Delta operator “Cuz” was just trying to go faster and faster on the flat Known Distance live-fire training range at the home Delta compound. He was trying to cycle through the target transition phase and wasting as little time as possible in doing it; that is, he was tearing down an already generously bullet-riddled target to replace it with a fresh clean one to shoot at.
However, he didn’t bother to put down the can of spray adhesive that he was using to stick the targets to their backboards while he was replacing the target dummy. Instead, he elected to “go ahead just this one time” and tap in the nail supporting the target with the reinforced bottom rim of the spray can.
And then – the can exploded, covering most of Cuz’s hair and face with highly sticky glue! His Oakley eye protection was completely covered; think of the disaster he would have suffered if all that spray-on adhesive had gotten into his eyes!
Cuz was understandably shaken up, so we sent him home for the day to recuperate from his demise. To his good fortune, his wife was a cosmetologist and knowledgeable in techniques of removing unwanted substances from hair and especially face.
The next day, when Cuz returned to the compound, his face and hair was completely recovered, almost as if the event had never happened.
The running joke that spread around the squadron was that the adhesive spray was now our new stun weapon to replace flash-bangs that froze assailants in their tracks, immobilizing them in place while we were conducting an assault.
When word of the trivial mishap involving the can of glue arrived at our Joint Special Operations Command headquarters, they sent a meddling investigations officer to the Unit to inquire about the event and learn what corrective action we had taken to prevent it from happening again. It was just a necessary evil side-effect to being attached to a larger organization.
When Cuz’s Team Leader was questioned by the chain of command on what he planned for the men to preclude the disaster from ever occurring again, he thought for several seconds, shrugged his shoulders, and replied coyly:
“I dunno… I guess I’ll issue them hammers.”
And yet it happened!
By Almighty God and with Honor,
geo sends
Feature Image: A flash-bang explosive is set off during a base exercise as part of a base exercise Aug. 28, 2019, Travis Air Force Base, California. (U.S. Air Force photo by Heide Couch)
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