New York Times: In Battle, Hunches Prove to Be Valuable

The New York Times spoke to IAVA Member Veteran Don Gomez, Jr. for this front-page feature about how high-tech military gear, while helping to reduce I.E.D. casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, remains a mere supplement to the most sensitive detection system of all — a soldier's brain.

“One afternoon I remember turning down a road in Baghdad we were very familiar with, and there’s no one out — very creepy for that time of day,” said Sgt. Don Gomez, a spokesman for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, who took part in the invasion and later, in 2005, drove a general in and around Baghdad.

Trash was heaped in a spot along the street where Sergeant Gomez and other drivers in the convoy had not seen it before, so they gave it a wide berth.

“We later called it in to an explosives team and, sure enough, they found one and detonated it — the thing left a huge crater,” he said.