In college I was a member of the Reserve Officer Training
Corps (ROTC). They taught us a lot about the theory of war. That teaching mostly revolved around
scintillating topics like the 5 paragraph operations order, and military
decision making process (MDMP). But the
days I had the most fun were when we pulled the weapons from the armory, and
went to the range. The day we threw the
grenade was truly exciting. You stand
with this heavy round ball (a little smaller than a bocce ball) and you know it
can cause irreparable damage to you and others.
We stood in cement bays, with Drill Instructors standing next to
us. Their job was to throw us to the
other side of the cement barrier if we dropped the grenade, or forgot to throw
it in the excitement.
I stood in my bay ready to pull the pin, looking at the
crater left by someone who dropped their grenade earlier that day. There is a healthy terror to pulling that
pin. And yet, when you do, you release a
powerful weapon. In a flash of light and
sound, I could hear and feel the powerful force of the grenade going off on the
other side of the bunker wall. In live
combat the grenade is an even more terrifying weapon.
