Rocket/Mortar Fire Blast Wave

How we doing hard-chargers, I want to say thank you for tuning in and I hope you’re gearing up for a safe and wonderful independence day.

Today the topic of focus will be the blast wave. You know the concussion wave that occurs when you’re dealing with rocket/mortar fire, some have experienced this and some are fortunate to not deal with such things while in the combat zone.

So you take contact from enemy fighters, you’re engaging with M-4’s, 203, SAW’s, and as you get ready to call in for fire support, you hear that whistle in the air as a rocket propelled grenade is en-route to your position. 3-4 Marines, yell IDF!!!! (In direct fire) at this point you get down and brace for impact.

So what happens after that moment?????? Well many have different opinions and I’ll give you my own as I’ve dealt with a bit of rocket fire.

There is a bit of penetrating trauma from debris propelled by the explosion.

There is also the kinetic effects of the shock wave compressing soft tissue, particularly in the torso’s vital organs, which can tear that tissue and/or the embedded blood vessels. This effect may include a secondary possibility of brain or organ damage caused by compression induced spikes in fluid pressure in the circulatory system.

Then there is acceleration of the body (i.e. being propelled away from the explosion’s epicenter) causing impact damage to the brain as it bounces around inside of the skull, just like any other source of cranial acceleration trauma.

Depending on their distance, speed and angle, shells tunneling through the air make slightly different noises, so a heavy barrage weaves itself into a bewildering cacophony of sounds; but the rushing always ends the same way, with a thunderous detonation.Hollywood tries and I’ll give them an E for effort but they fail to convey the sharpness and loudness of battlefield explosions. The visual effects normally used to simulate shellfire with plastic bags of gasoline and aluminum silicate are equally misleading.

In reality the eye usually registers a shell burst as an instantaneous orange-yellow flash inside a dark, leaping fountain of mixed smoke and pulverized earth, sometimes studded and fringed with large pieces of slower-moving debris. The bigger, heavier chunks of earth and stones thrown up by the explosion fall near by first; the smaller debris, blown much higher, comes pattering and clinking down for a considerable time afterwards and over a wider area.

The instantaneous pressure wave from the explosion moves outward at supersonic speed this is the expanding ring effect seen fleetingly in, for example, aerial footage showing the explosions of bombs.

It is followed after a slight, but appreciable interval by a blast wind the bulk of hot gases, fragments and ground debris away from the explosion. People in the target area experience the pressure wave as a sharp squeezing sensation in the chest, and its shock is also felt through the ground underfoot.

This shuddering of the earth is powerful enough to make those sheltering in trenches fear that they are about to be buried alive, and those who are lying flat feel themselves being shrugged violently into the air. These sensations are accompanied by stupefying noise and under heavy and persistent fire all the physical senses are overwhelmed.

Completely impotent to affect their chances of survival, Marines/Soldiers find sustained shelling and mortaring the worst ordeal of battle; those experiencing it often become temporarily unhinged, losing all muscular control (including of the bladder and sphincter) and the capacity for any rational thought.

These effects are particularly marked among those exposed to shellfire for the first time.

In the minority of cases when men suffer a virtually direct hit from artillery, the result is complete destruction of the body. The shell literally destroys the body, leaving, perhaps, a booted foot, a section of the human cranium, a bunch of fingers, a bit of clothing.

When a body is blown up, the spinal column surprisingly resilient often survives; after a shell has fallen among a group of men, counting the remaining spines is often the only way to determine the number of dead.

Most injuries, however, occur further out from the site of the explosion. Blast injuries to the human body are categorized as primary, secondary and tertiary. The first is the direct effect of the pressure wave; the second is the effects of fragments and debris carried by the blast wave; the third, would be the result of the body being thrown through the air and striking the ground or other obstacles.

The most obvious sign of primary injury is rupture of the eardrums, which may occur when air pressure rises to anything between 5 and 15 pounds per square inch; men who are killed by blast often appear peacefully asleep apart from the tell-tale bleeding from the ears.

The lethal internal damage caused by pressures of 50psi and upwards do not present dramatic outward signs. It is the gas-containing organs which sustain immediate and often fatal damage from the pressure wave; the lungs and occasionally the colon suffer catastrophic injury from the instantaneous compression effect of the blast. Large, blood-filled cavities are formed in the spongy alveoli of the lung, and fatal air embolisms are released into the arterial system; less often, the bowels may rupture, as may the spleen and liver.

Secondary injures will be more obviously dramatic. When a shell bursts the steel case breaks up into fragments of all shapes and sizes, from tiny beads to twisted chunks weighing several pounds. These, together with stones, pieces of weapons and equipment, and even large bone fragments from casualties nearer the blast whirl outwards from the center at different speeds.

The effects of being struck by shell fragments vary as widely as the size and speed of the shards. Sometimes a man is unaware that he has been pierced by a small splinter until somebody points out the bloodstained hole in his clothing. Larger fragments, cart wheeling unevenly through the air edged with jagged blades and hooks, can dismember and disembowel.

In many cases the evidence confronting an eyewitness is all too vivid. In others the immediate reaction is one of simple puzzlement: blast and steel can play such extreme games with the human form that the observer does not understand what he is looking at. When some random physical reference point suddenly jerks the whole image into a comprehensible pattern, the shock of recognition may be appalling.

God-speed to those who have endured such scenarios while being engaged by enemy fighters. My hat goes off to you and I want to say thank you for your service and the ultimate sacrifice to this country. I hope I was able to give you a better understanding of what takes place within seconds on the receiving end of rocket/mortar fire.

Isaac J. Hall II

#SemerKill

The Value Of The Combat Action Ribbon

How we doing Hard-Chargers!!!



So we Marines, value the highly sought after combat action ribbon. Specifically infantryman Marines. There are POG'S (Personnel Other Than Grunts) who also value this ribbon, however, infantryman take this to a completely different stratosphere.

                                               

There are people (Marines) of higher brass who are even ridiculed for not having a C.A.R. at times leadership positions are even questioned pertaining to infantry if this ribbon has not been earned.



But why though??????

                                          

There are instances where Marines, even infantryman just aren't put into combat situations. Doesn't mean they wouldn't act if the opportunity presented itself, just means they didn't get in contact with enemy forces.

The award  issued by the sea services for active participation in ground or surface combat is troubling for some leaders.

The criticism shows an increasingly vocal perspective amongst Marines, specifically those in the combat community. The perspective is basically saying a Marines worth and authenticity is connected to combat experience, and those lacking experience in this area get no respect amongst grunts.


Some in the military feel that it's not about the Combat Action Ribbon, however, its about being a U.S. Marine, and representing the Eagle Globe and Anchor. Would this be the ideals of those who have not seen combat???? and if they did have a C.A.R. would they have a different response and be in agreeance with the majority of infantryman.


                                       

**Ribbon Stack

When Marines, are promoted to a new position in infantry units other Marines, generally express interest in backgrounds as well as reputations that were built over time. Lacking combat experience again is seen as not deserving of respect in regards to combat experience.

The Combat Action Ribbon didn't even exist until 1969, the Navy and Marine Corps adopted the ribbon in the midst of the Vietnam War. From there It was retroactively applied to combat engagements dating back to 1961.

              

Once that took place it was extended to cover combat engagements dating from the December 7, 1941, the attack of Pearl Harbor which was the mark of the U.S. entering World War II.

                   

So let me digress for a few sentences here...

When I was a boot in 2009, we had a few Marines, in our platoon who had deployed 2 to 3 times to combat zones. These men were revered and seen as leaders.

When they talk you listen, you do not talk back and you better reply with Sergeant Rathke, or Corporal Taber, Lance Corporal Nuttle as you do not rate to just call them by their last names. Yet...

You're a boot until you deploy, first off let me explain the term boot.

A boot is a Marine, who is fresh out of boot camp (13 weeks) and S.O.I. (School Of Infantry, 8 Weeks)

From S.O.I. you're introduced to your unit where you'll be the next 4 years, 6 years whatever your contract states, which you signed with your recruiter.

So the C.A.R. was important but it was moreso about the deployment itself, see we weren't worried about a C.A.R. we just didn't wanna be called "Boots" anymore.

We didn't wanna police call (pick up cigarette butts in front of the barracks) or do working parties (a group of 8-10 new Marines go help with building up or breaking down something or cleaning an area).

We just wanted to get respect from our seniors being that we were grunts just like them but newer to the corps. We did eventually get our C.A.R. June 2009 -The Summer Of Decision-

We were inserted into Garmser, the Helmand Province of Afghanistan, once we got off the CH-53'S and made a 360 in order to provide security. The CH-53 flew around for about 10 mikes.

                         

From there it threw out a flare letting us know it was about to leave. Then it left and it got extremely quiet, I remember looking up at the clear sky, and seeing white birds fly around so peacefully as if a platoon of Marines hadn't landed.

Then it happened... In the distance 1st shot, 2nd shot, 3rd shot then the burst of an AK-47, I said to myself "Ohh shit we're in a combat zone"   ( sorry for cursing ;)  )

After that deployment which I'll explain in a later post, we came back to the states and we were still considered boots until the new Marines came to our platoon from S.O.I.

However, at the same time we were no longer boots, I even had an incident where I was walking on the catwalk, (balcony) of our barracks and the seniors who were a class ahead of me were drinking.

I was headed back to my room after the gym, and they said "Hall, come drink with us!!" boot no more, it was PFC with a deployment under his belt with a combat action ribbon.

**A Dissipating Award

Over a decade of war in two theaters, Combat Action Ribbons are less common than some believe them to be. Only about 20,855 of the 184,567 Marines currently on active duty actually have a C.A.R.

There is also a problem that we're dealing with here. When deployed Marines will at times insert themselves into patrols they didn't belong to, just so they could earn their C.A.R.

This is not only dangerous to the men around you but also makes the patrol ineffective.

A Marine who is not properly trained who joins a patrol just to have the chance to take contact from enemy fighters is absolutely ridiculous.

Those infantry Marines, train day in and day out to be combat effective literally in the rain, humid/dry heat, and snow, while hating their lives in order to be successful. This to me is the ultimate form of disrespect and those who are not trained in this area need to consider the term staying in your lane.

If you take contact then you take contact if you don't then you don't, you still did your time and just think you're a U.S. Marine... that in itself garners major respect amongst the public.

At the same time you cant talk down or think less of a Gunny, who has been in the corps for 23 years with a huge stack yet he does not have a C.A.R. within that stack. That also is a huge form of respect and you're not representing the eagle globe and anchor very well.

However, at the end of the day these are just views from a grunt. Lets get some feedback guys, I'll love to have discourse. ;)



Isaac J. Hall II

#SemperKill