What's the difference between an "improvised explosive device" and a "bomb"?

[Smarmie Doofus]

Aside from the obvious: 7 syllables.

Ok ... 5 syllables if you want to specify "HOME-MADE bomb".

What's going on here? What interest is being served by smothering a fairly simple concept in techno-jargonic multisyllabic gibberish?

If it serves the military's agenda, why do they instantly... almost as soon as they've invented it... reduce the tongue-twisting euphemism to the acronym "ied".

Which slides from the tongue w. absurd ease.

I don't get it.

A bomb is a bomb.

Isn't it?

[Recursion]

1. A bomb is manufactured and predictable

They pretty much look and act one way.

An IED is, well, improvised, and can look like just about anything and work just about any way.

Very important differences to keep in mind when you're trying not to get blown up by them.

[Smarmie Doofus]

5. Then the four US soldiers in Afghanistan were NOT killed by a bomb.

In other words... "IED" is more *descriptive*?

>>>An IED is, well, improvised, and can look like just about anything and work just about any way. >>>

"Improvised" means its *appearance* is altered or camouflaged? Or does it mean it's "home-made"?

[Recursion]

21. It's home-made. From anything. The Boston Marathon bombs were IEDs

There's no way of telling what they look like or how they're controlled beforehand. mnhtnbb is right that they're a category of bomb, but if you just say "bomb" you usually mean an industrially produced one (at least I do).

In other words... "IED" is more *descriptive*?

Military terminology is usually very precisely descriptive, to the point of self-parody.

[MADem]

27. Those marathon bombs looked like pressure cookers in backpacks.

They didn't look like something that goes BOOM from a Road Runner cartoon....

[mnhtnbb]

2. Apparently, IED's are considered a category of bombs

"The improvised explosive device, or IED, isn’t a bomb. It’s a category of bombs, and within that category, insurgent MacGyvers construct makeshift bombs from whatever they have at hand."


http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/09/ied-cost/

[Smarmie Doofus]

8. Well, how 'bout dropping "explosive device" for "bomb"?

It pares the term down to one syllable (From FIVE) without any apparent loss of meaning.

Or IS there a loss?

[LiberalEsto]

3. 'Bomb' today appears to mean that some defense contractor made money from it nt

[NutmegYankee]

4. IEDs can use components that are not traditional for bombs.

One of the most effective was a tank artillery round hidden in dirt with a wire for triggering the warhead. One expects an artillery round to be fired from a cannon, not exploded from underneath a target.

[Smarmie Doofus]

6. Isn't this a "booby-trap"? n/t

[NutmegYankee]

7. No. It's triggered by an enemy.

The wire isn't a trip wire. The enemy soldier has a detonating device at one end of the wire and lays in hiding.

[Smarmie Doofus]

10. So... it's remote control. Just not *wirelessly* so? n/t

[NutmegYankee]

12. We started using jammers pretty quick in Iraq.

So insurgents were forced to use wires more often. But wireless triggering was still a problem, depending on the situation.

[MADem]

28. And something hidden in dirt is more properly a "land mine" than a "bomb."

So "explosive device" does kinda cover the waterfront....

[Scuba]

9. You're stubborn, I'm tenacious.

I have hypothesis, you have conjecture.

Our side uses bombs, their IEDs.

[A HERETIC I AM]

11. One has a serial number. n/t

[LiberalArkie]

13. What is a pipe bomb then?

[oldhippie]

17. An IED. nt

nt

[Smarmie Doofus]

18. A home-made bomb? nt

[Recursion]

22. A popular type of IED (nt)

[Yo_Mama]

14. We bomb, they IED?

Your question is a good one, really.

I guess the real difference is that a bomb was made by a corporation, and thus someone made money off it, and an IED is a rotten home-made affair, and thus represents an effort to cheat the industrial-military complex?

[Recursion]

23. We IED too

Sometimes troops rig their own improvised claymores.

[Stinky The Clown]

15. "Bomb" doesn't sound bad-ass scary enough.

Only cartoon characters use bombs.



I get your point and I agree with you.

[Motown_Johnny]

16. It is a type of bomb. all IEDs are bombs but not all bombs are IEDs

Must everything be generalized at all times?

[Smarmie Doofus]

19. No. I'm not interested in generalizing. At least not for the sake of generalizing.

I'd like to establish as much clarity on this particular term as possible.

For instance... are there any OTHER "explosive devices' that are NOT bombs?

If not... and maybe there ARE.... why not just say "bomb"?

in other words... 'improvised *"bomb"* sounds (to these tender ears) potentially less pretentious and manipulative than "improvised explosive device".

OTOH... "home-made bomb" sound most communicative of ALL.

But does "bomb" used in place of "explosive device" compromise on meaning?

[ManiacJoe]

29. Bomb tends to have a specific meaning from the military point of view.

> For instance... are there any OTHER "explosive devices' that are NOT bombs?

Land mines
sea mines
artillery shells
hand grenades
RPGs
set explosives (C4, shaped charges, TNT, etc)

[PoliticAverse]

20. Right, they're a subcategory. B52s drop bombs not IEDs. n/t

[Smarmie Doofus]

24. Well, what do "bomb-throwers" actually throw? IEDs?

The Weather Underground did not plant bombs in the 1970s? They planted IEDs?

And what about NYC's notorious Mad Bomber of the 1950's . Should we re-moniker him the Mad IED-Detonator?

[reddread]

25. Land mines are ok

IED's are evil.

[enlightenment]

26. I think it also depends on who makes them

Professionally made things that blow up usually have fancy official titles and catchy nicknames. Colloquially, they are called "bombs".

Homemade things that blow up are divided into two categories, apparently.

If they are made by a ME insurgent (a/k/a/ "terrorist&quot using locally sourced materials, then they are IEDs.

If they are made by home-grown US malcontents (a/k/a/ anything other than a terrorist because we don't have those) then they are "bombs".

According to the FBI, Timothy McVeigh built a "bomb" out of locally sourced materials.

On the morning of April 19, 1995, an ex-Army soldier and security guard named Timothy McVeigh parked a rented Ryder truck in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. He was about to commit mass murder. Inside the vehicle was a powerful bomb made out of a deadly cocktail of agricultural fertilizer, diesel fuel, and other chemicals. McVeigh got out, locked the door, and headed towards his getaway car. He ignited one timed fuse, then another. At precisely 9:02 a.m., the bomb exploded.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/oklahoma-city-bombing

[jberryhill]

30. About $3K. How much are you looking to spend?

[kestrel91316]

31. IEDs are made by brown people, generally mooslims.