Celebratory bullets fired by Iraqis into sky coming down on U.S. troops

Stars and Stripes ^ | European edition, Sunday, August 17, 2003 | Scott Schonauer

[demlosers]

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Army Spc. Christiansen Cory was talking with another soldier when he felt something smack his forearm.

“We were standing around and heard a pssssst,” he said. “It felt just like a big rock had been thrown at me.”

But when Cory looked down, he discovered it wasn’t a rock that hit him. At his feet was a bullet from a Kalashnikov rifle. It was still warm.

The round likely came from an Iraqi who fired it into the air in celebration of a wedding, the birth of a child, or, for nothing in particular.

Every day, sometimes several times an hour, an Iraqi somewhere in the capital is shooting his rifle into the sky because he is happy about something. It is Iraqis’ version of a party noisemaker.

The only problem is, what goes up must come down. And sometimes the bullets they fire into the air fall and hit people.

Cory, a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, was lucky. The bullet left only a welt that disappeared in a few days.

But for another soldier, a similar incident proved deadly.

Spec. Christensen Cory, 23, a
soldier with the 82nd Airborne
Division, holds a bullet that hit
him in the forearm. The bullet
was likely fired by an Iraqi in
celebration left only a welt that
disappared in a few days.

Spc. James I. Lambert III, 22, of Raleigh, N.C. — assigned to the 1st Armored Division — was killed on July 31 in Baghdad when a stray bullet fired by a celebrating Iraqi struck him.

Lambert was standing outside around 7:30 p.m. when fate and the bullet suddenly hit him square in the head. He was evacuated to the 28th Combat Support Hospital where he later died of the wound, the Army reported.

While the odds of getting hit by a bullet fired straight into the air seem extraordinarily remote, Iraqis have been killed by celebratory fire in the past. It was such a problem when Saddam Hussein was in power that he banned it and threatened to have the police arrest anyone caught doing it.

With Saddam now on the run, seemingly any family with a gun has brought back the trend. Squeezing a few rounds over the rooftops is now vogue again in Baghdad and elsewhere in the country.

When the news came out last month that U.S. forces killed Saddam’s sons Udai and Qusai, the skies crackled with celebratory gunfire and lit up with tracer rounds from elated Iraqis.

The popping sounds of rifles and pistols throughout the city were so intense that it caught some U.S. soldiers off guard.

“At first, we didn’t know what the hell was going on,” Spc. Gerald Thomson said. “We thought we were about to get overrun. Then, we found out they were just celebrating.”

At some camps, some soldiers said that the bullets rained down onto the rooftops and dinged Humvees. Some soldiers were ordered to stay in buildings or take cover. Troops had to wear their Kevlar wherever they went — even on secured camps — until the fireworks display ended and Iraqis had spent their jubilation ammunition.

In the confusion, some soldiers mistakenly shot partying, gun-toting Iraqis. However, some servicemembers said that Iraqis took advantage of the celebratory fire and ensuing chaos to take potshots at troops.

“It was pretty nuts,” Spec. Matt Gonzales said. “We saw tracer going everywhere.”

The question many soldiers are asking is, what will the celebratory gunfire be like when, and if, coalition forces capture or kill Saddam? Some are bracing for a torrent of happy gunfire.

“It’s going to be crazy,” Gonzales said. “It’s going to be haywire.”

[armymarinemom]

Simply amazing that poeple don't understand that what goes up must come down. I was on the phone with my son the day that the boys were killed. He said that a lot of people in Baghdad were shooting flares too. He was wondering where the heck they got them.

[JackOfVA]

Many years ago, Maj. Gen. Julian Hatcher USA conducted research into the danger from rifle (30-06) and 50 cal BMG rounds fired into the air. His measurements (and the cited research of others) demonstrated that the spent bullet returns to earth (typically base first) with almost negligible energy. This is because the terminal velocity of the typical bullet is not very high. His research appears in "Hatcher's Notebook" originally published in 1947 and reprinted several times.

Of course, if someone gets in the way of the round being fired, bad things are going to happen. But unless the laws of physics are different in Iraq, it's essentially impossible to be seriously injured by a spent AK47 round falling from the sky.

[Mr. K]

Speaking of Sodamn Hinsane, any latest word on the search?

[SuzanneC]

"This is because the terminal velocity of the typical bullet is not very high."

I once had a hole in the hood of my car from a spent bullet falling back to earth. Not a large bullet either. Sure am glad I wasn't standing in that exact spot so the bullet could bounce off my skull.

[armymarinemom]

Haven't heard a thing. It does make me wonder if people were afraid that folks in the jail were going to talk.

[sheik yerbouty]

End the "celebrations" or end the celebrants.

[JOHANNES801]

That bullet my have been fired from a higher place on an angle.A falling bullet would have only left a dent

[Stefan Stackhouse]

From TheOnion http://www.theonion.com/onion3906/iraq_kentucky_vie.html

Iraq, Kentucky Vie for World Shooting-into-the-air Superiority

COON HOLLOW, KY—In a rivalry that shows no signs of abating, Iraq and Kentucky remain locked in a bitter struggle for world shooting-into-the-air supremacy.

Above: Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Kentucky's Travis Lee Butler hone their cloud-shooting skills. "I'll be damned if any Muslim's gonna beat the great state of Kentucky at what she do best," said Coon Hollow resident Billy Joe Dupree, 39, in between bouts of firing his shotgun skyward Monday. "We been shootin' into the air for all kinds 'a reasons since they was a Kentucky, and that's a fact. Why, even my wall-eyed cousin Mavis could outshoot one o' them Muslims, and she ain't hardly finished the fifth grade."

Aziz Hourani, 24, of Baghdad, took exception to Dupree's claims of air-shooting superiority.

"Such is our anger at the Great Satan that we send many bullets into the air every day," said Hourani, raising his AK-47 carbine and firing several rounds. "No one can surpass us at shooting upwards—and certainly not the Americans."

Though worlds apart geographically and culturally, Iraq and Kentucky each boast rich traditions of vertical marksmanship.

"Expressing one's feelings and emotions via the firing of guns into the air is an ancient and noble artform," said Henri St. Germain, president of the Federation Internationale des Discharges-Aeriales (FIDA), the sport's governing body. "In fact, it may even predate the practice of expressing one's feelings and emotions by shooting into other humans. And nowhere on Earth does this tradition continue to thrive more than in Iraq and Kentucky. It is a vital part of these two unique cultures."

Continued St. Germain: "Whether shooting to celebrate a successful moonshine heist from neighboring kinfolk or the downfall of an imperialist Western regime, Kentucky and Iraq bring an undeniable passion and pride to their craft."

According to FIDA officials, in head-to-head competition, Iraq and Kentucky are closely matched.

"From a technical standpoint, the two competitors are virtually dead-even, with different but equally strong styles," veteran FIDA judge Olivier Resnais said. "The Iraqis' preference for automatic military weapons give them the edge in rounds-fired-into-the-air-per-minute, whereas the Kentucky double-barreled shotgun or squirrel rifle has a much greater bore, allowing for a louder, more full-bodied sound and a much greater weight of vertically propelled lead per shot."

"In terms of vocal style, they are again different yet similar, with the gun wielders of each region doing their best to drown out their weapon's report through fervent yelling of their native calls," Resnais continued. "Though they may have different meanings, the cries of 'Yeeeee-haw!' and 'Allahu akbar!' are, in spirit, not actually all that different."

[WOSG]

You care to test that theory by standing under a hail of bullets? :-)

[Rifleman]

You must have read a different edition of Hatcher's Notebook than I did. He found that the falling .30 cal rounds hit base first with a velocity of ~300 to 400 fps. That ain't trivial. Even half that would not be trivial. This is from memory of course as I read it maybe 30 years ago and the local librarian has culled it from the collection since. I will try to find a copy and confirm this...or not.

[FreedomCalls]

Hatcher dealt with bullets fired straight up. If a bullet is fired with any less of an angle, less momentum is lost and the initial energy retained. Judging from the photographs most Iraqi celebratory rounds are fired at about a 45-55 degree angle.

[wwcj]

Here's your theory:

In 1920 the U.S. Army Ordnance conducted a series of experiments to try and determine the velocity of falling bullets. The tests were performed from a platform in the middle of a lake near Miami, Florida. The platform was ten feet square and a thin sheet of armor plate was placed over the men firing the gun. The gun was held in a fixture that would allow the gun to be adjusted to bring the shots close to the platform. It was surmised that the sound of the falling bullets could be heard when they hit the water or the platform. They fired .30 caliber, 150 gr., Spitzer point bullets, at a velocity of 2,700 f.p.s. Using the bullet ballistic coefficient and elapsed time from firing until the bullet struck the water, they calculated that the bullet traveled 9,000 feet in 18 seconds and fell to earth in 31 seconds for a total time of 49 seconds.

As a comparison, the .30 caliber bullet fired in a vacuum at 2,700 f.p.s. would rise nearly 21.5 miles and require 84 seconds to make the ascent and another 84 seconds to make its descent. It would return with the same velocity that it left the gun. This gives you some idea of what air resistance or drag does to a bullet in flight.

Out of the more than 500 shots fired from the test platform only 4 falling bullets struck the platform and one fell in the boat near the platform. One of the bullets striking the platform left a 1/16 inch deep mark in the soft pine board. The bullet struck base first.

Based on the results of these tests it was concluded that the bullet return velocity was about 300 f.p.s. For the 150 gr. bullet this corresponds to an energy of 30 foot pounds. Earlier the Army had determined that, on the average, it required 60 foot pounds of energy to produce a disabling wound. Based on this information, a falling 150 gr. service bullet would not be lethal, although it could produce a serious wound.

Many other experiments have been made to find the amount of air drag on a .30 caliber bullet at various velocities and it was found that the drag at 320 f.p.s. balances the weight of the .021 lb. (150 gr.) bullet and terminal velocity is achieved. For larger calibers the bullet terminal velocity is higher since the bullet weight is greater in relation to the diameter. Major Julian Hatcher in his book Hatcher’s Notebook estimates that a 12 inch shell weighing 1000 pounds and fired straight up would return with a speed of 1,300 to 1,400 feet per second and over 28 million foot pounds of striking energy.

[FreedomCalls]

From Cecil's Storehouse of Human Knowledge:

Dear Cecil:

Every so often you see it on the news: streets full of Middle Eastern men indiscriminately firing guns straight up into the air. If I learned anything from physics class, it's that what goes up must come down. I'm certain the returning projectiles don't float harmlessly to earth and wonder how often they plunge into bystanders. --Kathy Johnson, Madison, Wisconsin

Cecil replies:

Those Middle Eastern men. You want to shake them and say, guys! Is this the safe and sensible way to celebrate? Can't we just say "hooray!" and "whoa, baby"?

But you raise a good point. How dangerous is this really? The question is controversial. Let me lay it out point by point.

Datum 1. At first I thought being struck by a bullet falling straight down would be no worse than getting hit over the head with a two-by-four--not the average guy's idea of fun, but not fatal either. What goes up must come down, but it needn't do so at the same speed. You run up against what's known as "terminal velocity." A bullet fired straight up will slow down, stop, then fall to earth again, accelerating until it reaches a point where its weight equals the resistance of the air. That's its terminal velocity.

For further insight, we turn to Hatcher's Notebook (1962) by Major General Julian S. Hatcher, a U.S. Army ordnance expert. Hatcher described military tests with, among other things, a .30 caliber bullet weighing .021 pounds. Using a special rig, the testers shot the bullet straight into the air. It came down bottom (not point) first at what was later computed to be about 300 feet per second. "With the [.021 pound] bullet, this corresponds to an energy of 30 foot pounds," Hatcher wrote. "Previously, the army had decided that on the average an energy of 60 foot pounds is required to produce a disabling wound. Thus, service bullets returning from extreme heights cannot be considered lethal by this standard."

If 30 foot pounds doesn't mean much to you, the bullet made a mark about one-sixteenth of an inch deep in a soft pine board. About what you'd get giving it a good whack with a hammer. Note that we're talking about bullets shot straight up here. If the bullet is fired more or less horizontally, it may not lose much speed before returning to earth and could easily kill someone.

Datum 2. Then someone sent me an article from the Los Angeles Times about the problem of falling bullets in L.A. around New Year's and the Fourth of July. According to the article, doctors at King/Drew Medical Center, a major L.A. trauma center, published a report in a medical journal (Journal of Trauma, December 1994) saying that between 1985 and 1992 they treated 118 people for falling bullet injuries around New Year's Eve or the Fourth of July. Thirty-eight of the victims died.

"There is some skepticism about the numbers reported by the King/Drew team," the article continued. "The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the Los Angeles Police Department--which serve a vastly larger area-- reported only about half a dozen deaths in the same period. . . . Other hospitals contacted by The Times . . . reported few cases."

King/Drew handles a lot more gunshot cases than other L.A. hospitals. But the King/Drew doctors also used fairly liberal criteria to identify falling-bullet victims (no gunshot heard or weapon seen, wound consistent with bullet falling from above, etc.). Given how confused trauma victims and witnesses often are about what happened, the numbers reported are probably high.

Datum 3. Still, the question isn't how many people get injured or killed by falling bullets, it's whether such things are possible at all. On further investigation, it appears the 60 foot-pound injury threshold cited by Hatcher may be misleading--a falling bullet's kinetic energy (foot pounds) alone is not a good predictor of the speed it needs to inflict a wound. B. N. Mattoo (Journal of Forensic Sciences, 1984) has proposed an equation relating mass and bullet diameter that seems to do a better job. Experiments on cadavers and such have shown, for example, that a .38 caliber revolver bullet will perforate the skin and lodge in the underlying tissue at 191 feet per second and that triple-ought buckshot will do so at 213 feet per second.

Mattoo's equation predicts that Hatcher's .30 caliber bullet, which has a small diameter in relation to its weight, will perforate the skin at only 124 feet per second. It's easy to believe that such a bullet falling at 300 feet per second could kill you, especially if it struck you in the head. In fact, maybe I need to rethink my dismissive comments about the danger of throwing a penny off the Empire State Building, although I still think the penny's tumbling in the updrafts would render it harmless.

So, Middle Eastern men, gang bangers, etc., listen up! It has been scientifically shown that firing guns into the air for entertainment is not a good idea. Please stop right away. Also knock off with the holy wars and random violence. Thank you.

--CECIL ADAMS

[Barry Goldwater]

Is that the report where the rifle was fired straight up on a dock. The bullets fell back base first and hit the dock? The 300-400 fps sounds about right for the terminal velocity of a 30 cal.

[Rifleman]

I need to get a copy of Hatcher's Notebook. I cannot remember in enough detail to be useful. My own guess would be that a vertically fired bullet would loose less of its energy than one fired at a lesser angle. The bullet fired at an angle will hold a nonzero angle of attack during its flight and so be draggier. I don't think the difference would be huge though.

[Rifleman]

Good research.

So, the answer is, a falling bullet probably won't kill you, but it might and it will for sure leave a mark.