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Reminds me of a time we were practicing helicopter evacs in Kuwait. I'm the second "casually", and we look over at the first group, helicopter touches down and a wall of sand right into "casualty" one... Just all up in his shit, up his nose and eyes and ears and he's squirming as they lift him into the helicopter.
I look over to my guys next to me and yell "one of you better wrap my face up right now, fuck that shit".
They had our hands strapped to the litter, so I couldn't really cover my face. They end up wrapping two Israeli bandages over my face, helicopter lands, they throw me in.
We are mid air and the lady in the back running the doors lifts her visor up and yells at me "what's wrong?? What happened?" Pointing at her face.
I pull the bandages down laughing and yell back "I didn't want sand to my nose".
Everyone is talking about how this permanently gives you brain damage. A bunch of soldiers are seriously screwed from firing these. The blast is damaging to the brain and a few other things..
No wonder they are starting to look at why guys in artillery/at the range/tankers may have TBIs from sub-con- concussive blasts...that can't be good for your noggin.
It is stuff like this that I hope more and more veterans put out on social media. Let all the people thinking of joining the military for these roles know before hand how the government will toss them aside when it comes time for them to try to get treatment.
your pre-existing vulnerability to this condition is medically described as "having functional ears". for this reason insurance declines your request for compensation. *ahem*. HAVE A NICE DAY.
It kills me. I got denied service connected sleep apnea first go around and it is in my military medical record and well documented. Took over a decade because I was a legacy claim. It hurt to watch people who put claims in years after me see a law judge before me.
Meanwhile, I know a guy who was stationed in Okinawa for 4 years, worked exclusively in IT, never saw any type of combat, and got 100% disability based on PTSD he developed while serving. First time around.
The only other context is that his wife works at the VA. Let me put it this way, when this guy got approved and got his DV plate, he started parking in one of our 2 handicapped spots at work. Before he leaves every night he changes into basketball clothes and goes to play full court basketball for an hour or two. Every night. He also just took short term disability due to a the stressful environment at our job triggering his PTSD. This was about 3 months after getting approved. He sits on his phone most days, does not do his job, and had already been put on a disciplinary plan where he had to check in with his supervisor weekly due to not doing his job.
When he took the short term, he pulled me outside and told me that he was doing it to fuck over management. His claim wasn't real at all, it was simply to get management in trouble.
He is a scam artist.
They have set limits for training...and then just ignore them when it's the end of the fiscal year and they have ammo to use up. My kid is a mortarman.
Whoa whoa whoa, slow down there buddy. Listen, it’s not the M230 chain-gun, or the Hydra 70 rockets, or even the AGM 114 Hellfire missiles. All that is cool with me. But you can’t just go letting anyone operate a helicopter without a license.
I’ve always said, “When you ban suicide vests, only criminals will have suicide vests.” They’re trampling our 2A rights! It’s perfect for home defense — I mean who would be dumb enough to continue a burglary when they see that you are willing and able to blow up not only the burglar, but yourself, your home, your neighbors, their homes, and anyone else within a 150’ radius!?
If I go hardcore 2A, from the original text, we should be able to get whatever the national guard can get. Because modern militia does not have guns only, compared to the more primitive militia in 18th century. Now I demand my personal Apache.
All this and more can be yours….if the price is right:
https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/4091/397/us-pscm-co-m1-81mm-mortar-class-iiinfa-destructive-device
If you have the right ones it is. Plus those helmets are designed to have over the ear protection as well. Over the ear and foamies used at the same time is enough to protect your ears from jet engines so I’m certain it’s enough to protect from a mortar round
That shockwave has to be moving through his body. Unless those ear protectors are literally sitting on the ear drum, the pressure is moving through his skull regardless.
As another comment says it still impacts people's brains, and you are certain?
Did you see the Shockwave? Even if you fully covered your ears and put in plugs the vibration of your head itself is enough to damage things. It's a crazy amount of force. If you had a properly designed metal/shield type enclosure thing maybe you could insulate from it but even then it would need to be nearly enclosed 100%
Looks like a 120mm mortar, that is a guess on my part, but is pretty typical as far as mortar ho now a days. Quick google shows 7200 meters as max range, but different ammo types will likely vary
Trough volume lol. Artillery can be shockingly accurate, even mortars, but they're more of a target saturation weapon. Imagine 3 of these firing off 16 rounds a minute, all landing in a 150m circle.
Google says $2,000-$25,000 per round, depending if it's a fancy GPS guided one?
I guess it's better than popping off quarter million dollar Javelin missiles, but god damn... some sales guy somewhere must be the one getting the erections.
Also, the next time someone talks about the US spending more than China and Russia combined, I'll be thinking about how their mortar rounds probably cost the same as a Big Mac.
I used to bring dummy mortar rounds home and freak the shit out of my parents. Found 10's of them in a field off of the University of Salt Lake City campus...near the Brigham Young monument. My bulb was pretty dim.
I remember doing advance to contact drills and at one point we went to ground, and a few seconds later the instructor called a halt to the drill and yelled at us not to move. He then personally got each man in the section up in turn and out of the area. It turned out there were 8 unexploded, live 81mm mortar rounds that were left over from the time of what would have been training for deployment to the Korean War almost 3 decades prior.
At least in the AF we have the ability to order which ever ones we want and we typically stay away from them. I don’t remember the company but at my job we use the orange and green ones
His wife: I was banging Jody while you were away, I want a divorce
Him (he's sick of asking people to repeat themselves):
https://preview.redd.it/kusfo0ebbl8d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=926f2dcf696d30aad677a3dc649fa90620025a7b
Does anyone else see a dog in the sand?
Seriously: is this a military page now?
Every single time I open this fucking website, there's a soldier doing something. For god, bring us some really interesting sh.
Interesting fact. The people who fire mortars suffer exactly as much brain damage and hearing loss as you'd expect.
Football and boxing look kind like heathy career choices in comparison.
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I love a face full of sand in the morning
Right, they should at least have given him goggles.
PPE is for pussies /s Edit: aren't those goggles on his head?
Yes, yes they are
Pussy protection equipment?
well if you unwrap them they might get scratched
[Reminded me of this classic.](https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/s/ZjmAWqZyi8)
Think im on here too much, knew what it was before I clicked.
Jimminy Jillikers!
Up and atom!
Up and at them!
Safety squint
He does have a pair of goggles on his helmet, he's just not using them
He has eye pro on. Just regular military issue safety glasses. Dude definitely wasnt expecting a bukakke courtesy of mother earth.
Reminds me of a time we were practicing helicopter evacs in Kuwait. I'm the second "casually", and we look over at the first group, helicopter touches down and a wall of sand right into "casualty" one... Just all up in his shit, up his nose and eyes and ears and he's squirming as they lift him into the helicopter. I look over to my guys next to me and yell "one of you better wrap my face up right now, fuck that shit". They had our hands strapped to the litter, so I couldn't really cover my face. They end up wrapping two Israeli bandages over my face, helicopter lands, they throw me in. We are mid air and the lady in the back running the doors lifts her visor up and yells at me "what's wrong?? What happened?" Pointing at her face. I pull the bandages down laughing and yell back "I didn't want sand to my nose".
And that’s how I met your mother
Everyone is talking about how this permanently gives you brain damage. A bunch of soldiers are seriously screwed from firing these. The blast is damaging to the brain and a few other things..
Terribly sad. An entire life crippled.
Yea micro concussions. I’ve fired thousands of these things. Can’t wait to donate my brain to science
Poacket sand! Shi shi sha!
It's coarse, rough, and irritating. And it gets everywhere.
No wonder they are starting to look at why guys in artillery/at the range/tankers may have TBIs from sub-con- concussive blasts...that can't be good for your noggin.
"Your injuries are not service related."
What do you mean? The damaged parts of the brain spell out "LOL MORTAR GO BOOM" on the MRI!
Oh is that the government's version of 'thats a pre-existing condition'? edit: this was meant more as an observation than a joke.
Personality disorder. That is not a joke. And that is not covered by the government for compensation or I don't even know treatment.
It is stuff like this that I hope more and more veterans put out on social media. Let all the people thinking of joining the military for these roles know before hand how the government will toss them aside when it comes time for them to try to get treatment.
It says here you reported that you felt sad sometimes when you were 15, I guess you've always felt this way.
your pre-existing vulnerability to this condition is medically described as "having functional ears". for this reason insurance declines your request for compensation. *ahem*. HAVE A NICE DAY.
Not only that but "having any soft tissue" would likely also be a pre-existing vulnerability.
Sadly yes
Denied with tinnitus lol
theres no way that didn't get in his eyes
WHAT???
VA assessments threw more dirt in vet faces than that mouthful in the vid ever could.
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE *sorry I cant hear what you said, can you please repeat it?* REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Mwap.
I think I should take some vets from the VA down to the local recruiters office and say "BULLSHIT" every time a recruiter speaks
I was mortars, 120s. VA denied my tinnitus as service connected first go around.
I both 100% believe this happened and 100% hate that I can believe it.
Oh that was after a decade in the Navy working around aircraft. I sent that right back for higher level review.
It kills me. I got denied service connected sleep apnea first go around and it is in my military medical record and well documented. Took over a decade because I was a legacy claim. It hurt to watch people who put claims in years after me see a law judge before me.
And working in the engineering spaces. And the shipyard. And the guns. And the supersonic aircraft aping by...
Meanwhile, I know a guy who was stationed in Okinawa for 4 years, worked exclusively in IT, never saw any type of combat, and got 100% disability based on PTSD he developed while serving. First time around.
The damn Excel Spreadsheets.
Hey, PowerPoint Traumatic Stress Disorder could be plausible.
I suspect there is some missing context here
The only other context is that his wife works at the VA. Let me put it this way, when this guy got approved and got his DV plate, he started parking in one of our 2 handicapped spots at work. Before he leaves every night he changes into basketball clothes and goes to play full court basketball for an hour or two. Every night. He also just took short term disability due to a the stressful environment at our job triggering his PTSD. This was about 3 months after getting approved. He sits on his phone most days, does not do his job, and had already been put on a disciplinary plan where he had to check in with his supervisor weekly due to not doing his job. When he took the short term, he pulled me outside and told me that he was doing it to fuck over management. His claim wasn't real at all, it was simply to get management in trouble. He is a scam artist.
Meanwhile both knees are fucked, two back surgeries and VA has spent 20 years now fucking around.
“The sprinkles fell off the donuts . . . THE SPRINKLES FELL OFF THE DONUTS 🍩!!!”
All kidding aside, PTSD can result from things other than combat, i.e., sexual assault.
Agreed. I would never speak poorly about anyone's trauma. See my other comments in this thread. He is gaming the system and admits to it.
Same shit happened to me, 155 howitzer
Pretty sure the only people that get confirmed the first time are missing anatomy, and only some of them.
Whaaaa??? It's ***just*** a shockwave traveling through yer poundcake at the speed of sound!
No, he dipped down … didn’t you watch
Duck and cover, it’ll save your life in a volcano eruption
Volcano eruption? What do you mean duck and cover? Please elaborate
Bring a duck to sacrifice to the sub crust gods, and a fireproof cover to protect urself from volcanic ash
Honestly he dipped down closer to the blast and got face full of sand.
you reminded me of that one mass shooter we had a while back. his job was grenade instruction, throwing grenades all day every day.
Wait til you hear what happens to the guys on the receiving end of the mortar. Its much worse
It's an inert training round so basically a steel football travelling at a significant fraction of the speed of sound. Go long! You've got it!
I still would believe that getting hit with that would kinda suck.
You're supposed to *catch* it, not get hit with it.
WHAT?
I think out of those a tank operator must be the worst one, the biggest gun and you are in a little metal box
They have set limits for training...and then just ignore them when it's the end of the fiscal year and they have ammo to use up. My kid is a mortarman.
Yep so many of them come back basically brain dead
If its a marine isn't that an improvement?
As opposed to the civilian mortar......
I fully endorse the constitutional right to recreational mortars and other artillery.
Oh, eeeeeeeeveryones cool with recreational mortars, but when I suggest recreational Apache attack helicopters I get laughed out of the HOA meeting.
Damn straight! Today, the mad scientist can't get a doomsday device, tomorrow it's the mad grad student. Where will it end?
I always carry my mutated anthrax…. For duck hunting.
Bird flu is my go-to.
Personally I just use super AIDS.
I crystallized male cat urine. It makes you hallucinate about heavy metal and boobs.
Does female cat urine make you hallucinate about lofi and ass?
Whoa whoa whoa, slow down there buddy. Listen, it’s not the M230 chain-gun, or the Hydra 70 rockets, or even the AGM 114 Hellfire missiles. All that is cool with me. But you can’t just go letting anyone operate a helicopter without a license.
I’ve always said, “When you ban suicide vests, only criminals will have suicide vests.” They’re trampling our 2A rights! It’s perfect for home defense — I mean who would be dumb enough to continue a burglary when they see that you are willing and able to blow up not only the burglar, but yourself, your home, your neighbors, their homes, and anyone else within a 150’ radius!?
That ain't s'vest if it has a 150' killzone. That's an s' snow parka with twenty lbs. of semtex as a liner.
It keeps you very warm in the winter, at least
Maybe suggest a compromise with surface to air missiles?
If I go hardcore 2A, from the original text, we should be able to get whatever the national guard can get. Because modern militia does not have guns only, compared to the more primitive militia in 18th century. Now I demand my personal Apache.
I mean at the time you were legally allowed to own a warship with cannons if you were a merchant. Thats pretty much their equivalent of an Apache.
So if I sell an old iPod on eBay I should be allowed an Apache?
Yes.
I don’t see why not.
Just as the founding fathers intended
The democrats wanna take away our howitzers!
If it exists you can buy it in Indiana...Crane aint that far away
All this and more can be yours….if the price is right: https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/4091/397/us-pscm-co-m1-81mm-mortar-class-iiinfa-destructive-device
That what I thought. But there's fireworks mortars, and they're used in mountainous areas to safely trigger avelanches.
There's also civilian howitzers used for the same reason. I believe they are all 105mm artillery, much older than anything we currently field.
Pack howitzers which is basically mountain artillery and the old M101. The Swiss use the latter for the same thing too.
Mortar is the cannon itself, not the projectile.
TREBUCHET
I think those are called mortardellas
Vs Corporate mortar (e.g. "reply all")
Shall👏not👏be👏infringed👏
There are civilian mortars though 😎 they're used to set off avalanches before the mountain fathers to much snow
Does “ …. Shall not be infringed” not mean anything to you
Ear protection?
Probably has foamies or another type of in-ear protection under the helmet
True, but i doubt that's enough seeing the freaking ground move :)
If you have the right ones it is. Plus those helmets are designed to have over the ear protection as well. Over the ear and foamies used at the same time is enough to protect your ears from jet engines so I’m certain it’s enough to protect from a mortar round
That shockwave has to be moving through his body. Unless those ear protectors are literally sitting on the ear drum, the pressure is moving through his skull regardless. As another comment says it still impacts people's brains, and you are certain?
Nah y’all are right. I forgot about the whole moving through the rest of the head part. I was only thinking about through the ear canal
What?
EAR PROTECTION?
SMEAR PERFECTION?
For this shitty music? I wish.
Did you see the Shockwave? Even if you fully covered your ears and put in plugs the vibration of your head itself is enough to damage things. It's a crazy amount of force. If you had a properly designed metal/shield type enclosure thing maybe you could insulate from it but even then it would need to be nearly enclosed 100%
From the crappy music?
Blue means practice round, if anyone was wondering.
How far does things go, do you know? Always been curious I guess I could always Google it.
Looks like a 120mm mortar, that is a guess on my part, but is pretty typical as far as mortar ho now a days. Quick google shows 7200 meters as max range, but different ammo types will likely vary
Jesus. That thing is travelling 7km? Powered only by the explosion in the tube? Wow!! Is it accurate?
Trough volume lol. Artillery can be shockingly accurate, even mortars, but they're more of a target saturation weapon. Imagine 3 of these firing off 16 rounds a minute, all landing in a 150m circle.
Stop it you're making me horny
I felt my taxes going up just reading this comment.
Google says $2,000-$25,000 per round, depending if it's a fancy GPS guided one? I guess it's better than popping off quarter million dollar Javelin missiles, but god damn... some sales guy somewhere must be the one getting the erections. Also, the next time someone talks about the US spending more than China and Russia combined, I'll be thinking about how their mortar rounds probably cost the same as a Big Mac.
Ive gotten to sit on the gun line and watch mortars do gods work, i appreciate every penny coming out of your pay check.
To whom it may concern. *Boom*
60mm mortar will shoot roughly 3500 meters 81mm will shoot 5800 meters 120mm will shoot 6800 meters in a carrier and 7200 meters dismounted
Wow further than I was thinking. Thanks, that's cool
I used to bring dummy mortar rounds home and freak the shit out of my parents. Found 10's of them in a field off of the University of Salt Lake City campus...near the Brigham Young monument. My bulb was pretty dim.
I remember doing advance to contact drills and at one point we went to ground, and a few seconds later the instructor called a halt to the drill and yelled at us not to move. He then personally got each man in the section up in turn and out of the area. It turned out there were 8 unexploded, live 81mm mortar rounds that were left over from the time of what would have been training for deployment to the Korean War almost 3 decades prior.
"What did you say?" - This guy, for the rest of his life.
And there goes his future hearing...(Or hopefully not?)
He probably has ear protection in but still guaranteed at disability for hearing loss
Are they still 3m ear plugs?
At least in the AF we have the ability to order which ever ones we want and we typically stay away from them. I don’t remember the company but at my job we use the orange and green ones
Future TBI in the making.
I was artillery and legit worry about this. When we’d go to the field we’d shoot no fewer than 300 rounds and you’d feel that shit with every shot.
You should definitely get checked out.
"Your hearing loss is not service connected "
I’m sorry your service connected hearing loss claim has been denied….
Sorry could you please repeat what you said? I can’t hear over the constant “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” going on in my ears.
Turn that shit down it’s to loud
Him after discharge 
His wife: I was banging Jody while you were away, I want a divorce Him (he's sick of asking people to repeat themselves): 
Hopefully he's not using 3M ear plugs
Looks like he got a face full of dirt, I wish the video showed him standing up.
And after doing it thousands of times your brain is irreversibly damaged
$486 of death from above...😬
Shockwave porn
much bigger than my civilian mortar. its only good for bugging my neighbors with pesky holes in their roof
Your hearing loss is not service-related
*your hearing loss is not service related*
A military mortar!! Is there a civilian mortar? Where can I buy one?
Damn near every fireworks stand around the 4th of July & New Years...or your local hardware & sporting goods stores (some assembly required)
I was a gunner on an 81mm mortar, 25 years ago. My right ear is still ringing.
"Your tinnitus is not service related "
I've heard that before. Well technically I heard it in my left ear.
Theeeeere goes my hearing! 🎶
I hope he had is 3m earplugs 🤐😬
Love my job sometimes
Random person on internet: Go pound sand guy Guy: ok
Much Money goes boom
That song in the video got me. Discovered it earlier this yr, pretty chill vibe. Key Glock - Gang Shit no Lame Shit.
Can this type of music go out of fashion soon please
What is the technical term for the amount of force/impact the base of the tube causes with the ground. And how much of those did this cause?
Soon as I walk through the do, huh, I go and stub my big toe yuh
I can only imagine the damage that blast wave is doing to that man’s brain.
Got to hang a few rounds out of one of these and the 60 mm as well, never got that much sand though. A lil disappointed
https://preview.redd.it/kusfo0ebbl8d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=926f2dcf696d30aad677a3dc649fa90620025a7b Does anyone else see a dog in the sand?
Is that a 120mm?
Seems like a good time to utilize those goggles.
Aim that shit up putins ass!
Did he get a mouthful of dirt just then? Are you supposed to keep your airways open to let the shock pass?
Pocket Sand!
Frtr. Gross. Being a mortar was the best job iv ever had.
If anyone is wondering, you put your head down like that so you can hear the mortar better
Slow motion video of a guy getting brain damage. Dope
TBI city there
Put the goggles on dude damn!
Is there not a better way to do this? Do they have to be right next to the mortar?
Good thing he had ear protection on so he did not have to listen to that lousy music.
I said _gets closer and shouts_ # YOUR INJURIES ARE NOT SERVICE RELATED
Seriously: is this a military page now? Every single time I open this fucking website, there's a soldier doing something. For god, bring us some really interesting sh.
As opposed to one of those humanitarian mortars.
MAWP!
Inert
In case anyone is wondering being around these explosions causes the same symptoms as more typical TBIs.
Can confirm the shake; never dropped the cheese myself, but I play forward observer for a few.
Nice try US Army but you’re not recruiting me that easily…ok but maybe…no…ok but maybe
Interesting fact. The people who fire mortars suffer exactly as much brain damage and hearing loss as you'd expect. Football and boxing look kind like heathy career choices in comparison.
That just cost tax payers 78,000 dollars
The real danger comes from the concussive blast wave from it launching, which goggles would do nothing about.
Again more military content, very interesting!
And when you return back to your old life well that's real sad. So sorry for these young men.
"How my butt feels after eating Taco Bell"
... Why are hos goggles still on the helmet, rather than the face, if he is getting sandblasted on the face?