Lucky Marine Avoids Bomb

In what appears to be a small miracle, an entire group of Marines in Afghanistan narrowly avoided a major explosion when Lance Cpl. Ryan T. Mathison stepped on an improvised explosive device that failed to detonate properly. Mathison, who one of his fellow Marines called a “lucky son of a bitch,” was on foot patrol when he stepped on a hidden IED connected to 25 pounds of explosives that would have likely killed or injured the entire group. “If that IED had worked like it was supposed to? Bye-bye, sweetheart,” said the staff sergeant later called in to dismantle the device. As the conflict in Afghanistan continues, these types of explosives are growing larger and more sophisticated, but in this case the botched explosion did little more than send a few small rocks flying through the air. “We’re all lucky, man,” said Mathison. “That would have hurt us all.”