[WW] Re: weirdwars-digest.20010910

[KUnnasch@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/11/01 12:03:11 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
weirdwars-owner@gamerz.net writes:

<< 
 I watched "Band of Brothers" last night on HBO. For those who are not
 familiar with it, it's another WWII story by Spielberg and Hanks productions
 companies that is being shown on American Premium television.
 
 On the show it was normal for them to throw grenades into the enemy position
 as they rushed right in not 10 feet from the blast. It appears that training
 showed the troops how far they should expect the blast to cover and simply
 expected them to be clear as they rushed in with their SMG's
 
 
 So, I would allow people outside the range that are combat trained to ignore
 the grenade if its over 10 feet away. >>

Remember that most grenade explosions they were depicting on the show 
occurred in depressions (small sandbag bunkers, trenches).  The very logistic 
nature of an isolated surface explosion (grenade) in those confines would 
dictate that the open area of the blast would be directed upwards.  This 
allows for a closer proximity of the attacker to better hit leftovers 
(stunned targets) as was depicted as well.  

In other words:  Them there Krauts is settin in a bowl.  Toss yer frag and 
run at him.  If'n it don't get him on the start, its a-gonna knock him her a 
loop so's then you kin plug him up close an' personal-like when you git there.

This is still directed training for modern infantry.  A soldier is trained to 
count after the throw to give himself running (sorry- PUN) knowledge of when 
to expect the blast to occur.  From the trainer's point of view, this also 
gives the mind of the soldier a constructive distraction from the peripheral 
facets of combat (bullets and carnage).

Hope this helps,
Karl "I-still-haven't-found-that-luger-yet" Unnasch