The Chin Comm Hand Grenade, Part 1

The Chin Comm Hand Grenade, Part 1

A "chin comm hand grenade" is the slang expression for a "Chinese communist hand grenade. Since it is slang, I am actually not sure if "comm" should be spelled with one "m" or two. I have seen it both ways. These grenades were made in China and then sold to the North Vietnamese Army (NVA). This poem, which is linked below, was one of the few times I was able to get an inkling into what it must have been like to be an NVA soldier.

The story implies that these grenades failed a lot. Can you imagine an NVA soldier throwing a grenade like this in battle and having it not work time and time again? Would they even be able to complain about it to their superiors?

The American sergeant in the poem mocks the grenade. He treats it as if was not even dangerous. He must have seen many examples of failures. Thus, he was immune to fear.

American soldiers often complained about their M-16 rifles jamming. I was never able to record a specific example, just rumor. I do not think they were anywhere near as bad a problem as the Chinese made grenades were.

The classic work of literature about a similar problem is the play All My Sons by Arthur Miller. In that drama, the protagonist is responsible for selling planes to the military that are not built properly and can crash. Pilots die until his son finally dies in an accident. He realizes then that they were all his sons.

Here is the link to the poem in the journal Uppagus:

https://uppagus.com/poems/pappas-gren...

Here is the link to my book Scream Wounds containing the poem:

https://www.amazon.com/Scream-Wounds-...