Grenade

The first bloke in our group moved out of the bunker to the throwing area. We heard the instructor tell him: “Before you throw the grenade, you will shout ‘GRENADE’. You will throw the grenade at the target. You will watch the grenade land, and only when the grenade lands, will you duck below the wall. Do you understand?” “Yes, Corporal,” he shouted. “Take the grenade in your right hand. Place the index finger of your left hand through the pin ring. Pull the pin. Now throw the grenade,” the instructor shouted.

This was in the last days of recruit training. We were obeying orders without question and spoke to an instructor only when invited by them to do so. We heard the bloke shout: “Grenade!” A couple of seconds later we heard the instructor shout: “Take cover!” Next thing he comes tearing into the bunker, dragging this bloke by the shirt. A loud explosion followed as the grenade went off alongside the bunker. The bloke had thrown with a stiff-arm motion, letting go the grenade too early, sending it flying straight up into the air. When it began to descend, the instructor couldn’t tell whether it was going to land outside the blast wall or inside where they were.

The instructor is calling this bloke everything he can think of. He’s calling his parents idiots for not drowning him at birth. The bloke then pipes up and says: “But Corporal, I’m left-handed.” The corporal made sure he asked every trainee whether he was right or left-handed after that.

Corporal Jack English, Vietnam