Things that go 'BOOM'

I know this seems kind of obvious to say, but explosives are no joke.


I have seen them so much in entertainment that the idea of something exploding is almost... boring. Routine. And just a Hollywood kind of thing.

But that was far from the truth when an actual grenade was put in my hands for the first time.


A standard M67 grenade, or the 'fragmentary' grenade, is the most commonly used hand held explosive in the marine corps. Weighing a mere 18 ounces, the blast will kill anything it explodes near withing 5 meters. Anything within a 15 meter radius will catch some of the flying metal and shrapnel that fly's near the speed of sound.

Extremely powerful for a device the size of a baseball.



I sat in the corner of the small cinder block bunker awaiting my turn. The instructor walked around to the small entrance and told me to stand. The observer from the tower gave commands from his small speaker.

Take Grenade, Said the tower.
The instructor handed me the olive drab device. I gripped the safety lever and held it against my chest.
Pull thumb clip
I pulled out the first safety pin
Twist and Pull
I pulled the second safety pin. It took me only a split second to understand that the explosion was now live. All that i had to do was release the lever on the side.
Prepare to throw
I brought the grenade back behind my head and aimed at the pit below us. My hands shook.
THROW

I threw the grenade. The lever on the side snapped out and an audible click could be heard as it flew threw the air.

I froze in place. It was going to be really cool to see it explo...

"GET DOWN!" Yelled the instructor. He grabbed me by the flack jacket and pulled me down into the bunker forcefully. My helmet scrapped the wall as we got down just in time.

I felt the explosion in my chest. The settled dust inside the low lying bunker jumped. A small whooshing sound came from over head as the shrapnel passed. It was so loud that it even had a 'thump'. Even with ear plugs in, my ear drums crackled from the sound. I know I threw it far, but it felt close from the sound of the impact of metal on the bunker. Dirt rained down and sprinkled onto both me and the instructor.

"Don't worry sir, I got you." Said the Corporal. "Marines do that all the time. You can't watch the grenade explode and expect to be alive to talk about it afterward."


Hopefully I will never get a front row seat for something like that.


Thanks for reading.