During an email discussion of the explosive
used by the testicle-toasting terrorist of Detroit, my friend retired Col. John
Meyer commented on his own use of the stuff -- and offered a warning. "I've heated
many a cup of coffee on C4, rolled into little balls," he said. "The trick was
to never try to stamp out the fire when you were finished."
Asked to explain this use of C4, he added:
The small balls of
C4 used to heat rations were about the size of spitballs. C4 can be ignited with a match. As one ball would burn out, you rolled
another up next to it, so it would ignite.
We used a modified C-ration can for a stove. One side was cut open, so there was plenty of
air for the 'rapid combustion.'
As a side note, long
before there was a Starbucks, we figured our C4 heated coffee was pretty
expensive. A one-pound block of C4 was
reported to cost about $90.
A leadership challange in Vietnam, was making sure Marines didn't take small bits of C-4 out of claymore mines, to heat C-rations with - after awhile, the damn thing loses its bang - it do burn hot though! : )
Sounds like a great way to heat soup, too. I never knew about this. But I think I'll stick to the Keurig B30 coffee maker I got for Christmas. I think my wife would kill me if I brought C4 into the kitchen.
Good idea for the kitchen DANIEL. I was thinking: in this day and age of MREs and camelbacks, our trigger pullers don't have the makings to design a coffee cup out of a C-ration can, with a frag grenade spoon for a handle, tied-on with some trip wire - what a lousy way to fight a war? : )
KUNINO, I'm glad you made it into the New Year. I had heard some hysteric mother on the national news stating her child had gotten out of her sight and blown himself-up with his Christmas gift chemistry set - glad it wasn't you - happy New Year. : )
I must say, I concur with Colonel Myer's remark that it would be imprudent to try and stomp out any small fire using plastiques like C-4 or semtex as the combustible. I watched someone try to flick a small amount away with his finger once. Ouch!
I actually saw this done in drug rehab once. Don't ask me how they got it in, but there were these people who had been in prison so I guess they knew all those tricks to heat soup and stuff.
I thought that the news-AARs on missed opportunities, seating location, altitude, security penetration opptys etc. was information shared that I'd rather loan wolfs figure out for theyselves.
However, without violating the alleged Xmas suspects HIPA rights, some lurid forensic prime-time war-porn discussion on what kind of injuries might have been suffered by an individual whose undergarments led to a cabin fire...
Jihad caveat emptor, oh balsy warrior, and weep for thy virgins. Pity the medics that had to debride your holiday sausage.
We should get our animated licks in while the story is hot. A psy-opportunity wasted.
OK, I'm done now. (Captcha was 'noway merce'. Hmm...)
I knew an IRA guy who quit (the IRA isn't the mob - they allow you to quit - of course you have to keep your mouth shit) after he got into the habit of taking minute amounts of Semtex, the Czech explosive that the IRA got tons of from the Libyans - and popping them on the kitchen table like cracker balls. As he put it: "fzzzzt...CRACK...there goes another cop shop." He said he know it was time to get out when he starting seeing the stuff as an amusement.
Ironically he became a moderately successful local actor who had a small role in Braveheart as a rebelling Scotsman.
Walking Wounded - I've noticed that the Captcha is often vaguely relevant to the post being submitted - sometimes in a sarcastic way. Just coincidence? I think not...
Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military for the Washington Post from 2000 through 2008.
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