Caterpillar Machines Save Two Soldiers in Afghanistan

NOTE: In our upcoming special July 4th issue of Compact Equipment, we are honoring our brave men and women in the armed forces around the world. We’re also honoring the tough-minded, military-grade equipment used by our troops and our allies in reconstruction applications. In preparation, we’ve been teasing the print edition with great stories of machines in the military, like the one below provided by Cat Folks magazine.

British Royal Engineer Army Sappers, Daniel Boden and Craig Cook, are alive today thanks to the Caterpillar equipment they were working with when each was hit by improvised explosive devices (IED) buried in roads in Afghanistan. Boden was driving a Cat 434E backhoe loader and Cook was working with a protected 938G wheel loader. Both soldiers were repairing damage to the roads that had been hit previously by IED explosions. Thanks to the required protection levels and additional modifications added to both machines by Finning engineers (a Cat Dealer) at its special defense facility in Cannock, UK, both soldiers were able to walk away from the equipment without injury.

Boden and Cook even got the opportunity meet and thank the people who built the vehicles at Caterpillar’s UK factory in Desford, Leicestershire, and at Cat dealer Finning, who helped prepare the machines for service in the worn-torn country.
 
“The people at Caterpillar have given me future faith to go out on further patrols in the machines, knowing that if it were to happen again your machines are the safest place to be,” said Cook. “I would like to thank Caterpillar from the bottom of my heart, because of your hard work I can go home to see my wife and the birth of my first child. I really can’t thank you enough.”
 

Reunited with sister pieces of equipment at the Caterpillar Desford Visitor Center, for the first time since the IED incidents, the soldiers were able to put the machines through their paces in a more relaxed environment, showing off their expertise to Finning and Caterpillar staff. The news of the soldiers’ experience had a positive impact on the whole of the Finning business, according to Finning defense manager Alan Hunt.
 
“When we heard about the IED incidents, we were very shocked and in the same instant, very relieved to hear that the soldiers operating the machinery were okay,” said Hunt. “Although we work at protecting equipment for the Ministry of Defense every day, you never actually want the operators of the machines to be attacked in this way.”
 
For Caterpillar staff at its Desford factory, where Boden’s 434E was manufactured, the visit is particularly rewarding as customer solutions manager Chris Key explained.
 
“If you can have moments like this in your life where the significance of the ‘day job’ is really brought home, I think you can be very proud,” said Key. “That is how we all feel at Desford and we are particularly proud that it is a UK workforce that has played its role in protecting UK forces, whilst they perform important work in Afghanistan and other areas of the world.”

Story provided by Cat Folks magazine. Photos provided by Caterpillar/Cat Dealer Finning, UK.