On one occasion, a half-crazed Marine rushed in, straight from the battlefield, holding a live grenade. It turned out the Marine had accidentally pulled the grenade’s pin, and he was now nervously clutching its “spoon”—the only thing preventing it from exploding. The Marine had come into the busy operating room thinking that a bit of well-placed medical tape would finally enable him to loosen his grip on the deadly thing. A coolheaded orderly steered the Marine outside and convinced him to toss the grenade into a barren field, where it safely detonated.
