Saturday, May 29th, Cadets from the First Regiment, Alpha Company attended Hand Grenade Familiarization Training at Advanced Camp 2021.

Upon arrival, Cadets were broken down into their platoons and briefed on the training to come. Then each platoon separated and received in-depth instruction on hand grenades by Cadre. 

The instructor demonstrated the proper way to handle and throw a hand grenade; this prepared Cadets for the practice exercises they would do later that day. 

Each Cadet had the opportunity to get one-on-one discussion with Cadre at the hand grenade identification station, where they learned about the different types of hand grenades and how to identify them.

The types of hand grenades include: M18 colored smoke grenade, M67 fragmentary grenade, M8 HC smoke grenade, AN-M14 TH3 incendiary grenade, and the ABC-M7A2 / ABC-M7A3 CS riot control grenades. Each of these hand grenades are used by the United States Military and Cadets got a comprehensive crash course on all of them.  

Thanks to the demonstration from Cadre on proper grenade throwing positions, Cadets were prepared to move to the training pit where they would throw the practice hand grenades. 

The hand grenade familiarization exercises allow Cadets to get a better understanding of how heavy a real M67 fragmentary grenade would be and it simulated the experience of throwing a live hand grenade.

“Look up, down, prep– sweep, twist, pull– Look up, down, throw!” The Cadre recited this line before each Cadet threw their practice hand grenade into the pit. 

During this exercise, the Cadets laid down behind cover, rose up to throw the hand grenade, and quickly moved back down to a covered position again. 

Cadet Melenda Allen from Austin Peay State University explained more about the exercise by saying, “We are working on getting the grenades into the radius to injure or take out our enemy… this works on our technique to throw the grenade, as well as staying under cover so we don’t get hurt.”

Once the Cadets completed the first exercise, they moved their way over to the next exercise at the mock bays. This exercise allowed Cadets to practice their throwing techniques from behind a wall that is roughly one and a half meters high and from a standing-up position.

Each Cadet must try to throw the practice hand grenade into the pit, within the blast radius around the target. The radius extends about five meters away from the target. 

Cadets passed these exercises by throwing the practice hand grenade within the radius. They must complete these exercises to graduate from Advanced Camp.

Completing these two exercises marked the end of hand grenade familiarization training for Cadets in the First Regiment Alpha Company.   

The goal for every Cadet is to take all the knowledge, skills, techniques, and confidence that they gain from training events and bring it with them as they progress through Advanced Camp and into their future careers as Army officers.