[fred cook]

A frag grenade weighs a couple of pounds and is not perfectly round, rather an oblong shape. When I was in the Seabees (1969-71) we were sent to Camp LeJune for heavy weapons training that included instructions in the art of throwing a hand grenade. We were instructed to place the grenade in the palm with the spoon towards the hand, grasp the grenade firmly, pull the pin with the opposite hand, bring the grenade hand back to a position by the head (real comforting feeling there!), extend the other hand forward for balance and then extend the grenade hand rapidly in a forward/upward motion, releasing the grenade at about 2/3rds arm extension. This motion allowed most people to throw it further and in an arc so that it would 1) allow the fuse to partially burn before arriving and 2) allow it to drop into foxholes or other defensive positions. The Vietnam era frag grenades had an 8-10 second burn time so you did not want the enemy to have time to scoop it up and toss it back! Using this method, most people could throw a grenade 40-50 yards and the real athletes could go almost 100 yards! This is one talent that you did not want to learn in an "on the job" training session! If you ever want to see some world record 100 yd dash runs, let someone in the group ask if anyone has seen their grenade pin!