Minimum safe distance for frag grenade?

[Stand_Watie]

Any of you Army or Marine corp guys remember from training?

*****

GI to test morality of war

"In Iraq (news - web sites) last April, freshly promoted Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia led squads of Florida National Guard soldiers in the fight against insurgents in the deadly Sunni triangle

But Mejia became increasingly pained by his war experiences, and when he went on leave in the autumn, he decided not to come back. The staff sergeant--one of about 600 soldiers counted as AWOL by the Army during home leaves from Iraq--eventually was labeled a deserter.

Now, after five months in hiding, Mejia plans to surrender Monday in Boston on the eve of the war's first anniversary, and he aims to become the first Iraq war veteran to publicly challenge the morality and conduct of the conflict. At a time when polls indicate that Americans' support for the war is slipping, Mejia intends to seek conscientious-objector status to avoid a court-martial...

Perhaps the turning point for Mejia was the day in Iraq when he was ordered to shoot at Iraqis protesting and hurling grenades toward his position from about 75 yards away, which he considered too far of a distance to be a real threat. Mejia and his men opened fire on one, and he fell, his blood pooling around him..."

 

[viper16]

Grenade

(1) Body -- thin sheet metal. Fragments are produced by a serrated wire coil fitted to the inside of the grenade body.

(2) Filler -- 5.5 ounces of Composition B.

(3) Fuze -- M204A1 or M204A2.

(4) Weight -- 16 ounces.

(5) Safety clip -- yes.

(6) Capabilities -- can be thrown 40 meters by average soldier. The effective killing radius is 5 meters and the effective casualty-producing radius is 15 meters. ALTHOUGH THE KILLING RADIUS IS 5 METERS AND THE CASUALTY PRODUCING RADIUS OF THIS GRENADE IS 15 METERS, FRAGMENTS CAN DISPERSE AS FAR AWAY AS 230 METERS.

This is just one of the several that could have been used, most seem to have nearly identical capabilities though. So in total about total of 64.75 yards on average, really close enough to be considered a reasonable threat.

 

[HBK]

I don't know, maybe it's just me, but if someone is chunking grenades at me I think I would probably not mind shooting them until they were no longer able to chunk grenades.

 

[madmike]

We had these wussy idiots in the Gulf War, too.

Look, I have NO PROBLEM with being a conscientious objector. A CO doesn't pick up a weapon.

But "I'll handle a weapon unless it gets unpleasant" is NOT CO.

If you feel the order is unlawful, protest the order. Refuse to obey the order. You can even shoot your officer if you feel it's a war crime. BUT! You WILL stand court martial and be judged on your actions. There's no good part about war.

But running away AFTER THE FACT and then trying to claim CO status is not going to work. That's deserting. Especially in a military where you can walk up to the pshrink and say, "I'm stressed and troubled and don't feel safe with a weapon." BAM! Rear duty AT ONCE. It's not like WWI where they shot you for cowardice.

No, this poor twit didn't think through what it means to be a soldier, then panicked, then ran, and now wants to walk away from his mistakes.

Not going to happen.

Now, if he pleads insanity from stress, he might pull it off.

Of course, he'll never handle a weapon again.

But after all, he's a conscientious objector. He shouldn't WANT any tools of violence (tm). Right?

Mike
USAF, US Army, 19 years.

 

[c_yeager]

If you feel the order is unlawful, protest the order. Refuse to obey the order. You can even shoot your officer if you feel it's a war crime. BUT! You WILL stand court martial and be judged on your actions. There's no good part about war.

Exactly, an american soldier has the RIGHT and OBLIGATION to refuse an unlawful order. And yes, they will have to stanf trial for it. To someone asked to do something that they consider immoral the prospect of a court martial shouldnt be that big of a deal.

and this is precious:

Iraqis protesting and hurling grenades

Um, how is "protesting" and throwing hand grenades at someone different from being "angry" and "attacking" someone with grenades? By his rational ALL warfare is just "protesting".

 

[Firethorn]

40 Meters Average?

What caught my eye was the 'average' that a soldier could throw the grenades. Tack on maybe 10 meters for a strong arm and suddenly you'd be calling for a medic.

Throwing a grenade is a attack. Even if you're too stupid to do it within your range, counter-attack is allowed. This isn't Vietnam. We've learned. Our forces are now allowed to respond whenever they come under attack. And it sounds like what was happening was that they had a few militants in a crowd of unarmed protesters, and were trying to get us to slaughter them all. Instead we used aimed fire to take down 1 guy.

Getting rear-line duty is easy. Heck, I didn't have a choice because of my eyes.

 

[SapperLeader]

Firethorn, that average is right, I personally am very weak with grenades and strong with the rifle. I can maybe throw one 25 meters. On the other hand, my battle buddy in basic threw it closer to 60 meters. 75 meters is close enough that the enemy would have been a threat, and should have been fired on.

 

[LawDog]

*snort*

He saw "blood pooling" around a body 75 yards away? During a fight?

Good eyes.

Or something.

LawDog

 

[Bruce H]

Tie the worthless SOB so a post and toss granades at him from seventy five yards. Call it a field expediency test.

 

[Leatherneck]

This guy makes it to Staff Sergeant and then decides he's a CO?

TC
TFL Survivor

 

[Obiwan]

By all means...wait until they get the range!

He wants out...

So he took a page from Kerry's book

End of story