I was just watching this episode 7/7/07 @ 8:49pm and I noticed that the the dummy they used was essentially "naked". In war, you have flak jackets and clothing and other things you carry on you. This myth needs to be revisited under realistic terms, and then see what happens to "buddy 1 @ 5'", "buddy 2 @ 10'". In my opinion the buddies would not be hurt as bad.
The reason for this is that the body will be held togther by the clothing and jacket, therefore the grenade pieces may be slown down by not being allowed to blow the dummy apart.
I also want them to revisit this myth. I'm pretty sure they'll have no problem with it since they love blowing up stuff. I never thought about the flak jacket, but I do remember hearing or seeing this myth where the soldier would put his helmet over the grenade.
I was just watching this episode and I know for a fact that jumping on a grenade will save your buddies. The second person awarded the Medal of Honor for OIF jumped on a grenade to save his squad. He actualy through his kevlar on the grenade first and had his interceptor vest on, regreatfully he did pass away but at least two members of his squad and the insurgents troops that were attacking were also saved. There are many accounts from WWII, Korea, Vietnam from Soldiers and Marines doing this. I know for a fact that pushing sand bags on a grenade also helps muffle the blast and stop the fragments.
Cpl. Jason Dunham of Allegany County jumped in front of a hand grenade to save the lives of two fellow Marines in Iraq on April 14. Dunham, 22, of Scio, died Thursday in Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. His death brought to eight the number of Western New York servicemen to die since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Two other Marines were wounded but are recovering.
"All I can say is, this ain't nothing that I wouldn't expect of my son, because that's the kind of person he was," his father, Daniel Dunham, an Air Force veteran, said Sunday. Dunham read from documents received from the military about the circumstances surrounding his son's fatal injuries in Karbala, about 60 miles southwest of Baghdad.
"Preliminary reports are that an Iraqi hostile (fighter) departed a stopped vehicle with a hand grenade. When he deployed the hand grenade, Cpl. Dunham put himself between the grenade and his fellow Marines. The two Marines who witnessed the event were also medevaced, so the battalion is still gaining details."
Dunham began his second deployment in Iraq in September after extending his enlistment to serve as a squad leader with another Marine unit. He enlisted in the Marines after graduating from Scio Central School in June 2000. He was scheduled to complete his service in July.
"Jason's been my hero since the day he was born," his father said. "All my kids are. They never had to do anything to prove that to me."
The funeral will be scheduled later this week after the body arrives home.
Survivors, in addition to his parents, include two brothers, Justin, 21, of Butler, Pa., and Kyle, 15; a sister, Katie, 11; and his grandparents, Patricia Layton of Amity, Murray and Linda Dunham of Arkport, Gerald and Roberta Kinkead of Ridgeway, Pa., and Bernie and Sandy Jackson of Wellsville.
But they also failed to test incenerary, frag, and flashbang grenades
this is some what related. In movies an actor will jumps into a bath tub to protect him self from the grenade. If ya'll deside to revisit you should test if jumping into a bath tub can protect you. old and new tubs.
Cpl Dunham was the individual I was talking about thanks for finding the post. The grenades tested were frag's. That is the most common grenade given to troops. Incidiary just burn and do not have a large kill radius. Flash bangs actualy cause disorintation by disrupting your equilibrium from the concussiona and blinding you.
this one is weird ,the test dummy doesn't have any bones .my grand father was in WWII had friend with a huge hole in his face .the hole was due to a fellow grunt fell onto a mine the same size of a mills bomb or an m26 (same amount of tnt) when it detonated a rib of the gunner hit my grand father's friend about the lenght of a raddog (old british unarmored personel carrierat least 30 feet long) the bone was embeded in his face for about 5 day and he almost died when its was removed it left ahole until his death in 2001.so i think this need to be revited with a dumby with bones and projectiles.
Several people beat my (my ISP) to it, but this is no myth. In addition to the specific cases mentioned, there are a number of Medal of Honor recipients that were nominated for the award for exactly this reason - especially during WWII Pacific campaigns. Unfortunately, many of these awards were posthumus.
I hope the Mythbusters revisit this subject and mention these heroes. I was a little concerned that it was introduced only as a Hollywood on-screen storyline.
I think the one thing that upsets me is that this is introduced as a hollywood myth. They should have brought up the several Soldiers and Marines that have performed this heroic act. Having been in the service myself this is important. There are to many military myths that true facts and factors are not considerd. Myth Busters, email me if you want to know of military myths.
The fact that they even thought that this was a myth makes me mad. Soldiers died to svae their friends and all Atom and Jamie did was think that they died for nothing. I think that not only made old soldiers mad but I think that made the younger soldiers mad to thier friends died for them and all Atom and Jamie do is think that it is just a myth. I think you should ask soldiers thier stories for thinking that thier buddies died for nothing.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: kim g,
I can 100% confirm the myth. My grandfather died in the Vietnam War. A grenade was thrown into his guntruck. He jumped on it, saving his fellow officers inside the truck. He was awarded a Metal Of Honor and is resting in one of Seattle's graves. Confirmed enough for you?
Another real life occurence of this so called myth from the Korean War, http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/rdreem.htm I know lots of people like to think that everything that the military publishes is a lie but the least you guys could have done was mentions these fallen heros.
Why would they need to retest it? Wasn't the myth confirmed???? With the naked body covering the nade, his buddy survived. Now, if the naked body had kevlar, don't you think the buddy would of been even more protected. Either way it is confirmed. Jump on a nade naked or not, you save your buddy's life.
I was told that if you check it out, you will find that almost every Medal of Honor since WWII has been as the result of someone diving on a grenade. Scary, it is Medal, not Metal of Haonor.
Pretty much, the flak jacket and BDUs that the soldiers wore in WW2 and other major battles, would hold a body mostly together and wouldnt blow apart like "buster" did in the show, and the human stomach and skin around the stomach can move inward, so it could be possible to form around the grenade, so the flak would have a harder time getting out from underneath the body.
So thats y i believe this myth should be re-explored.
