From:	abortion_engine abortion_engine@*******.com
Subject:	Questions of great importance (Steve, Jon, RA:S people especially)
Date:	Thu, 2 Sep 1999 02:19:51 -0400

> > (And why don't people lose their heads when MP-HMG rounds pass six
> inches from their heads?)
>
> Hell, I dunno. Question from a non-military-goon-type. :) Why WOULD you
> lose your head from a near miss?
>
> Errr...unless you're talking figuratively here and you mean "freak
> out", not literally losing your head. :)
>
> *Doc' points a finger at AE. "Not a word, you."*

Sorry, here comes a word anyway. :)

A lot of times, bigger rounds will have enough energy surrounding them in
the air to take heads right off people. It's one of the first things they
teach you when they pull out the .50 cals for the first time. "A .50 cal
round passing within a foot of someone's head will make it [insert
inappropriate expletive here] EXPLODE." We were messing around in Spain one
day and a guy did it with a melon. We had to put a target next to the melon
to get people to believe that he wasn't actually shooting it. [That was the
same day one of my squadmates shot a cow with a 40 mm grenade launcher. What
a guy.]

The effect is similar to hydrostatic shock, in physics terms, at least.