Military Grenade Survival

John Allen shares a harrowing story about surviving a grenade attack during combat and witnessing the effectiveness of Navy SEAL training.

"I watched this grenade come over the wall. I could see it for a second, it disappeared, I could see it for a second, and time absolutely stood still. When it came closer to my head, I remember thinking 'If it detonates here, it's going to blow my head off and my mom won't be able to identify me.' I just hoped it would fall below my head so even though it was going to kill me, at least they could see my face, have an open casket.

It reached my head, then fell, hit my shoulder and began to travel down to the ground. When it was at my torso, I thought 'At least my face will be intact, now it's gonna blow me in half.' It hits the ground and detonates. It felt like somebody took a handful of rocks and threw them as hard as they could at my back, my hips, and legs. There was zero pain.

Of the seven of us behind the wall, six became incapacitated. Our medic Kyle, who's also a SEAL, would tell us later that everybody went down. He knew multiple enemy combatants were on the other side of the wall. He said 'I just went into flow' and began rescuing us under a hail of gunfire. Rounds were coming in, rockets being fired overhead.

Years after the fact, Kyle told me that after the impact, he saw me on the ground in what he thought was a sheet of ice. That's when he realized I was actually in a puddle of blood. He assumed I was dead and had to triage the situation - I had the lowest chance of survival. Only after the others were pulled out did someone come back for me."