared accidentally with a very sharp knife and by the time I managed to get the plaster out of its wrapping, the kitchen was like an abattoir with blood everywhere.

Small children are adventurous and pebble dashing of the knees is a common occurrence, young people have run-ins with electrical appliances and loose chunks of their bodies with experimentation, I have the scars to prove it. Very old people are held together with all sorts of medications, including aspirin to stop them going gaga, that has the disadvantage of thinning one’s blood to a point where the slightest scratch can produce a fountain of the red stuff that keeps us going. So it is essential that the plaster trade takes on board the fact that their wrappings are just that bit too unhygienic, as they ultimately cause one to have blood drying everywhere.

The strange thing is that the medical profession found this out years ago and provides their operatives with roles of plaster which they can cut to any shape with a pair of scissors, give a light tug, and hey presto, the paper covering is pulled away, and they have whacked on another plaster with no effort and lightning speed. Clearly the manufacturers are doing nicely when they supply a small cardboard box, half empty, containing a variety of plasters in individual packages that have a secret code for opening, each one of those plasters costs a bomb, while I suspect the roll comes much cheaper. We are talking about an emergency, where some people can panic with the sight of blood, so surely it is in everyone’s interest to make the amateur carry out the task more easily, if not just as easily as a professional.