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What Is The Best Thing To Do When A Grenade Is Thrown At You?
Their answer makes sense, but I never would have thought of it.
Question for veterans: what do they teach in the armed services?
I was in the Navy and grenades don’t float, so they taught me nothing.
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Thrown “at” you?
Catch it and throw it back.
They tested this theory on Myth Busters, it doesn’t work all that well.
@2 – True-ish… now they need to see how well a helmet stops shrapnel in the “hit the deck” zone.
Better than a femoral artery, I’d wager.
Always carry a baseball bat. and if one gets lobbed at you, swing for the fences.
I was taught not to get grenades thrown at you in the first place.
Beats me; that’s heavy duty infantry training, but it sounds like your best bet; you just might live. There was a guy in, I think, Afghanistan who tried throwing a grenade back. It blew up right after he threw it. He lived, but he lost that hand.
Wow. Would be very hard to ignore all instinct and duck facing the damn thing.
Back in the ’80s when I was probably in Basic, they taught us that throwing a grenade back only worked for people inside a bunker that was being cleared, so you had to cook off the grenade (hold it for a couple of seconds after you let the spoon fly) before you chucked it in. Also, that prevented the residents of the bunker from kicking the grenade down a grenade sump. Grenades back then might have had longer fuses, though.
The article is right as far as I know, always get low and point your most armored side towards the blast, whether throwing or receiving.
Depends on the situation. If in a crowded location with no place to go, I told my son to grab it and fling it as fast as he can. Some have jumped on it, absorbing the blast to protect their mates. That is very noble. But regrettable if when after you have jumped on it you can count off: one thousand one, one thousand two… .
To be clear, this article seems to be speaking as if one in wearing full battle rattle, helmet included. In that case, yeah, head first, let the helmet catch some flak if there is something with your name on it, otherwise, I’m going to say feet first is the best option. I was taught the headfirst thing in infantry school, for what it’s worth.
@10 – Even without a helmet, I’m still thinking head-first, because the skull is nature’s helmet.
Feet first: there’s that femoral artery problem the article mentioned, plus – let’s face it – shrapnel won’t stop until it hits bone. Skull is a lot of bone with just a little skin. Take it legs-first, and you’ve got yourself 20 pounds of flayed and bleeding flesh, along with metal bits embedded in your femur.