Dutch regulations forbid such exercises, probably because at most (or all) shoooting ranges there are villages nearby. One grenade landing in the wrong place is bad enough, six at once is bad PR.
Once we had an exercise with retreated observers (those guys in front telling you how far you're off the mark). They were 400 meters in front of us. One fuse, however, malfunctioned and the grenade went off after the mininal delay, 100 meters in the air, right over the heads of the observers. I saw it explode. Luckily no injuries.
And there was the time the infantry had mortar practice next to us. Because of the short range you could see the impact.
One night, while sleeping, I heard explosions. I thought there was some infantry excercises going on. Turned out a few tents away, the officers' tent had a leaking heater and the gasoline caught fire. The explosions were excercise grenades (they only give a loud bang, no damage unless it explodes in your hand). Again, no injuries.
And then there was the US air force. Our barracks were quite a distance from the nearest town, so the used it for fake target practice, flying at such a low altitude, always around lunch time, you could just make out the pilots as small dots. You had to cover your ears. I always thought it would be a fun idea to put the .50 guns on our roofs and freak them out a bit :D (of course we'd not respond to communication and dress like pirates of the Carribean, or Soviet troops - pity our commander did not share my sense of humor :D) |
