Posted on 09/17/2008 11:26:39 PM PDT by Dawnsblood
As Spc. Jorge Monjaras peered out the open hatch of an Abrams tank last month, he saw a young insurgent dart out of a crowd and lob a makeshift grenade. A small blast hit his back and burned a fist-sized hole into his body armor vest but left him without a scratch.
The explosion was only the blasting cap. The main explosive, a 60 mm mortar round, landed inside his hatch and moved freely at his feet.
It wasn’t until the next day when he prepped the tank for a different mission that he realized how lucky he was. To his surprise, the mortar round sat where he had stood previously.
The blasting cap and mortar, tied together with plastic cable, became unraveled when the insurgent hurled it at him.
"I was pretty damn lucky," said Monjaras, a loader with 4th Infantry Division’s Company D, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment. "If it stayed attached I’d probably be split in half."
Hand grenades have been an ongoing tactic used by insurgents in this city as roadside bombs prove ineffective on Mine Resistant Ambush Protected and other types of vehicles. Insurgents are now bolder than usual, stepping up these attacks around the holy month of Ramadan, soldiers say.
(Excerpt) Read more at stripes.com ...
That’s the interesting part about war. We adapt, they adapt, we adapt, until someone runs out of resources or the will to fight.
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