Day 50: Grenade!
(Backdated post)
The first, and most probably last live hand grenade flew from my hand today and exploded.
We were given a tour of the grenade range when we arrived at the grounds, and proceeded to throw a practice grenade followed by a live one.
The pin on the practice grenade was a stubborn one. With all my strength, I couldn’t twist it out if my life depended on it, and had to hand it off the annoyed sergeant beside me who got it out on my behalf, and then passed it back to me. I’ve to admit that handing a grenade, even a practice one with barely any explosives to another person with the pin already out is rather scary business.
Fortunately, the pin came off without much of a struggle on my actual throw. I pulled the pin out, handed the pin to my platoon commander who was standing beside me, got that ‘okay’ tap on my shoulder, flung it and dived behind the protection of the grenade bay right away. I wasn’t scared, but once again, military equipment is always provided for by the lowest bidder, so it was a “boy, I’m glad to have got rid of that” feeling the moment it left my hand.
