|
Functioned as Designed
by Jeff
Villarreal
I arrived
in Germany the night before my very first duty station and
reported to my unit. I introduced myself to the fellow
Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technicians. I had just
completed EOD training at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. While I
was talking with my First Sergeant, otherwise known as Top,
the phone rang. He told me to grab my gear and meet him
outside. I reminded him that I had not had any equipment
issued to me. Plus, the Lieutenant, my commanding officer,
had not arrived yet. Top told the clerk, “When The LT shows
up let him know that 'V' is with me,” and off we went.
“Get in
the other side,” Top said, "I’ll drive." We zipped out the
gate and headed toward the firing ranges. We turned on to a
tank trail and raced in and out of the columns of tanks and
other trucks. Top told me that Grafenwohr was the busiest
post in the world. Top said that I was really fortunate to
be stationed there. Most Delta Tens, that’s what they call
rookies, get a quieter place. I asked him, “How busy does it
get around here?” He said “The 2nd EOD respond to
over two thousand incidents a year.” Great.
I just sat
there as we bounced all over that tank trail; I was told
that the best thing for me to do was to ask questions. “We
have probably the best teams anywhere. If they weren’t, they
be gone, or dead,” Top said. "Remember, ask questions! Do
what you’re told when you’re told, and ask questions! You
will not get a second chance here.
I was a
little worried; I began to think, “What did I get myself
into?” The jeep suddenly stopped and Top motioned me to
follow him. We were at a bunker. I was introduced to the
guard, and was shown how to sign in. “The explosives are
kept here,” he said. We entered our bunker and then the
schooling really began. Top began to ask me what length of
time fuse would be need for three-minute burn time. I
calculated the burn rate and cut the appropriate length of
fuse.
Top said,
“We are going to range 21. Twenty minutes ago a grenade
misfired." Top asked, “Safety precautions?” I was a little
apprehensive at this point; I began to ramble off a list. He
stopped me in the middle and said, “Look, what you learned
in school is one thing, but in the real world you have to be
able to adapt.”
We arrived
at the Grenade range and I started to assemble the “set up.”
A set up is the time fuse and a blasting cap which are ready to prime
the explosive. To prime an explosive charge, you insert the
set up into the explosive. When the Combat Engineer Company
was at a safe distance, Top pulled me aside and asked, “Are
you ready to do this?” “Lets do it,” I responded.
We both
jumped into the pit where the troops throw the grenades down
range. Top said, “I want you to take a look with these
binoculars and tell me what you see”?
“I think I
see it,” I said. As I looked down range I saw a dark
olive-drab ball-looking thing.
Top asked
if I was ready. “Go do it," he said. "Remember that you have
to ID the thing, too.”
I climbed
out of the hole and started slowly toward the grenade. I ran
different scenarios through my mind, making sure I had a
countermeasure for each one. The grenade range looked well
manicured; small pebbles covered the whole range. I guess
it was to help absorb the shock wave of the blast.
The
pebbles made an eerie crunching sound as I walk down range.
I soon got close enough to see the grenade. It looked like a
standard Mark 1 olive green high explosive fragmentation
grenade. The weight of the grenade made a little crater in
the pebbles; it was buried about a third of the way up the
side. The fuse was pointing away from me. I approached it.
I stopped
and took a breath; I looked back and saw Top leaning up
against the side of the throwing pit, smoking a cigarette. I
went down to my knees and removed my cap. I slowly moved
over to look at the fuse. This is it: is the striker stuck
or is it impinged?
If the
fuse was impinged, the hammer would have hit the primer.
That would have started the internal fuse and 6 seconds
later the grenade should have gone off. But something might
have kept the fuse from burning. That would have been
easier. I would have just placed my explosive next to it and
“Blow In Place” – "B.I.P."
If it was
a “cocked striker," that would be the same thing, but not as
easy. For some reason with hand grenades, when you pull the
pin, the striker does not always snap forward and hit the
primer. It is not really a dud, just a mechanical failure.
That is more dangerous. If you were examining the fuse and
the grenade moved in any way, with a cocked striker, it
could snap forward and you’re down to your last six seconds.
You would have to just pray, if that happened when you were
on top of it, that you could grab it and toss it far enough
and hit the dirt.
I leaned
over the grenade and my eyes lit right up! Someone forgot to
release the safety on the grenade! Those engineers had done
nothing more than throw a rock down range! I picked it up
and went back to the foxhole. I removed the safety and
pulled the pin. I yelled, “Fire in the hole,” and threw it.
BOOM!
Functioned as designed.
|
