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Students from Alpha Company, The Basic School, grab M69 practice grenades affectionately known as "bluebodies" during hand grenade training Jan. 5,
2012. The lieutenants practice throwing the bluebodies before they are allowed to throw a M67 fragmentation grenade. Photo by USMC Sgt. Christopher Zahn
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QUANTICO, Va. (1/10/2012) - Since the invention of the hand grenade,
it has been a valuable weapon in the hands of properly trained
troops. It's small but packs a powerful punch, making it the
preferred tool for clearing rooms, bunkers and entrenched enemy
positions.
Students from A Company, The Basic School, learned
the fine art of properly employing hand grenades as part of their
six-month long training package to become infantry platoon
commanders Jan. 5.
“It gives the officers the knowledge they
are going to need to be able to teach the Marines they will be in
charge of,” said Cpl. Steve Strycharz, the range safety officer and
a combat instructor with Combat Instructor Company, Instructor
Battalion.
Before the students are able to throw a live
grenade, they must first practice with M69 practice grenades
affectionately known as "bluebodies."
“The purpose of the
bluebodies is to get them used to |
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actually throwing a hand grenade,” Strycharz said. “We don't want
them going to the live pits, having a short throw and possibly put
other Marines at risk.” |
While the M67 fragmentation grenade isn't very
heavy, it only weighs 14 ounces or about the same as a soda
can, it is still important that Marines orient their bodies
in the proper way to hit the target accurately.
“Some of the things we look at are their stance, their
posture, making sure that they're doing it right, so when
they do throw they will have the proper trajectory on it to
drive that grenade where it needs to go,” Strycharz said.
They look at more than just stance and trajectory
though. Hand grenades have three different safety features,
the thumb clip, pin and spoon. The instructors keep a close
eye on students as they remove the thumb clip and pin,
because during those moments the temptation to move their
hands off the spoon to wrench the pin out can be a fatal
mistake.
“They make sure you have that death grip on
it and you're not walking around treating it like it's a
toy,” said 2nd Lt. Jacob Lovelady, a student with 5th
platoon, Alpha Company.
Once they have passed the
initial qualification with the bluebodies, the students move
to the live fire range and get their first experience with
the M67.
The grenade, which contains a mixture of
the explosives TNT and RDX called Composition B, has a
lethal radius of five meters and will wound within 15
meters. It has been successfully used with great effect in
the streets of Iraq and mountains of Afghanistan.
“You can throw it from behind cover, without being seen by
the enemy,” Strycharz added. “If you get enough arc on it,
you can take out enemies hiding behind cover, bunkers, that
type of stuff.”
“Being able to pull it off your gear
and toss it makes it pretty effective at creating that shock
and awe factor,” said 2nd Lt. David Patrick, a student with
6th platoon, Alpha Company.
After they throw the
grenades, the students moved on to learning about the rest
of the weapons and tactics organic to a Marine rifle
platoon.
More photos available below
By USMC Sgt. Christopher Zahn
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2012
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