Members of an Iraqi explosive ordinance disposal team learn that flying shrapnel from a large explosion is always closer than it appears. This is why standoff distance is important.

The Iraqi Army should have more experience with explosive ordinance disposal than any other military in the entire world. They live in a country that has been plagued with suicide bombers, improvised explosive devices, and car bombs for the better part of two decades now. Even still, some lessons you can only learn through practical application, and this video is evidence of that.

Normally, when you are doing a controlled detonation, the EOD technician who set up the explosives does a bunch of math to find out what the safe standoff distance is. That information is then usually relayed to all of the troops in the nearby area, along with a countdown telling them the exact second the controlled detonation will happen. Apparently none of that happened here, and the controlled detonation was a big surprise to everyone involved.