And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
And shrapnel is still flying through the air beyond that dirty smoke cloud. The thing about grenade fighting is, you have to do a lot of it to get good at it and if you do a lot of it, you probably won't live that long. They work best rolling down a hillside away from you and onto enemy troops coming up the hill. Also work well dropping into a hole where enemy are hiding.
They don't work well inside buildings (maybe too well). Bad tactic is like the movies, throwing one into a room and ducking behind drywall panel for "cover".
When I went through Basic Combat Training at Fort Lewis, Washington in the Winter of 1968, we used the old "pineapple" fragmentation grenade, which we were taught to throw in the same manner as we would throw a football.
When I got to Viet Nam, we had "baseball" fragmentation grenades, which we were taught to throw the same way as we would throw a baseball.
We also trained to use the M-79 grenade launcher, and later on, the newly invented M-203 over/under combination M-16 rifle with 40mm grenade launcher.
We also had CS grenades (i.e., "tear gas" or "riot control"), smoke grenades, white phosphorus grenades, concussion grenades, and of course, dummy practice grenades.
I carried the M-203 combo grenade launcher/M16, it weighed a ton. I was one of the biggest guys in the squad, so lucky me. Of course, they never let me shoot it. Only lug it around.
Yeah, there are no "gasoline flames" the way you see in the movies. However, the little guys are effective.
ReplyDeleteAnd shrapnel is still flying through the air beyond that dirty smoke cloud. The thing about grenade fighting is, you have to do a lot of it to get good at it and if you do a lot of it, you probably won't live that long. They work best rolling down a hillside away from you and onto enemy troops coming up the hill. Also work well dropping into a hole where enemy are hiding.
ReplyDeleteThey don't work well inside buildings (maybe too well). Bad tactic is like the movies, throwing one into a room and ducking behind drywall panel for "cover".
And that my friends is why I was a Gunners Mate on a Tin Can. The Boom Boom part was tossed 18,000 yards away!
ReplyDeleteWhen I went through Basic Combat Training at Fort Lewis, Washington in the Winter of 1968, we used the old "pineapple" fragmentation grenade, which we were taught to throw in the same manner as we would throw a football.
ReplyDeleteWhen I got to Viet Nam, we had "baseball" fragmentation grenades, which we were taught to throw the same way as we would throw a baseball.
We also trained to use the M-79 grenade launcher, and later on, the newly invented M-203 over/under combination M-16 rifle with 40mm grenade launcher.
We also had CS grenades (i.e., "tear gas" or "riot control"), smoke grenades, white phosphorus grenades, concussion grenades, and of course, dummy practice grenades.
I carried the M-203 combo grenade launcher/M16, it weighed a ton. I was one of the biggest guys in the squad, so lucky me. Of course, they never let me shoot it. Only lug it around.
ReplyDeleteMy team in Iraq had two of those. I wouldn't let them shoot it either. (except for flares and colored smoke).
ReplyDelete