Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome

Silly String saving lives in Iraq

After months of frustration, a mother of a soldier in has found someone to ship about 80,000 cans of Silly String to the troops, who use the foamy substance to detect trip wires on bombs. "I am so happy right now, I am shaking. I just think it's awesome that it's finally going," Marcelle Shriver said as boxes were loaded into a truck Monday afternoon.

Shriver's Silly String campaign began late last year after her son, Todd, a soldier in Ramadi slated to leave Iraq in November, asked his parents to send cans of the product.

Soldiers can shoot the substance, which travels about 10-12 feet, across a room before entering. If it hangs in the air, that indicates a possible trip wire.

This is why we love our moms.

But of course the officers know better:

Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a military spokesman in Iraq, said recently that Shriver's efforts are appreciated, but that commanders decide which items troops need. He said the spray was used heavily in the early stages of the conflict but is not as widely needed today.

Which is why they issue tampons which are commonly used to plug bullet wounds (oh they don't, right) , which is why her son is asking for the cans of the stuff in the first place, which is why it's the troops who are developing means to defeat IED's and by the time the "officials" get around to authorizing one, it's obsolete.