"Cooking off grenades?" Topic

"Cooking off" a grenade by pulling the pin and the little metal handle, waiting for a moment then throwing it, so it'll explode sooner after landing.

For those of you who've thrown grenades for a living, is this something that is actually taught / covered in manuals?
Is it discouraged?
Passed on unofficially by veterans?
Movie-BS that no sane person would actually do?

I was playing a video game the other day and it occurred to me that I don't remember it ever being even mentioned when I did my brief stint in the Danish army but Danish conscription service is hardly the end of military knowledge.
(the strong impression I recall was to pull and throw the **** thing as fast as possible, but I was terrified of them, since I have lousy manual dexterity, so that could just be me remembering wrong)

From what I've read/seen, it was definitely done.

Of course, some are made more reliably than others, so, you take your chances, especially with those from countries known for poor quality control.

Even with those that are better, it's best to remember that the low bidder probably made what you are using.

Yes, you can.

Appreciate it but just to clarify, the question isn't whether it is possible, it's whether it is taught or mentioned in official manuals :)

They would not trust me with a live grenade (was in the artillery so it was a minor point) as I had problems with my shoulder of my throwing arm. Got very good with the M203 grenade launcher though.

You can do it, but it's not the way I was trained…there is risk.

I was taught to do it with training grenades. It is a bit unnatural at first holding a grenade as the spoon flies off.

A soldier in Afghanistan was talking about it on the Military History channel the other day. He noted that while he had done it, they were manufactured by the lowest bidder.

I suppose you could but just for me, I had no desire to experiment with a) trusting the fuse to be accurate and b) trusting me to have an accurate handle on how long to hold the darn thing. A grenade in hand with the pin out is a scary thing to be gotten rid of. A grenade in hand with the pin out and the spoon open is beyond scary and needs to be as far away from you as possible.

What little live training we had consisted of two throws. At no point did anyone suggest anything beyond throwing it, preferably far from where we were huddled.

It was described in basic training but no practical demonstration.

Taught the technique while at JRTC.

Trench clearance. Two second cook off before soft underhand around a corner.

Lessens the time that an enemy can kick/bat/throw the grenade back to you. Soft underhand so it does not hit an upright and bounce back on you.

Actually performed in a live grenade pit at Ft. Campbell.

Used it once room clearing in Sadr City 2004.

While going through training in the 80's for US military. Our instructor specifically said NOT to do it. He explained different ways to throw the grenade to cause it to bounce or roll around a room. Making it harder for the enemy to pick it up and throw it back. For open areas he explained throw it high up, so it will cook off while dropping.

My step father was US Infantry in WW-II. He said there were a few guys who did it, but only when they were trying to get an air burts over the top of German troops.

Two friends who served in Iraq, said their unit was never issued Grenades. Their platoon Sgt, said the company commander was worried they'd frag his officers or senior NCO's with them. So the only ones who were issued grenades were the senior NCO's and Officers. lol But in training, they were also told not to trust the fuse on them and not to cook off grenades.

I threw two live grenades in basic training/AIT, with a training NCO in the pit with me. We were told he would throw them for us if he didn't like our technique.

To qualify with the grenade, we went to a range with a number of different stations. One was a pillbox, where you stimulated pulling the pin, counting to three and stuffing it in the firing hole and hitting the dirt.

About once a year, we threw two grenades and did the grenade range to qualify.

Appreciate the sources!

Does anyone know if it's described in a training manual somewhere?

I was taught to do it in the 70's so you could get a air-burst. Have never actually done it, but watching some of the things my Drill Sargent could do with a grenade, if he said so I believed him.

We got to throw some every couple of years. Not taught that could hold them then throw. The question you need to ask is is your ability to judge a couple of seconds as accurate as mechanical timer?

For myself I just wanted to chuck the things as quick as possible as far away from me as possible.

The technique was never taught in the 1980's using the M26 Grenade.

Regards
Allan

While I was taught the technique in basic training back in 1977, I've never seen it in any manual. Also, the practice was frowned upon once the Vietnam Veterans left the service.

I was taught in Basic in '83
used on the bunker target

it is in FM 21-2
soldier's manual of common tasks
Dec82
page 3-145

Raylev3,

Same here.

For your consideration. U.S. grenades have a pin and spoon, pull out pin then when spoon is released a spring driven striker hits a firing cap that starts a fuse burning. So the user has the option of releasing the spoon and starting the fuse while it is still in his hand or throwing the grenade with the spoon and the fuse not being started until it has left his hand. U.S. demolition charges have fuses that are started by a pull igniter. Seen film of charges with lit fuses being carried and thrown during island fighting in the Pacific during WWII. German stick grenades also have pull igniters, unscrew the top, pull the string to start the fuse and then throw it, so it has an already burning fuse when being held and thrown. The Japanese grenade of WWII had a cap held by a pin. Once the pin was pulled the cap had to be struck against something (often the helment) to start the fuse burning. So it also had a fuse that was burning as it was being held and thrown.

It's not taught in the Modern British forces, everyone who trains with grenades (not that many in reality, just teeth arms) is taught the fuse timing, so could work it out for them selves. But if anyone tried it on my ranges they would get a slap and a half, it's not worth the risk during training.

My experiences match Mitochondria almost exactly.

Discussed in boot camp, but not taught or exercised (actually, it was discouraged).

Taught in MOUT once I was in the Fleet, done regularly with practice grenades, then practiced with live in CQB.

I told myself I'd never do it in 'real life,' ended up doing it once in Fallujah in April 04. It was a really good idea, but not executed as smartly as possible. It worked, but I scared myself badly enough that I never did it again ;)

V/R,
Jack

Well I was in Officer Basic Training in 1976-77, and we tossed the grenades as soon as possible. With smoke grenade, you tended to hold them a second or two to make sure the toss path was clear.

As an Armored Cavalry officer, I had tankers, scout and Grunts in my platoon. That meant that we were always conducting some level of SQT training. We tossed a lot of grenades and even the Vietnam Veterans tended to let go ASAP. LOL!

I've read a few accounts from the British Army in WW2 where they quite rightly came to the decision that the safest option was to fit grenades with quicker fuses (from 9 seconds to 5 seconds, was it?)!

I was taught to cook off grenades at Ft Benning in the late 80's. We qualified using dummies but got to throw a single real grenade with an instructor present for one on one.

I do know there were differences between bases and even in training cycles on the same base. After my training company went trough there was supposedly a fatality on the bayonet course and some troops had to run it with sheathed blades.

You have to be careful as the fuses are the main thing. All fuses are not meant to burn at the same rate. Some burn quick, really quick, by design, and some take a while. Cooking one off can create a bad habit, it only takes cooking off the wrong type of fuse at the wrong time to cause mayhem to yourself and those in close proximity. In training the usual mantra is the fuse will take 3 to 5 seconds. With a standard fuse, you can get away with hanging on for a second or two. A standard fuse has to allow the grenade to be thrown 30 to 35 meters.

I have cooked off live grenades. Those one or two seconds seem like forever when you let the spoon go.

A quick anecdote regarding fuzes. The very first day on the grenade range in basic, the drill sgt had a dummy grenade, he was meaning to explain and show the grenades fuze timing. But when he pulled the pin and threw it, the thing exploded as soon as it left his hand. A malfunctioning fuze. That always left an impression on me.

As they say: Once the pin is pulled, Mister Grenade is not your friend…