They try to tell you in training that you can spot an IED beforehand. They actually had us training in 0 degree weather in NJ practicing throwing sticks with white flags attached at the ground when we see prop IEDs in the snow. That was such a joke. When we got to Kuwait they were a bit more realistic. Some IEDs were more obvious than others but for the most part you don't see them coming. We were actually able to spot some car bombs later in our tour due to the weight of the shells causing the cars to ride incredibly low on the suspension.

What typically happens is you are driving down the road running whatever mission you may be on, when all of a sudden you hear a massive BOOM. Depending on how close you are, what direction you are facing, how powerful the explosion, what mission you are on, etc will determine what happens next. You should know by this point in your military career that after an IED may come secondary attacks/explosions/ambushes, etc. You need to do a combination of things immediately. Squad leaders need to radio in the attack/decide to stay or go, team leaders need to check their team/equipment and report the condition to the squad leader, drivers need to assess the condition of their vehicles and navigate either debris or position for security, gunners need to pull security immediately. The blasts range from not feeling anything major, to being knocked out and suffering lasting brain damage your whole life. You don't see the sharpnel flying in the air. You may see a dust cloud and lots of debris scattered everywhere, dirt raining down, etc. You are so focused on making sure everyone is okay and trying to protect yourselves from a second attack that you only notice things like, the truck in front of you has 2 flat tires that will need to be changed before you go back to base but it looks functional which bodes well for those inside. Then you notice the gunner in that truck has switched out with the team leader. You wonder how bad the gunner must have been hurt. You wait for the radio call from that truck with the status. Everyone okays, thank god. No secondary attack came, you just keep driving and pretend like nothing happened. Pull off at the next safe area (~1.5 miles in this case). Change the tires and do further assessment/medical treatment. Get Ice Cream.

Another time I'm in the gunner position when a car bomb targets my truck. We are driving down a nicer neighborhood, heading from one Iraqi Police station to another when it goes off. Loudest thing I've ever heard. My truck was hammered, and I was tossed around the top a bit, but not too bad. Immediately I take cover from shrapnel/small arms fire, mount the gun, switch from amber to red, and look for threats. The driver immediately stops the truck. The road was mostly empty and we were in a good area to stop, there was no secondary attack so we swung the back trucks around to pull security on my truck while we figured out if it was functional. Some helicopters were in the area and buzzed us a few times for support a couple minutes later. No one was hurt from our team but about 3-4 local Iraqis had minor wounds which we treated before leaving. Somehow there was no damage to the truck, which I still don't understand. The car left a crater in the ground and the black twisted mangled frame was a couple feet from where it started and there were pieces everywhere. Anything can happen after that initial explosion that each IED blast is so unique. You can get lucky and have all vehicles fully functioning, or you could have a vehicle get disabled. You are much more likely to have a secondary attack performed on you if the first achieved some level of success. You don't want to be stuck in a bad neighborhood away from friendlies with a disabled truck pulling security while waiting for QRF (quick reactionary force, aka the guys on standby) to come rolling in 20 minutes later. 20 minutes is a very long time to be stationary.