John Kettler Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 In Del Vecchio's Vietnam bestseller THE 13TH VALLEY, there is a character who, in order to get out of the field and sent to the rear while in mid-op, supposedly removes the C4 from his claymore mine and eats it. I thought a claymore mine was a sealed unit, with a substantial plastic housing around the bursting charge and fragmentation assembly. If so, I'd think he'd have to basically tear the mine apart. Or am I wrong, and it's really modular, with the C4 added by the user? Have seen no indication of this in my references, which include a JANE'S MINES AND MINE CLEARANCE. That said, I wasn't in the Vietnam War, and I certainly got no Bronze Star, whereas Del Vecchio was and did. Would someone who knows please clear up my Claymore confusion? Thanks! Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Los Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 yes, you can take a knife or a screwdriver, pry open the mine's cover and remove the C4. It's basically a plastic cover and inside are the BBs as one solid unit (the shrapnel) backed by a flat playdough-like pad of C4. You're not supposed to do this, as the mine comes totally assembled and ready to go, but it is possible to do fairly easily. Los 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FAI Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 In Del Vecchio's Vietnam bestseller THE 13TH VALLEY, there is a character who, in order to get out of the field and sent to the rear while in mid-op, supposedly removes the C4 from his claymore mine and eats it. I thought a claymore mine was a sealed unit, with a substantial plastic housing around the bursting charge and fragmentation assembly. If so, I'd think he'd have to basically tear the mine apart. Or am I wrong, and it's really modular, with the C4 added by the user? Have seen no indication of this in my references, which include a JANE'S MINES AND MINE CLEARANCE. That said, I wasn't in the Vietnam War, and I certainly got no Bronze Star, whereas Del Vecchio was and did. Would someone who knows please clear up my Claymore confusion? Thanks! Regards, John Kettler Why would somebody wants to eat C4? :confused: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Field Marshal Blücher Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 Why would somebody wants to eat C4? :confused: From the first post: in order to get out of the field and sent to the rear while in mid-op 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigduke6 Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 13th Valley is a terrific book, I recommend it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flanker15 Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 Mmmmmm that's good plastic explosive! Om nom nom nom. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunnergoz Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 During the Vietnam era, one of my father's army acquaintances (he was a draftee, my dad was a lifer) got out of the service on a Section 8 by pretending to defecate in the barracks (or perhaps actually doing so) and then stuffing into his mouth a candy bar he'd hidden in his clothes, drooling chocolate everywhere and all the while saying, "its not what it is, its where it came from..." Gross but true. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted December 7, 2008 Author Share Posted December 7, 2008 Los, Wouldn't have expected that answer, but thanks, for it explains a lot! gunnergoz, Disgusting, but effective! Guess they couldn't show Klinger's attempting that on M*A*S*H, could they? Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subvet Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 I knew a guy who purposely ate his way out of the Navy. It took some time, but he finally got fat enough that they discharged him. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
costard Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 I've seen references to C4 having the texture and smell of marzipan (almond meal and sugar) - is this correct? As far as I know, eating something that smells of almonds is pretty brave: there's a high probability that there's cyanide in there somewhere. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted December 7, 2008 Author Share Posted December 7, 2008 costard, Don't know about C4, but I believe that's what Semtex (Czech rough equivalent, commonly used by terrorists) smells like. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
costard Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 Aah... so. Thanks John. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 I knew a guy who purposely ate his way out of the Navy. It took some time, but he finally got fat enough that they discharged him. Must have been a really big boy not to fit on a carrier or something. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Other Means Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 He's being all he can be. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 An army of one and a half, maybe. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalins Organ Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 Never mind..... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 Never mind..... I'll explain it for you. The guy on the right is really overweight. So the joke is that he's not strong, he's fat. And he's wearing an Army t-shirt. But the guy in the right foreground is a Marine and he's not fat. So the implied criticism is that the Army guys are fat and useless but the Marines aren't. Do you get it now? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Secondbrooks Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 I'm pretty much Marine guy would not be very useful anymore after that Army guy smashes on him. Notice how cold killer-look he has in his eyes... he's going to turn that Marine into pile of goo. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 The Marine is so skinny, he'd be a low-calorie snack. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John D Salt Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 Don't know about C4, but I believe that's what Semtex (Czech rough equivalent, commonly used by terrorists) smells like. [snips] One of the reasons Semtex was always such a favourite with terrorists was that it had no smell, making it hard to detect. The manufacturers now add a smellifying compound to make it detectable to sniffer dogs. I don't know what the shelf-life of Semtex is, but I imagine there must be plenty of the old non-smelly stuff left if you know where to look. All the best, John. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SgtMuhammed Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 You know, I don't recall C4 having any specific smell. Usually everything was overwhelmed by that generic "military equipment pulled out of storage" smell that all armsrooms seem to have. I remember it being a lot mushier than I expected. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SgtMuhammed Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 I knew a guy who purposely ate his way out of the Navy. It took some time, but he finally got fat enough that they discharged him. That must have taken quite a while. Our translators when I deployed to Gitmo in '95 were all Navy and about half of them were HUGE. They would have been chaptered out of the Army long ago. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luderbamsen Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 I've seen references to C4 having the texture and smell of marzipan (almond meal and sugar) - is this correct? Plastic explosives yes, and it goes quite far back. No idea which chemicals caused that smell. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adultery Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 C4 STINKS of almonds while i was in the army we were always using up our old war stocks, often the C4 had softened the plastic cover on the claymore we used to have these "quick deploy" packs that you would wear with the mine in it around your neck.......massive headache after awhile 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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