When it comes to a life or death situation, it’s always better to be protected against death. Hopefully, you’ll never have to go through something as drastic, but in this article, it is the best hope that the following tips can possibly make a difference.
A military helmet cannot stop a grenade. However, a human body can help reduce the explosion impact if one lays on the grenade, in the worst case. The best course of action is to get down and cover yourself, or hide behind something that can stop as much of the explosive impact as possible.
In order to understand the complexities of a military helmet, as well as it’s limitations, there’s a lot more to understand and explore.
A Hero’s Sacrifice
In April 2004, a group of Marines came under an RPG fire by Karabilah, Iraq. The Marines were told to search for the attackers and vehicles for weapons. Then one Marine, Cpl. Jason Dunham was attacked by an Iraqi who held a grenade. The two fell, and the grenade became activated. Dunham threw himself over it after placing his helmet over the grenade.
The grenade exploded, shredded his helmet, and wounded Dunham as he was able to prevent his fellow Marines with little to no unscathed from the blast.
He died a hero a few days later on April 22, 2004. Anyone who covers their kevlar over a grenade will usually die from the impact as being too close to the proximity of the explosion would be a slim guarantee of survival. While Dunham would have been killed regardless because of the proximity, what was amazing is Dunham’s helmet covered the grenade, collecting all the force of the shrapnel.
Though if the grenade was next to him on the ground the helmet would have still been somewhat intact but he still would have been killed.
A Mythbuster Look Into A Body Over A Grenade
The following video shows excellent footage and science between a body vs. a grenade once laid on top. Find out how much the force of a grenade can impact a human body.
Stop, Drop, and Cover?
If you’re unable to dig a defensive fighting position beforehand this is what you should do. If you do come across a grenade, it’s best to put your kevlar helmet in front of you pointing towards the blast. The helmet is designed to stop a grenade’s shrapnel.
The plate carrier of armor can only protect so much of your front, back, and shoulders. However, it will protect you from most of the fragments that will hit your body. While mentioned earlier how Dunham’s helmet was able to protect the fragmentation from his fellow Marines, it is still a matter of how much reaction time you have.
Pick Up And Throw
A general idea of a frag grenade’s fragmentation radius is approximately 30-35 feet with a fuse length of 3-5 seconds at best. You only have enough time to choose two of the following: reach down, pick it up, throw far enough to be cleared of the blast radius or get down, place your helmet forward with your shoulder pads faced towards the explosion.
This won’t happen unless in a super-rare situation and that’s also if you’re not currently under a spew of bullets barreling down on your position.
Having your feet placed toward the blast when laying down in the opposite direction puts you at risk of more artery damage.
Both leg and intestinal wounds are known to be extremely painful and in battle very dangerous to have. If you fall sideways it makes your chances of survival worse as the plate carrier doesn’t have protection underarms and the front of the body becomes more exposed to the grenade’s blast impact.
The difference between minimizing exposure to fragmentation and maximizing your cover is a huge range of survival when seeing a grenade. That said, hit the deck, get low if you can, as the majority of a grenade’s fragmentation will go upwards after the blast. With every part of your body away from a blast radius, with every possible bit of the shrapnel going into a different direction away from you increases your survival rate.
Other Tips For Survival
While it’s said that the danger of grenades is rare, it isn’t best to plan on available dead bodies to hide under. However, if there is a dead body, it becomes heavier in weight than one that is alive. The bodily liquid becomes hard to move, carry, even when throwing on a small explosive. This does work better as a shield but you more than likely have more time to protect yourself than position the body.
Still, if you can, hide behind the corpse with your body still facing away from the grenade’s explosion. By placing the body between you and the blast will protect somewhat against the grenade fragmentation.
If you can jump far, jumping backward upon seeing a grenade and keeping your arms firmly against your body will protect vital organs and arteries safe from fragmentation. However, this doesn’t stop over-pressure which is a moment when high amounts of force from a device, such as a grenade, cause a wave that temporarily and heavily pushes everything in the center’s radius.
Then you have to deal with 40 bullets that are what encases the grenade and fly from all different directions. These themselves are lethal. The force can move through the whole area and cause desecration if nothing can be over the grenade to absorb the force of the blast.
Land Vs. Water With Grenades
The following is a step-by-step demonstration of how your body will react to a grenade on land and in water. The result? Ironically, one would think water would be the better chance of survival but as it turns out water isn’t your best friend in this case. Find out how the difference in force affects a person’s survival.
The rule of thumb is if you’re farther from the grenade, have a body nearby for protection, these are the better chances of survival. If not, drop, place your helmet and shoulder pads towards the blast with the best of luck in mind.