Day 45

Day 45: Today was an intense day! A few other females and I decided to volunteer for ammo detail since it's always the males doing it. We had to get up extra early & took a 45 minute LTV ride to the range. We had to prepare the range and put fuses on the practice grenades. Besides putting together the grenades, filling sandbags, and unloading the LTV, we had it easy.

Before we could throw a real grenade, we had a 1 hour safety briefing & had to throw 2 practice grenades in order to get certified to throw a live one. I had no issues throwing the practice ones.

It was quite intense at the live grenade range. We were told that this is the most dangerous thing we would do at BCT. While waiting in line to throw, we stood in tight quarters in a bunker. When it was finally my turn, I ran out on the range to where I was to throw & the NCO's were yelling at me to take cover. Apparently the lane next to mine thought their grenade was a dud and didn't explode. After 20 minutes, the NCO's figured out it was just a pine cone.

Because I was out on the range waiting for an 'all clear', it calmed my nerves. I threw both grenades with no issues. The NCO's on my lane got a kick on how fast I dropped to the ground after the grenade left my hand. Instead of squatting & tucking in my head, I dropped to my elbows and knees in the tornado position. I have bruised knees and elbows but I was able to throw live grenades today. I was kind of disappointed because I couldn't see it explode and it wasn't as loud as I thought it would be!