According to Cracked, an ex-intelligence officer claims that US soldiers would throw candy into the streets to have kids check for IEDs. I'm unable to find any evidence for this claim. I could be wrong, but I have some difficulty seeing this happening: would kids be so conveniently available? if they know that there are IEDs nearby, why are they hanging out there? how any sweets do you need to throw to check a road?
There's another video in which Hummers drive down the road and there are kids standing by the side, and they throw candy off to the kids as they pass, or in the road ahead. They do that because if the kids refuse to go pick up the candy from a certain spot, it means there's an IED there. Or if there is one and [the kids] don't know, they run over and set it off -- which minimizes the likelihood that the Hummer and soldiers will sustain any injury, but they are also innocent kids. We don't do that anymore, though." Can't have child blood staining your Humvee, after all.
Gwen continues: "There's another practice we stopped using, they are called...