Thanks for watching guys! This was probably the most expensive video we’ve done to date, so I hope you guys enjoy! Should we do this again? What should we shoot? Let me know in the comments! Thanks to SDI! Again, it’s SDI.edu for more info!
I worked with a guy that only had two bad days in his life. The first was on his first tour of Vietnam where he got hit. The second bad day was after recovering and getting sent back to Vietnam, when he was hit in the head by an RPG. He was definitely messed up, his eyes didn't align, and he walked with a weird limp, in his words "they couldn't kill me with a gun so they tried something a little heavier." Greatest guy to work with ever.
@@ThatGuyRBYkinda make sense, why would they spend a valuable rocket just to kill 1 man where you can just smack his head with an RPG...and i think they did it because they never knew what's a baseball bat
"Don't stand in front of an RPG, or behind it. Hey, maybe that's a future video?" Well look how that turned out, Brandon. Shoutout to Adam from BallisticHighSpeed for surviving an RPG detonation on his face!
Retired East European RPG instructor here. Fun fact: When training, we would make soldiers sprint to shooting position in order to make sure they were tired AF when they shoot. First, it simulated (to a degree) combat fatigue. Second, it almost guaranteed them breathing through their mouths. It is a safety precaution to keep your mouth open when shooting RPG in order to quicker equalize pressure in your skull when you shoot. If you keep your mouth shut you risk having your eardrums blown. The power of sound wave emitted by RPG is something video will never be able to show.
You dont need it outside, but once you are in enclosed anything -- it will save your ears. .50 cals in enclosed environments can do the same thing. "Eustachian tube malfunction," is what it's officially called, just from explosions instead of disease.
Forgetting to pull the arming pin was actually common when I was in Iraq back in 2007. Had a guy fire a round at our Bradley IFV which acted as our gate on the compound. Flew over the Bradley and went straight towards where our 2 fuel trucks were. Slammed into the wall after passing right between them and just fell. The collective thoughts of everyone who saw it happened went from (shot) "wtf was..." (RPG flies by) "oh!!!" (Heads towards fuel trucks) "OH SHIT!!!!" (SLAMS wall and falls) "DAFAQ!?" Maintenance NCO went and picked it up and just yells. "Dumbass forgot to arm it!" Good times...
"Maintenance NCO went and picked it up and just yells. 'Dumbass forgot to arm it!"'" I applaud his massive fucking balls to check a UXO next to two rolling bombs. God only knows where his brain was at the time!
On the other hand I heard stories of I think it was the afghani who had the pins removed ALWAYS. Not too great when you're running into position and take a tumble...
My brother was physically hit by an RPG during his time in Iraq (Royal Marine), it did not go off since the enemy hadn't pulled the safety pin, and luckily it had mostly just grazed his skin before imbedding into the ground so didn't need much in the way of medical treatment but he still has his uniform he was wearing with the massive rip and burn marks along the back.
Only a Royal Marine is tough enough to shrug off an RPG. “Safety pin wasn’t pulled out” Yeah I’m sure that’s how they explained it. We know the truth though, which is he shrugged off a full fucking shaped charge.
@@thesupremeduck Can you imagine the brickwork that would be laid the instant those guys pick up the rocket, pull the pin, and just hurl it like a rugby ball at them? xD
He actually did it, that crazy MF ACTUALLY did it. Breakdowns, meme review, darwin awards, AK-50, RPG-7, undefeated boxer, AND congress? Brandon is the GOAT of all guntubers hands down.
An officer in the Scots Guards took one to the chest in Iraq. It hit his plate carrier, knocked him over backwards then detonated on the hatch of the armoured vehicle he was commanding. The blast deflected over the top of him. He promptly sat back up and returned fire, at which point the enemy unit ran for it, presumably assuming they were engaging some sort of terminator.
Holy heII, it was not his time to go. 💯❤️ I also wouldn't have wanted to wash his underwear after that. Probably just throw them out 😮😅 What a story to tell the grandkids.
holy shit you aren’t kidding. he’s Lt David Robertson, and while he doesn’t mention returning fire at the taliban, i still choose to believe he did tho lol
Plot twist: Eli miraculously survived and years later plotted his revenge, hunting down each member of the crew with ruthless efficiency and brutality only a ballistics dummy can muster.
@@irirjhrhr4645 Technically he do not even knows what RPG stands for -> Ręczny Przeciwpancerny Granatnik(hand held=(R) anty armor=(P) grenade launcher(G) and the "rocket" is called "grenade"... it is most of the time PG-7v -> Przeciwpancerny Granat(anty-armor grenade)-7v. And it is not a rocket because it is leaving the launcher without help of rocket engine... it is pushed out by a small charge -> that is why rocket engine is not seting Brandon long hair in fire(as would be the case if that was a real rocket(like in German: Raketenpanzerbüchse Panzerschreck)...
As a medic in the NG my brother saw what those did to our soldiers (his best friend was taken out by one in Afghanistan in 2011) and obviously everyone he picked up was KIA or close to it😞 but he always wondered if the enemy was say…250 meters away if it was just a lucky shot or what. I just turned him on to your channel (which I love) Thanks for the demo 🤙
Back in '68, while I was stationed at Bethesda Naval Hospital, there was a medal award ceremony for a doctor who removed a live RPG from a Marine in Vietnam, so yeah, it happened in real life.
@@leonardhpls6 Table 1 of the article "Removal of Unexploded Ordnance from Patients: A 50-Year Military Experience and Current Recommendations" published in Military Medicine in 1999 shows two live RPGs having been removed in Vietnam from patients who survived, one on 1JAN68 and the other on 15AUG69. There were 2 similar cases listed from Vietnam but they didn't survive. Then there's also the case of CPL Winder Perez, who took an RPG in the leg in Afghanistan....not only did he survive the removal, he kept his leg.
My experience with the RPG-7 comes from Operation Iraqi Freedom 2003. Had several fired at me and my tank, including one flying roughly one Brandon arm length from my head. 4 minutes in, and I've already gotta clean my screen. 8 minutes in, and I'm having flashbacks. This video is a ride! Thank you, Mr. Herrera, and may you get ALL the votes!
My Gunnery Sergeant was a gunner on a 7-ton during a convoy in Iraq. They were ambushed and an RPG bounced off the back plate of his armored turret. Scared the ever living shit out of him He has PTSD and it’s triggered by loud metallic banging noises. It always takes him back to the memory of him cheating death.
I was playing squad with some middle aged tank commander guy and when an rpg bounced off our abrams turret he started talking about how the sound design was really good and it sounded just like that but his mood did a complete 180 and he started getting very agitated and it sounded like he was about to cry. I do not think milsims are the best type of game to play if you get flashbacks from your time in deployment. I'm not gonna lie
@@rod2662 Actually its called desensitizing. Having the same experience but in a "safe" or even fun environment can help to mitigate the PTSD trigger and experience. Also being able to talk about it also shown to help.
@@rod2662 yeah it will make him feel agitated at first but the idea is if he keeps exposing himself to it, itll eventually start to lose its effect as his brain starts to learn that hes not in danger anymore when he hears the sound, could suck in the moment for sure but could be a good way to try to get past the events
@@rod2662sounds more like that guy was just some power spaz who missed nap time. No one with military related PTSD is playing military simulation games.
@@zyourzgrandzmaz that is a negative ghost rider... I have several buddies who did tours that really gave them some nightmares. They continue to play Arma, Ready or not and many other FPS/War sim games. For the EXACT reason @givemeanameman1 mentions
@Kcal556 their channel was some of the best guntuber content out there. The slo mo guys of guns has so much potential. tradety aside not to diminish it but there's is so much learning potential here. All test done with explosives and firearms, etc, are done with ballistic analogs. This is most likely the very first time an explosion was caught on highspeed with an actual human body with multiple highspeed angles to bat. Even more so adam was wearing a ballistic helmet and a plate carrier [which probably saved his life) for the first time we might be able to analyze and watch in highspeed the effects of shrapnel, burns to a human body not a ballistic gel analog. Adam has said he wants to return to the channel. So we as a group need to help his recovery in anyway we can. It was a terrible event that shouldn't have happened but it did and would be even worse if we didn't have the opportunity to learn from it.
1st 23rd Infantry "Tomahawks" had an Lt that was hit in the chest with an RPG7. He survived as it impacted at an angle and deflected... his SAPI plate shattered, and his ribs and sternum were broken. His vest is still on display in the units war room.
YO I haven't heard of that! there's also a diff case of RPG incident where the warhead of the RPG is impaled to a soldier's leg, flown back medivac, and got documented with a photo journalist.
@reanukeevesau no, as far as I know, he didn't suffer anything permanent. However, I didn't meet him personally... I'm not certain, but it either happened 04-05, or the 06-07 deployment. I got to the unit a couple months after the 06-07 deployment, and then deployed 09-10...
I had a military buddy who unfortunately got blasted by a RPG. Hit the ground next to him and spilt his leg and body vertically about 4-5inches deep on his right side. He survived and actually still works out and runs. He has a scar from his ankle all the way to his neck and parts of his face and eye.
My G-Wagon got hit with a direct RPG shot to the drivers side window in a late night ambush on Highway 1 just outside of Kandahar in 2006. It pushed the armored window in about 5-6 inches. All of us in the car are lucky to be here, especially the driver and the crew commander (our Platoon commander). We reckon we survived because it takes about 40m to arm the warhead. Its was a direct hit but not an explosive one, much like what you saw happenen to the dummy. Everyday I walk this earth I’m grateful to be here. The most disgusting part is that our higher ups were using us as bait. Effin pricks.
@@1-501Infantry I thought the RPG-7 Warhead didn't have an arming distance? I've heard Brandon talk about the safety cap being the only drop safety for the warhead detonator on Darwin Awards. To my knowledge there have been several people killed due to tripping while running with an uncapped RPG, and im pretty sure i learned that on this channel
My friend Johnathan Roy Kephart died from a wound inflicted by an RPG7 to the back of his neck, it didn't explode, he bled to death on the tunnel of the HMMWV under his gunner position. They instituted a back shield for the turrets after he died. Very sad, that was 20yrs ago in Iraq. He was good guy, we both served in the 230th MPco.
Seeing Brandon's adrenalin quick in when first shooting the RPG makes me so happy. Even an experience guntuber like himself can still get jitters when holding a boom cannon
I have never laughed so hard at Nam flashback and its an actual veteran who's actually seen squad members die, I am so sorry Eli. Love you buddy, thank you for what you and the rest went through.
what i like about brandon's videos is that they're all content. the videos aren't dragged out for ages only for the action to be right at the end, all he does is talk a little bit about what he's gonna do and then he goes straight to actually doing it. very few youtubers do that
There was a Marine or Soldier that had an RPG lodge in his upper leg or hip. When the guy got to the triage center, yeah, they wheeled his gurney doown a dirt path and around a berm. An enterprising photographer took a shot of him lying there, the EOD tech working on the warhead, and the facility's head nurse, a male O-5(Lt. Colonel or Commander), calmly caring for his charge. He wouldn't leave his patient. "Greater love hath no man..."
He was a Captain with the 11th USMC MEU (SOC) in 2004/2005 leading an ANGLICO team. The RPG hit him in Fallujah II in the upper thigh and embedded. Less than a year later, with about 1/3 of his thigh missing, he ran a sub 18 minute 3 mile run and maxed out his PFT. Hard as nails.
My wife cries all the time when people die in the stupid mysteries that she reads. This kind of thing is what makes me tear up. As long as our society keeps making men like this we have a chance.
It wasn’t in his torso, but in 2012 Cpl Winder Perez was fighting in Afghanistan when he was shot by an RPG without it detonating. The medical team risked their own lives to so save Perez, going against protocol & bringing/transporting live ordinance onto a chopper. Where they met Col. James Gennari & Sgt. Ben Summerfield & they carefully removed the RPG from Perez’s leg, saving his life.
This happened while I was there. Since the medical compound on Camp D was just down the road from the logistics office, a few of my friends were advised shelter in place. They just sat back and watched a movie.
As a retired Army EOD tech...it has happened a few times...a friend of mine removed an OG7 from a guy with a Navy Doc. Look it up...His name is Benjamin Summerfield.
Interesting how this gets uploaded right after i saw a clip from Black Hawk Down, where a US soldier gets an RPG-7 warhead stuck in his torso.... Brutal shit man.
If you have an SOT and an FEL you can absolutely have HE and shape charge warheads. You just keep the parts separate until you want to manufacture and subsequently destroy them. You only need to declare them to the ATF if they exist for an entire day. So if you put it together and then immediately launch it then there is nothing to declare, because you cant declare something that no longer exists.
@@Airondotyeah I’m pretty sure you would need to have some form of direct demolitions license to purchase those kinds of explosives to manufacture the heads
Nice. As ex soldier of polish army, i know that feeling, i was shooting original russian RPG-7 (rgppanc-7 in polish army) with PGO-7 optic site in 2007. I remember first shot stunned me just like you. This rocket granate launcher is literally Kalash (or as you call them AKs) among granate launchers.
"Guys guys look its in his torso lets take out the VERY LIFE RPG-7 rocket" "that doesnt-" "DO IT" "ok?" (Oh thats why they didnt post for the past 4 years
Another reason why it might not go off is due to it not having enough time & distance to fully arm between the time it was fired and when it impacts the target. This happened several times when I was in Afghanistan…the rocket was placed to close to the road and the rocket couldn’t fully arm and left the vehicle with a dent in its rim and a split open pissed off rocket on the ground nearby.
We had that happen once it literally bounced off the hood and flew like 100 yards away from us then exploded. Me and my driver just looked at each other like 0.0.
One thing I don't understand though: RPG rockets are supposed to selfdestruct after they hit around 950m of travel. If it lodges in you, wouldn't it just detonate after a while? Or does it not self destruct if it wasn't armed in the first place?
@@PistaZOV the rocket determines how far it has gone based on the number of times it has spun. So if it isn't moving it won't self-destruct in that way.
@@PistaZOVsomeone correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure it "keeps track" of how far it's traveled by how many times it has rotated. So if it stops rotating then it shouldn't explode
Great to see Eli coming out for some rpg bullshittery and PTSD jokes, would love to see him come on the channel more often as a "involuntary target" xD
An Army buddy took an RPG to the upper right shoulder and chest when he was in Viet Nam. His platoon leader reported him KIA as the rest of the squad evacuated under heavy fire and had to leave him. Later, when the recovery was made, they found him still alive.....He was in the hospital for 2 weeks before he woke up and was able to report who he was. (no dog tags were on him) - The Army had already notified his mother saying he had been killed in action. (His platoon leader had seen the RPG hit him and he saw the amount of blood, and in the heat of the battle, was not able to check him to verify his death, and assumed no one would be able to survive the wound, so he had reported him as KIA) - He said his mama was so excited when he called her that they were both crying like babies. It just was not his time....He went on to marry and have 2 kids, so you have to think God has a destiny for his kid(s), for him to be spared in that encounter. I was stationed in Germany with him in 1985 which is where I learned of it from him. He was going to retire about a month after my DEROS. I saw him only once after that. Him and his girlfriend (He had divorced from his wife) stopped at my house for a short visit on their way west from Kentucky for a vacation to Arizona. He has since passed away from cancer. SFC Harold Hines - RIP
@@relytunderOK first off. Goddamn that's fucked up. Second off, that's actually a possibility considering all the Carcinogens in the propellant and warhead. Third, even if it did the government would probably say "Not service related" F*cking pricks.
With all due respect in order to that man, taking a rocket to the shoulder and surviving to tell the story; dude was an absolute fucking legend. Simply no better way to put it.
i can do absolutely nothing but to bow before that man, at risk of sounding like a mean asshole, that is one lucky son of a b!tch. To dance with lady death and tell the story, that ain't no minor feat
The movie was, basically, accurate. One of the KIA from that battle: Pfc. Richard Wayne Kowalewski Jr. (March 31, 1973 - October 3, 1993) was a U.S. Army Ranger who served in Mogadishu, Somalia. He was one of the 18 -casualties- (they mean KIA, casualties include WIA, and anyone unaccounted for after action) of The Battle of Mogadishu, and noted for being killed instantly when a round from a Rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) shot through the cabin of the 5 ton truck he was driving, which was part of the main ground convoy, severing his left arm and lodging into his torso.
Something similar also happened to the Delta operator Tim Martin, which I believe was also shown in the movie. He took a direct hit to the hip, which effectively had blown away most of his pelvis. I think in Martin’s case, however, the rocket had already detonated when striking the side of the Humvee that he was riding in.
@@TheSky1ark It's one of those where the meaning just changed overtime because more people use it than the original. Rocket Propelled Grenade is more accurate anyway since they made rockets for other purposes than anti tank for it.
Sky, you should know something about Wittgenstein's rule following paradox. Conventions dictate the rules, which dictate the conventions...etc...And we now, conventionally, refer to these as RPGs auf Englisch.....of course the paradox is you can now create any convention you'd like because there is no meta-rule for how or which conventions dictate the rules....Just by passing philosophy (of language...many sub-fields in philosophy)@@TheSky1ark
I love that Brandon’s reaction after hitting the torso with the RPG is the exact same reaction he would have when direct impacting someone with an RPG on cod. “GET FUCKED NERD”
Fortunately, I did not have the displeasure of being shot at by one of these during my own deployment, but I do have my own little RPG story: My unit inhabited an old, concrete-walled Soviet hanger at Bagram. There was an RPG hole in the wall, maybe 18" diameter and 24" deep, complete with the fins and exhaust nozzle of the RPG still stuck in the hole. Somebody before me tried to put a lasso on the fins (to get them down, presumably with the intent to get a souvenir), but only succeeded in breaking his rope. Walking passed that everyday made it explicitly clear in my mind that I never wanted to be on the receiving end of one of those.
wait if the fins and rocket were still stuck in there, there's a good chance the warhead didn't detonate to blow them back out. Someone was trying to pull an old RPG dud out of the wall with a rope? 😱
@@DeadBaron The RPG uses a shaped charge, so the majority of the blast is in the forward direction, so the blast wasn't enough to completely overcome the forward momentum of the tail section. It's also possible the rocket was still thrusting at time of detonation. The hole was obviously created by that blast, and it was clearly visible that the tail section did not have the grenade still attached, and you could see into the hole well enough to tell there wasn't a dud in there, as there was a lower roof section of the hanger that was offset from the hole that gave a better view than on the ground, was it was still offset far enough that reaching over to it was impossible. I have a photograph (pre-digital) of it somewhere.
In the first Chechen war at the end of 90s, there was an occasion when a 40mm grenade from a gp25 hit a solider's head and stuck in his brain. A special surgical team managed to pull it off, handle to the sappers and save the solider's life. It's unknown how bad was a life for the guy afterwards, though
@@AspiringSpaceWizardДорогой друг хочу посоветовать вам посмотреть русского блогера.Крупнокалиберный переполох там мы стреляем из всех видов оружия даже танков и Бм 21 град.пушки 152мм гранатомёты и много другого оружия.и стреляем боевыми зарядами! Просто посмотри дорогой мой друг. И приглашаю вас в гости в Россию!!
When I was in Somalia in 93. A UN pickup was hit in the driver door by an rpg. The round never detonated. You could see the button from the nose imprinted into the door. The thing that was always odd to me where the shrapnel marks left around the impact site on the door. For 30 years I've thought about that mystery. I now know it was the stabilization fins. Thank you 30 year old puzzle salved. 1/22 Inf. Bat.
(Content warning-Contains autopsy photos) There is a research paper called “Deadly injuries through recoilless anti-tank weapons while military shooting practice-two case studies from Germany and Switzerland” that shows what the back-blast of a weapon SIMILAR to a RPG-7 does to an unfortunate Swiss man. (Weapon is a RL-83 Blindicide, essentially an upgraded version of the bazooka) BE AWARE-AS STATED ABOVE, THE AUTOPSY PHOTOS ARE VERY GRUESOME-VIEW AT YOUR OWN PERIL!
@@arturmalinowski4821 😅... I guess that's what happens when you skim read posts and get overly excited about sharing information related to the topic. 👍 I do agree that it would be interesting to see what backblast will do to a ballistic torso.
@Jason7.62x39nope, there's NO arming distance on the siviet/Russian rpg-7 warhead. The ONLY safety on a standard anti armour or anti infantry round is a PLASTIC cap that covers the impact detonator on the tip. I watched a guy running from an alleyway to a piece of cover and his was loaded and (like maot middle eastern rpg users, the safety plastic was already removed) he slipped on a rock stacking it as we were shooting at him with a 50 and the tip of the warhead hit the ground and he just... DISAPPEARED into pink mist. Followed by 3 more explosions as the 3 warheads in the shoulder bag he had slung over his shoulder hit the ground. The majority of rpg-7 rounds that don't go off are because the plastic safety cap hadn't been removed. The is of course the issue of the fuse having been damaged or waterlogged as annother option. There is however on most warheads a maximum travel distance on the warhead of about 2200yards or so (varies depending on which warhead you use given some rpgs have the rocket motor and the rpg 2 style blackpowder launch charge, some have simply the launch charge.) you can use them as airburst rounds to engage targets behind cover if you know the range.
@@bentoffsoju the Forgotten Weapons video on the rpg7 goes into detail on how the impact fuses work, similarly theres a fair few training manuals out there that give you a breakdown of the most common warheads out there.
I think it was a bit of a missed opportunity not seeing how much damage the back-blast does to a ballistic dummy. I hope u could test it sometime in the future.
@@AnimatedCardboard That makes sense, but I feel like u could do a reverse loophole where they made a wall with a hole just big enough for the exhaust end to stick through.
This was sorta referenced in the video, but there's actually a viral photo out there of a soldier with an unexploded RPG in his leg. The guy I believe survived and the surgeon working on him who took it out said he was praying the whole time and thanks God that it didn't explode.
As a combat veteran I have had a couple of RPGs fired at me and my battle buddies. Most of the time the enemy forgets to pull the pin on the grenade. We have had RPGs embedded in connexes, port a John’s and vehicles. Fun times Mosul, Iraq 🇮🇶 2004
While I'm a vet (Cold War era, 19K) I worked as a contractor in Iraq for about 5 years starting in 2004 as a Flatbed Driver with TTM on Logcap. Many a time our guys came back with RPGs sticking out of connexes like lawn darts.
Существует осколочные гранаты для рпг-7 и они достаточно редкие, особенно за пределами бывшего союза. И в тебя стреляли не ими, иначе бы ты не написал это комментарий😂.
@@williamflowers9435 It is a commonly-held belief, however the RPG-7 has no priming distance. As soon as the trigger on the end of the warhead is depressed, the warhead detonates; the rocket doesn't even need to be fired from the RPG-7 to detonate, hence why the warhead has a safety cap secured over the trigger. It does take some force to depress the trigger, more so than the warhead experiences accelerating when fired, but less so than the weight of the warhead itself. This may sound contradictory at first - the warhead accelerates at a tremendous rate, so the force acting on the warhead is huge - but during propulsion the only forces trying to depress the trigger are from the acceleration force acing on the mass of the sprung tip of the trigger (which is light by design to minimise this force) and the air resistance acting on the small frontal surface area of the trigger tip, both of which together form a very small force (relatively speaking). Funnily enough, the misconception of the forces acting on the trigger in flight is actually where the myth of the RPG-7 having a priming distance arises from.
I just want to make it clear; the fact that Brandon spent 3 decent monthly wages to get a good hit, is highly appreciated. The banter afterwards, was just *chef’s kiss* Fuck, do I love this channel!
Crazy that it went through. My dad was EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) during Somalia, and he had to defuse an unexploded RPG round that was sticking out of a soldier's chest, before they could send the body to the casualty collection site. Maybe all the gear kept the RPG from going through his body, and instead getting lodged into the the chest cavity
I’m glad he mentioned the movie Black Hawk Down. That movie had a few RPG kills. Like the soldier who drove a truck ( not a humvee ) and got impelled through the door and the side of his torso and stayed there without detonating. The other scene, was the RPG exploded and knocked a soldier of a flat bed truck with half of his body gone. The explosion blew off half of his body. Thank you Brandon for this video!
You know what would have made this even cooler? Getting ballistic high-speed to do a collab on this. They're breakdowns at 250,000 frames a second are amazing. #akgnotificationsquad
I don't want to see the slow-mo of a rocket propelled grenade performing abdominal replacement surgery, even if it is on a lifeless dummy. Just watching the video from 8:20 forward makes me hurt.
@@prdurnion83 fully disagreed. Did you see that 50cal against bullet proof glass? Shockwaves emanated out, and somehow also came in from the outside in a sort of resonance. It would be interesting to watch a simulacrum of a person.
The scene from Black Hawk Down was inspired by the real life incident where one of the soldiers who died died from direct impact of an unexploded RPG. It's possible, based on the original report, that the impact was under the arming distance of the rocket which would be why it didn't explode on hitting the Humvee either, despite managing to penetrate it with sheer KE.
If it really went through the door in the actual incident, I can well believe that. A squishy human body not providing enough resistance to trigger the detonator is one thing, a steel door not doing so is another, and IIRC that nightmare was extremely close-ranged, would very likely be within the 30 foot arming distance.
@@WJS774 I'm basing my info off of the book which I assume to be mostly accurate, as it's not, strictly speaking, a work of fiction or a dramatization. I haven't read the incident reports or other news from the event but I assume a claim like that would have been easily refuted and AFAIK it wasn't.
@@APS_Inc according to an unclassified field document "iraq small arms handbook", the rpg 7 has an arming distance of 3-15 meters. HEAT warheads have a "self destruct" after 2.5-4 seconds, theyre lucky.
I'm seeing a lot of comments of people that served or friends that did and had encounters with these. I couldn't even imagine. Thank you all for your service.
My uncle took a RPG to the abdomen while he was deployed, it didn't detonate but instead split him open. The pack on his back held him from completely opening up, and he made a full recovery. The scar he wears looks insane though, he is an amazing tough man and has a purple heart and other medals he took home as well @BrandonHerrera
@@ivanmonahhov2314expect it's not. It fires a recoilless charge to get it out of the launcher. Then fires a rocket motor to accelerate to target. That's what makes these rounds so expensive, it's extremely hard to import even inert warheads because of the rocket motor.
@@ivanmonahhov2314 its a firearm that is a recoilless launcher that shoots a rocket propelled grenade, in the romanized/latin character version of the russian words, RPG is literally an acronym for rocket propelled grenade. But this does show you have zero sense of humor and are in fact a dunce. He is a rocket scientist, now. Take your hat and sit in the corner.
Thanks Not-Eli. Thankyou for your service. Brandon that was so much fun to watch. You guys were infectiously happy. Yes, expensive, but totally worth it. I appreciate your rocket science ❤ #akgnotificationsquad
I fired the M80 Zolja during my army training, used the integrated plastic sights The device was very accurate, hit exactly where I was aiming at a distance of around 240m That said, I think the scope on your RPG was not zeroed properly, or the training rocket was heavier than the live ordnance
The crazy and morbid part is that if you are close and it doesnt explode, it continues to push threw you do to rocket propulsion, unlike a bullet that slows down almost instantly after leaving the barrel.
because itself cauterizes the wound that would be to inflict more pain before you actually should come to your injuries now I've got 3rd degree burns on 30% of my body I know what that felt like I couldn't imagine having internal organs cauterized
Thanks for watching guys! This was probably the most expensive video we’ve done to date, so I hope you guys enjoy! Should we do this again? What should we shoot? Let me know in the comments!
Thanks to SDI! Again, it’s SDI.edu for more info!
WHERE AK-50 (EDIT) lol this is my most liked comment on a Brandon Herrera Video !!!
#akgnotificationsquad
I love you
🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷
brandon what have you done
I worked with a guy that only had two bad days in his life. The first was on his first tour of Vietnam where he got hit. The second bad day was after recovering and getting sent back to Vietnam, when he was hit in the head by an RPG. He was definitely messed up, his eyes didn't align, and he walked with a weird limp, in his words "they couldn't kill me with a gun so they tried something a little heavier." Greatest guy to work with ever.
How the hell do you survive a RPG to the head?
@@leonrussell9607 he said hit in the head by an RPG.
not the rocket
*an RPG*
@@ThatGuyRBYkinda make sense, why would they spend a valuable rocket just to kill 1 man where you can just smack his head with an RPG...and i think they did it because they never knew what's a baseball bat
Ok kid 😂 funny as fuck you cod players
@@ALX_6.11I think it’s called the Afghanistan Bat…
As a human with a torso, I can vouch that this would hurt
It only hurts for a couple of seconds.
Fr
It happened once, I believe an Italian Lt. Col. Had to operate on the guy in a field covered by hesco barriers.
@@jeremybutler2578for about 0.00000001 seconds before you meet jesus
When RPG impacts Chuck Norris' abs, it doesn't explode or penetetrate: it bounces off.
Drive tanks: “here’s your rpg-7 each round is $3500, aim carefully”
Brandon: “is it sighted in”
Drive tanks: “aim carefully”
Drive Tanks: Damn bro. You missed again. Guess you have to buy another shot.
"Git gud, no0b"
Which is extra funny because you can sight in RPG-7 with 7.62 rounds.
@@laz272727 Bullet launcher?
@@KenTakakura666Yeah, training "rocket" shoots 7.62 with the same trajectory the missiles would take.
"Don't stand in front of an RPG, or behind it. Hey, maybe that's a future video?" Well look how that turned out, Brandon. Shoutout to Adam from BallisticHighSpeed for surviving an RPG detonation on his face!
Heck of a thing he went through, glad he's still with us, and handling it well.
Retired East European RPG instructor here. Fun fact: When training, we would make soldiers sprint to shooting position in order to make sure they were tired AF when they shoot. First, it simulated (to a degree) combat fatigue. Second, it almost guaranteed them breathing through their mouths. It is a safety precaution to keep your mouth open when shooting RPG in order to quicker equalize pressure in your skull when you shoot. If you keep your mouth shut you risk having your eardrums blown. The power of sound wave emitted by RPG is something video will never be able to show.
I remember being taught to keep my mouth open while firing the Carl Gustav. We also used ear plugs under our ear muffs.
You dont need it outside, but once you are in enclosed anything -- it will save your ears.
.50 cals in enclosed environments can do the same thing.
"Eustachian tube malfunction," is what it's officially called, just from explosions instead of disease.
Oooo yeah, good point there
@@formdoggie5trust me bro, you need to open your mouth outside too.. it is better for your years.
GooD demonstration
Forgetting to pull the arming pin was actually common when I was in Iraq back in 2007. Had a guy fire a round at our Bradley IFV which acted as our gate on the compound. Flew over the Bradley and went straight towards where our 2 fuel trucks were. Slammed into the wall after passing right between them and just fell. The collective thoughts of everyone who saw it happened went from (shot) "wtf was..." (RPG flies by) "oh!!!" (Heads towards fuel trucks) "OH SHIT!!!!" (SLAMS wall and falls) "DAFAQ!?"
Maintenance NCO went and picked it up and just yells.
"Dumbass forgot to arm it!"
Good times...
Sounds like just about any maintenance personnel lol
LMAO
We just made different lmao
"Maintenance NCO went and picked it up and just yells.
'Dumbass forgot to arm it!"'" I applaud his massive fucking balls to check a UXO next to two rolling bombs. God only knows where his brain was at the time!
On the other hand I heard stories of I think it was the afghani who had the pins removed ALWAYS. Not too great when you're running into position and take a tumble...
My brother was physically hit by an RPG during his time in Iraq (Royal Marine), it did not go off since the enemy hadn't pulled the safety pin, and luckily it had mostly just grazed his skin before imbedding into the ground so didn't need much in the way of medical treatment but he still has his uniform he was wearing with the massive rip and burn marks along the back.
Only a Royal Marine is tough enough to shrug off an RPG.
“Safety pin wasn’t pulled out” Yeah I’m sure that’s how they explained it. We know the truth though, which is he shrugged off a full fucking shaped charge.
if the pin wasnt pulled out, free rpg fellas
@@thesupremeduck Can you imagine the brickwork that would be laid the instant those guys pick up the rocket, pull the pin, and just hurl it like a rugby ball at them? xD
@@camobranson09HAIL MARRY
thats an impressive safety
The most badass thing 10:44 Thank you for your service 😂
And the craziest part of this video is that even an rpg7 can't blow the lungs out the back of a human body... 9mm truly is an amazing round.
Describe America in one word
@@RoflcopterLamo frturganerftf
@@RoflcopterLamo “Asafootefootehuh-excuse me.”
Come on man!
So Vicious and potent for such a small round that can be in hand guns to besides amazing truly
He actually did it, that crazy MF ACTUALLY did it.
Breakdowns, meme review, darwin awards, AK-50, RPG-7, undefeated boxer, AND congress? Brandon is the GOAT of all guntubers hands down.
And undefeated boxer, can't forget that one. Lol
Goat of American guntubers*
Not a Congressman yet
@@MrSwccguywell, let's make it happen, boys!
@@thatrooper1567Amen!
An officer in the Scots Guards took one to the chest in Iraq. It hit his plate carrier, knocked him over backwards then detonated on the hatch of the armoured vehicle he was commanding. The blast deflected over the top of him. He promptly sat back up and returned fire, at which point the enemy unit ran for it, presumably assuming they were engaging some sort of terminator.
Holy heII, it was not his time to go. 💯❤️ I also wouldn't have wanted to wash his underwear after that. Probably just throw them out 😮😅
What a story to tell the grandkids.
Rule 1 of combat - If you can make the enemy think they are fighting a terminator, you have already won.
holy shit you aren’t kidding. he’s
Lt David Robertson, and while he doesn’t mention returning fire at the taliban, i still choose to believe he did tho lol
Terminator or a run of the mill, standard middle of the road Scotsman
imagine it from their POV, you nail a guy with a rocket, he shrugs it off like a chad and now he's pissed off and shooting back at you, I'd run too
Plot twist: Eli miraculously survived and years later plotted his revenge, hunting down each member of the crew with ruthless efficiency and brutality only a ballistics dummy can muster.
$14k (just in ammo) for a video that is SURE to be demonetized? Brandon is doing the Lord’s work here.
I mean this is technically educational so it might be monetized
if you use the vidIQ extension, you can see if a video is monitized or not (I'd tell you, but im at school)
he can just write it off as a campaign expense
@@irirjhrhr4645 Technically he do not even knows what RPG stands for -> Ręczny Przeciwpancerny Granatnik(hand held=(R) anty armor=(P) grenade launcher(G) and the "rocket" is called "grenade"... it is most of the time PG-7v -> Przeciwpancerny Granat(anty-armor grenade)-7v.
And it is not a rocket because it is leaving the launcher without help of rocket engine... it is pushed out by a small charge -> that is why rocket engine is not seting Brandon long hair in fire(as would be the case if that was a real rocket(like in German: Raketenpanzerbüchse Panzerschreck)...
@@Bialy_1you put the G in LGBTQ don’t you?
As fun as this is to watch, one can only imagine the joy Brandon felt that day
I'm jealous.
Eli’s flashback was both funny and concerning.
Brandon:"It's recoilless."
The guy directly behind you, and 30 feet in the air: "The hell it is!"
safety violation..he didnt say back blast clear and check behind him before he fired
@@tobordabotred card
@@tobordabotrule of thumb, don't stand behind the guy with the RPG and expect adequate warning that it's about to fire
@@onefastgmc got it thanks
As a medic in the NG my brother saw what those did to our soldiers (his best friend was taken out by one in Afghanistan in 2011) and obviously everyone he picked up was KIA or close to it😞 but he always wondered if the enemy was say…250 meters away if it was just a lucky shot or what. I just turned him on to your channel (which I love) Thanks for the demo 🤙
Back in '68, while I was stationed at Bethesda Naval Hospital, there was a medal award ceremony for a doctor who removed a live RPG from a Marine in Vietnam, so yeah, it happened in real life.
Prove it or dont talk kid
@@leonardhpls6maybe just look it up? Who knows what if he is telling the truth? There’s been similar incidents
There was a similar incident, but it happened in Afghanistan/Iraq
@@leonardhpls6 Table 1 of the article "Removal of Unexploded Ordnance from Patients: A 50-Year Military
Experience and Current Recommendations" published in Military Medicine in 1999 shows two live RPGs having been removed in Vietnam from patients who survived, one on 1JAN68 and the other on 15AUG69. There were 2 similar cases listed from Vietnam but they didn't survive. Then there's also the case of CPL Winder Perez, who took an RPG in the leg in Afghanistan....not only did he survive the removal, he kept his leg.
@@leonardhpls6plenty of stories of this, so I wouldn’t just discredit someones comment on the subject
My experience with the RPG-7 comes from Operation Iraqi Freedom 2003. Had several fired at me and my tank, including one flying roughly one Brandon arm length from my head. 4 minutes in, and I've already gotta clean my screen. 8 minutes in, and I'm having flashbacks. This video is a ride! Thank you, Mr. Herrera, and may you get ALL the votes!
Never though I’d see Brandon’s arm being a unit of measurement🤣
@@Milspec_ChrisWell if he makes congress, he should change the system of measurement to "Herreras" 😂.
"one Brandon arm length"
You gona use anything, but the metrics, dont you? Ф
@Pechenegus, unless someone using the metric system made it to the moon first, then maybe
@@Milspec_Chris Fuck the metric system
My Gunnery Sergeant was a gunner on a 7-ton during a convoy in Iraq. They were ambushed and an RPG bounced off the back plate of his armored turret. Scared the ever living shit out of him
He has PTSD and it’s triggered by loud metallic banging noises. It always takes him back to the memory of him cheating death.
I was playing squad with some middle aged tank commander guy and when an rpg bounced off our abrams turret he started talking about how the sound design was really good and it sounded just like that but his mood did a complete 180 and he started getting very agitated and it sounded like he was about to cry. I do not think milsims are the best type of game to play if you get flashbacks from your time in deployment. I'm not gonna lie
@@rod2662 Actually its called desensitizing.
Having the same experience but in a "safe" or even fun environment can help to mitigate the PTSD trigger and experience.
Also being able to talk about it also shown to help.
@@rod2662 yeah it will make him feel agitated at first but the idea is if he keeps exposing himself to it, itll eventually start to lose its effect as his brain starts to learn that hes not in danger anymore when he hears the sound, could suck in the moment for sure but could be a good way to try to get past the events
@@rod2662sounds more like that guy was just some power spaz who missed nap time.
No one with military related PTSD is playing military simulation games.
@@zyourzgrandzmaz that is a negative ghost rider... I have several buddies who did tours that really gave them some nightmares. They continue to play Arma, Ready or not and many other FPS/War sim games. For the EXACT reason @givemeanameman1 mentions
Hope you all are aware of what happened to Adam with highspeed ballistic. Wish him a speedy recovery.
Yeah that was surprising and scary shit
@Kcal556 their channel was some of the best guntuber content out there. The slo mo guys of guns has so much potential.
tradety aside not to diminish it but there's is so much learning potential here. All test done with explosives and firearms, etc, are done with ballistic analogs. This is most likely the very first time an explosion was caught on highspeed with an actual human body with multiple highspeed angles to bat. Even more so adam was wearing a ballistic helmet and a plate carrier [which probably saved his life) for the first time we might be able to analyze and watch in highspeed the effects of shrapnel, burns to a human body not a ballistic gel analog. Adam has said he wants to return to the channel. So we as a group need to help his recovery in anyway we can. It was a terrible event that shouldn't have happened but it did and would be even worse if we didn't have the opportunity to learn from it.
can u link it please i want to watch it
No, I'm not aware, what happened? Is he okay?
what did hhappen?
1st 23rd Infantry "Tomahawks" had an Lt that was hit in the chest with an RPG7. He survived as it impacted at an angle and deflected... his SAPI plate shattered, and his ribs and sternum were broken. His vest is still on display in the units war room.
No spinal damages or Traumatic Brain Injury?
Thanks for sharing that very cool info!
YO I haven't heard of that! there's also a diff case of RPG incident where the warhead of the RPG is impaled to a soldier's leg, flown back medivac, and got documented with a photo journalist.
@reanukeevesau no, as far as I know, he didn't suffer anything permanent. However, I didn't meet him personally... I'm not certain, but it either happened 04-05, or the 06-07 deployment. I got to the unit a couple months after the 06-07 deployment, and then deployed 09-10...
That Lt needs to get a lottery ticket.
"Testing the RPG-7 on the human body" this is ABSOLUTELY the type of person we need in congress
Absolutely!
Maybe the DoD will bring him along to weapons tests due to his "experience."
IS: hold my goatmilk
He'll have the first bill with 435 co-sponsors.
If I get a chance I'm writing his name in every box.....in indiana.
I had a military buddy who unfortunately got blasted by a RPG. Hit the ground next to him and spilt his leg and body vertically about 4-5inches deep on his right side. He survived and actually still works out and runs. He has a scar from his ankle all the way to his neck and parts of his face and eye.
Holy shit.
Lucky man, tough mf
He lived, died, and lived again. This man is more than human.
God damn. Dude is tougher than rawhide. What a story.
What a stud
"Stains my cloths everytime and I still touch it" - brandon
haha love brandon 😆
My G-Wagon got hit with a direct RPG shot to the drivers side window in a late night ambush on Highway 1 just outside of Kandahar in 2006. It pushed the armored window in about 5-6 inches. All of us in the car are lucky to be here, especially the driver and the crew commander (our Platoon commander). We reckon we survived because it takes about 40m to arm the warhead. Its was a direct hit but not an explosive one, much like what you saw happenen to the dummy. Everyday I walk this earth I’m grateful to be here.
The most disgusting part is that our higher ups were using us as bait. Effin pricks.
40m is the distance but it takes 14 revolutions or the warhead to arm
You and all of us were used as bait by default. It is called tactical engagement and combat.
1 PPCLI BG (TF Orion) or the RCR BG afterwards?
were they Farquads?
"some of you might lose their lives, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make" - Lord Farquad (from Shrek)
@@1-501Infantry I thought the RPG-7 Warhead didn't have an arming distance? I've heard Brandon talk about the safety cap being the only drop safety for the warhead detonator on Darwin Awards. To my knowledge there have been several people killed due to tripping while running with an uncapped RPG, and im pretty sure i learned that on this channel
Came for the Brandon, stayed for the Herrera
That's gai, u gai
haha came
Came FOR Brandon
i think we all came for the brandon
I came too
Brandon is not doing side quests anymore, he's achievement hunting now.
LETS GO BRANDON!
0:50 “its what you use if your terrible with a sniper rifle” that is so true it got me rolling
I am sadly on of those people but it’s so true, lmao
My friend Johnathan Roy Kephart died from a wound inflicted by an RPG7 to the back of his neck, it didn't explode, he bled to death on the tunnel of the HMMWV under his gunner position. They instituted a back shield for the turrets after he died. Very sad, that was 20yrs ago in Iraq. He was good guy, we both served in the 230th MPco.
We grieve with thee. And for ALL the good men lost in war...
If it was maybe a few inches higher it would’ve been very overkill considering headshot via a rocket launcher
Geez 21 years old too:( sorry for your loss even after all of these years.
Dammmmm that’s very painful worst way to go sorry man 😢
RIP, but goddamn what a way to go out, as an absolute Chad
Seeing Brandon's adrenalin quick in when first shooting the RPG makes me so happy. Even an experience guntuber like himself can still get jitters when holding a boom cannon
Aww did he make you happy kiddo😂
@@leonardhpls6 u father will soon be back from getting cigarettes dont worry
I know it’s crazy expensive. But a back blast test would be amazing to watch
Could've combined those to save some cash :)
@@BoraHorzaGobuchul The dummies are also like $3k too lol
@@alexithymia6288
A plywood cutout would have been informitive enough.
@@calvingreene90 Nah we need to see the blood go everywhere from the massive burn hole
I was just thinking about that!!
American blogger: I can't find the projectile from the RPG-7.
Russian blogger: Today we will shoot or Javelin.
Matt gets mp7, Brandon gets rpg-7. They are not the same
Once can get ammo, one cannot. Who’s smarter now?
@@jimmylarge1148tell that to Shinzo Abe
good enough for a birthday...well, I shot something-7
Now all they need is to get their hands on the IS-7
Now they need a m106 attachable rocket launcher attached to another m106 rocket launcher attached to a rocket launcher
I have never laughed so hard at Nam flashback and its an actual veteran who's actually seen squad members die, I am so sorry Eli. Love you buddy, thank you for what you and the rest went through.
what i like about brandon's videos is that they're all content. the videos aren't dragged out for ages only for the action to be right at the end, all he does is talk a little bit about what he's gonna do and then he goes straight to actually doing it. very few youtubers do that
Hey aubrey
Just appreciating how I’m correctly watching this on holiday in Bulgaria approximately 9 miles away form the factory that made those rockets 👌
There was a Marine or Soldier that had an RPG lodge in his upper leg or hip. When the guy got to the triage center, yeah, they wheeled his gurney doown a dirt path and around a berm. An enterprising photographer took a shot of him lying there, the EOD tech working on the warhead, and the facility's head nurse, a male O-5(Lt. Colonel or Commander), calmly caring for his charge. He wouldn't leave his patient. "Greater love hath no man..."
The EOD tech was SSG Ben Summerfield.
He was a Captain with the 11th USMC MEU (SOC) in 2004/2005 leading an ANGLICO team. The RPG hit him in Fallujah II in the upper thigh and embedded. Less than a year later, with about 1/3 of his thigh missing, he ran a sub 18 minute 3 mile run and maxed out his PFT. Hard as nails.
My wife cries all the time when people die in the stupid mysteries that she reads. This kind of thing is what makes me tear up. As long as our society keeps making men like this we have a chance.
"...that he layeth down his life for a friend"
A pistol on every hip, a rifle in every home and a RPG in every basement.
Just as the Founding Fathers intended.
Absolutely!
2A all the way
Pistol for close range
Rifle for long range
Rocket launcher for fun
It wasn’t in his torso, but in 2012 Cpl Winder Perez was fighting in Afghanistan when he was shot by an RPG without it detonating. The medical team risked their own lives to so save Perez, going against protocol & bringing/transporting live ordinance onto a chopper. Where they met Col. James Gennari & Sgt. Ben Summerfield & they carefully removed the RPG from Perez’s leg, saving his life.
That defiantly came to mind when branden said lodged in a person
This happened while I was there. Since the medical compound on Camp D was just down the road from the logistics office, a few of my friends were advised shelter in place. They just sat back and watched a movie.
Some brave doctors and nurses!
They reenacted this in Act of Valor I believe.
Damn
Imagine some kid sneaks into the shooting range and he sees this guy holding his rpg 7 next to a tank💀
As a retired Army EOD tech...it has happened a few times...a friend of mine removed an OG7 from a guy with a Navy Doc. Look it up...His name is Benjamin Summerfield.
Lance Corporal Winder Perez😉
Do they ever detonate after hitting a person?
Mad respect to the human who offered their body in the name of science, true dedication
Rest in piece to that man
A hero some would say 😞
Interesting how this gets uploaded right after i saw a clip from Black Hawk Down, where a US soldier gets an RPG-7 warhead stuck in his torso.... Brutal shit man.
Waltuh
I see you everywhere
« Don’t try this at home »
Like we have an rpg-7 in our basement 💀
The calm, yet menacing "get back here" as he chased the guy down at full velocity was truly horrifying.
that's elidoubletap and he's fucking hilarious
If you have an SOT and an FEL you can absolutely have HE and shape charge warheads. You just keep the parts separate until you want to manufacture and subsequently destroy them. You only need to declare them to the ATF if they exist for an entire day. So if you put it together and then immediately launch it then there is nothing to declare, because you cant declare something that no longer exists.
Good luck getting someone to sell that shit to you
@@Airondotyeah I’m pretty sure you would need to have some form of direct demolitions license to purchase those kinds of explosives to manufacture the heads
@@cooperhughes2659HAHAHAHHAHAHHAAHHAHAH
Meet the demo man😂
Shi or u can just have friends, aka cartel
Nice. As ex soldier of polish army, i know that feeling, i was shooting original russian RPG-7 (rgppanc-7 in polish army) with PGO-7 optic site in 2007. I remember first shot stunned me just like you. This rocket granate launcher is literally Kalash (or as you call them AKs) among granate launchers.
"Guys guys look its in his torso lets take out the VERY LIFE RPG-7 rocket" "that doesnt-" "DO IT" "ok?" (Oh thats why they didnt post for the past 4 years
Another reason why it might not go off is due to it not having enough time & distance to fully arm between the time it was fired and when it impacts the target. This happened several times when I was in Afghanistan…the rocket was placed to close to the road and the rocket couldn’t fully arm and left the vehicle with a dent in its rim and a split open pissed off rocket on the ground nearby.
We had that happen once it literally bounced off the hood and flew like 100 yards away from us then exploded. Me and my driver just looked at each other like 0.0.
One thing I don't understand though: RPG rockets are supposed to selfdestruct after they hit around 950m of travel. If it lodges in you, wouldn't it just detonate after a while? Or does it not self destruct if it wasn't armed in the first place?
@@PistaZOV the rocket determines how far it has gone based on the number of times it has spun. So if it isn't moving it won't self-destruct in that way.
@@PistaZOVsomeone correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure it "keeps track" of how far it's traveled by how many times it has rotated. So if it stops rotating then it shouldn't explode
Hahaha sounds like Allah took your side in the dispute
Great to see Eli coming out for some rpg bullshittery and PTSD jokes, would love to see him come on the channel more often as a "involuntary target" xD
When he took off running I was like it's fucking eli..!!!!
An Army buddy took an RPG to the upper right shoulder and chest when he was in Viet Nam. His platoon leader reported him KIA as the rest of the squad evacuated under heavy fire and had to leave him. Later, when the recovery was made, they found him still alive.....He was in the hospital for 2 weeks before he woke up and was able to report who he was. (no dog tags were on him) - The Army had already notified his mother saying he had been killed in action. (His platoon leader had seen the RPG hit him and he saw the amount of blood, and in the heat of the battle, was not able to check him to verify his death, and assumed no one would be able to survive the wound, so he had reported him as KIA) - He said his mama was so excited when he called her that they were both crying like babies. It just was not his time....He went on to marry and have 2 kids, so you have to think God has a destiny for his kid(s), for him to be spared in that encounter.
I was stationed in Germany with him in 1985 which is where I learned of it from him. He was going to retire about a month after my DEROS. I saw him only once after that. Him and his girlfriend (He had divorced from his wife) stopped at my house for a short visit on their way west from Kentucky for a vacation to Arizona.
He has since passed away from cancer.
SFC Harold Hines - RIP
damn. RPG gave him cancer.
@@relytunderOK first off. Goddamn that's fucked up. Second off, that's actually a possibility considering all the Carcinogens in the propellant and warhead. Third, even if it did the government would probably say "Not service related" F*cking pricks.
@@relytunderlol it was probably agent orange
With all due respect in order to that man, taking a rocket to the shoulder and surviving to tell the story; dude was an absolute fucking legend. Simply no better way to put it.
i can do absolutely nothing but to bow before that man, at risk of sounding like a mean asshole, that is one lucky son of a b!tch. To dance with lady death and tell the story, that ain't no minor feat
Never thought I'd see Aquaman shooting a ballistic dummy with an RPG but here we are
That's not Aquaman, that's Ronon from Stargate: Atlantis.
@@WindowLickingDeer looks like aqua man to me but ok
Considering that we weren't the ones to spend about $15k, I agree. Well worth the rockets. 🤣
The movie was, basically, accurate. One of the KIA from that battle:
Pfc. Richard Wayne Kowalewski Jr. (March 31, 1973 - October 3, 1993) was a U.S. Army Ranger who served in Mogadishu, Somalia. He was one of the 18 -casualties- (they mean KIA, casualties include WIA, and anyone unaccounted for after action) of The Battle of Mogadishu, and noted for being killed instantly when a round from a Rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) shot through the cabin of the 5 ton truck he was driving, which was part of the main ground convoy, severing his left arm and lodging into his torso.
BTW, "RPG" is not "rocket-propelled granade", it's "Ruchnoy Protivotankoviy Granatomyot"- "Hand-carried Anti-tank Granadelauncher".
Just bypassing Russian. 😊
Something similar also happened to the Delta operator Tim Martin, which I believe was also shown in the movie. He took a direct hit to the hip, which effectively had blown away most of his pelvis. I think in Martin’s case, however, the rocket had already detonated when striking the side of the Humvee that he was riding in.
@@TheSky1ark
No, it's both.
@@TheSky1ark It's one of those where the meaning just changed overtime because more people use it than the original. Rocket Propelled Grenade is more accurate anyway since they made rockets for other purposes than anti tank for it.
Sky, you should know something about Wittgenstein's rule following paradox. Conventions dictate the rules, which dictate the conventions...etc...And we now, conventionally, refer to these as RPGs auf Englisch.....of course the paradox is you can now create any convention you'd like because there is no meta-rule for how or which conventions dictate the rules....Just by passing philosophy (of language...many sub-fields in philosophy)@@TheSky1ark
I love that Brandon’s reaction after hitting the torso with the RPG is the exact same reaction he would have when direct impacting someone with an RPG on cod. “GET FUCKED NERD”
This is the best congressional campaign ad I've ever seen
I have used these exact words in CoD doing the exact same thing.
Missed the opportunity to yell "BACKBLAST CLEAR"😂
Fortunately, I did not have the displeasure of being shot at by one of these during my own deployment, but I do have my own little RPG story:
My unit inhabited an old, concrete-walled Soviet hanger at Bagram. There was an RPG hole in the wall, maybe 18" diameter and 24" deep, complete with the fins and exhaust nozzle of the RPG still stuck in the hole. Somebody before me tried to put a lasso on the fins (to get them down, presumably with the intent to get a souvenir), but only succeeded in breaking his rope. Walking passed that everyday made it explicitly clear in my mind that I never wanted to be on the receiving end of one of those.
wait if the fins and rocket were still stuck in there, there's a good chance the warhead didn't detonate to blow them back out. Someone was trying to pull an old RPG dud out of the wall with a rope? 😱
@@DeadBaron The RPG uses a shaped charge, so the majority of the blast is in the forward direction, so the blast wasn't enough to completely overcome the forward momentum of the tail section. It's also possible the rocket was still thrusting at time of detonation.
The hole was obviously created by that blast, and it was clearly visible that the tail section did not have the grenade still attached, and you could see into the hole well enough to tell there wasn't a dud in there, as there was a lower roof section of the hanger that was offset from the hole that gave a better view than on the ground, was it was still offset far enough that reaching over to it was impossible. I have a photograph (pre-digital) of it somewhere.
This might have been an expensive video to make, but it sure was an awesome one. Hope you had fun!
In the first Chechen war at the end of 90s, there was an occasion when a 40mm grenade from a gp25 hit a solider's head and stuck in his brain. A special surgical team managed to pull it off, handle to the sappers and save the solider's life. It's unknown how bad was a life for the guy afterwards, though
should've left it there like venom snake, use it as a warning
Это было не в чечне а в Афганестане.хирурги достали гранату оперируя в котюмах сапёров.граната была в груди у парня.он полностью поправился!
It wasnt good im sure.
I guess..
@@AspiringSpaceWizardДорогой друг хочу посоветовать вам посмотреть русского блогера.Крупнокалиберный переполох там мы стреляем из всех видов оружия даже танков и Бм 21 град.пушки 152мм гранатомёты и много другого оружия.и стреляем боевыми зарядами!
Просто посмотри дорогой мой друг. И приглашаю вас в гости в Россию!!
I love how the guy that owns it hides behind the tank every shot
When I was in Somalia in 93. A UN pickup was hit in the driver door by an rpg. The round never detonated. You could see the button from the nose imprinted into the door. The thing that was always odd to me where the shrapnel marks left around the impact site on the door. For 30 years I've thought about that mystery. I now know it was the stabilization fins. Thank you 30 year old puzzle salved. 1/22 Inf. Bat.
Brandon is always doing something different and adds knowledge behind it . Appreciated
If you have another £3500, it would be interesting to see what the backblast would do to a torso
I was thinkin the same thing
EUROPEAN DETECTED
EUROPEAN DETECTED
(Content warning-Contains autopsy photos)
There is a research paper called “Deadly injuries through recoilless anti-tank weapons while military shooting practice-two case studies from Germany and Switzerland” that shows what the back-blast of a weapon SIMILAR to a RPG-7 does to an unfortunate Swiss man. (Weapon is a RL-83 Blindicide, essentially an upgraded version of the bazooka)
BE AWARE-AS STATED ABOVE, THE AUTOPSY PHOTOS ARE VERY GRUESOME-VIEW AT YOUR OWN PERIL!
@@BlitzkriegAmerican that's why we want balistic torso, couse it's not dramatic
@@arturmalinowski4821 😅... I guess that's what happens when you skim read posts and get overly excited about sharing information related to the topic. 👍 I do agree that it would be interesting to see what backblast will do to a ballistic torso.
0:16 getting chased by someone with an rpg on their shoulder has to be the most terrifying experience
4:57
As a Russian, I’m obliged to tell that the most probable reason would be the rocket not arming itself because of too short travel distance.
I was going to ask if there was a minimum arming distance. That seems like the most likely scenario to me.
@Jason7.62x39nope, there's NO arming distance on the siviet/Russian rpg-7 warhead.
The ONLY safety on a standard anti armour or anti infantry round is a PLASTIC cap that covers the impact detonator on the tip.
I watched a guy running from an alleyway to a piece of cover and his was loaded and (like maot middle eastern rpg users, the safety plastic was already removed) he slipped on a rock stacking it as we were shooting at him with a 50 and the tip of the warhead hit the ground and he just... DISAPPEARED into pink mist.
Followed by 3 more explosions as the 3 warheads in the shoulder bag he had slung over his shoulder hit the ground.
The majority of rpg-7 rounds that don't go off are because the plastic safety cap hadn't been removed. The is of course the issue of the fuse having been damaged or waterlogged as annother option.
There is however on most warheads a maximum travel distance on the warhead of about 2200yards or so (varies depending on which warhead you use given some rpgs have the rocket motor and the rpg 2 style blackpowder launch charge, some have simply the launch charge.) you can use them as airburst rounds to engage targets behind cover if you know the range.
@@jediknight1294 So... the guy fell to his death?
source: tRussian me bro
@@bentoffsoju the Forgotten Weapons video on the rpg7 goes into detail on how the impact fuses work, similarly theres a fair few training manuals out there that give you a breakdown of the most common warheads out there.
This is what we’ve been waiting for.
3:32 decently worth subscribing for
I like how you put the launcher on safety even though there can only be one in the chamber and you previously sent it down the range
Good habits are hard to break. 😁
can never be too safe
Досылатель ещё не дослал следующий патрон в патронник так что лучше не рисковать.
You don’t wanna be the guy who loads another and NDs
@mk6315
Sounds like a good Darwin award
Man that 9mm is a hell of a caliber huh, blew out the lungs and everything!
😂
That shot was for illustration for soon to be former President Biden!😅
Biden’s nine mil?
Closer to 90 mil!
“Don’t stand in front of an RPG” -Brandon Herrera
Giving us life advice one video at a time.
Standing behind one also carries significant hazards.
Brandon is effectively firing my entire bank balance with every rocket. Worth it.
I think it was a bit of a missed opportunity not seeing how much damage the back-blast does to a ballistic dummy. I hope u could test it sometime in the future.
At least it would only take 1 rocket and save them money
Might be a safety issue, I would imagine you'd want to have as little of an obstructed blast zone behind the shooter as possible.
@@AnimatedCardboard That makes sense, but I feel like u could do a reverse loophole where they made a wall with a hole just big enough for the exhaust end to stick through.
@@AnimatedCardboard I would do it with a remote rig, as fun as it is to fire an RPG. That's the only way to be sure you're safe from backblast.
This was sorta referenced in the video, but there's actually a viral photo out there of a soldier with an unexploded RPG in his leg. The guy I believe survived and the surgeon working on him who took it out said he was praying the whole time and thanks God that it didn't explode.
Amen, Dr's and medical staff who serve in wartime are also heroes. 💯❤️
Doesn’t Eli know this guy? I could’ve sworn I heard the story before on Unsubscribe, like it was a friend or something.
yeah i saw the story about that
As a licensed RUclips commenter, I can say with confidence that yep the rpg sure messed up that ballistic torso.
And his wallet at $3,500 a pop
Thanks!
As a combat veteran I have had a couple of RPGs fired at me and my battle buddies. Most of the time the enemy forgets to pull the pin on the grenade. We have had RPGs embedded in connexes, port a John’s and vehicles. Fun times Mosul, Iraq 🇮🇶 2004
While I'm a vet (Cold War era, 19K) I worked as a contractor in Iraq for about 5 years starting in 2004 as a Flatbed Driver with TTM on Logcap.
Many a time our guys came back with RPGs sticking out of connexes like lawn darts.
Doesn’t the rocket need to travel a certain distance before it arms? Like a 40mm
Существует осколочные гранаты для рпг-7 и они достаточно редкие, особенно за пределами бывшего союза. И в тебя стреляли не ими, иначе бы ты не написал это комментарий😂.
@@williamflowers9435 взрыватель взводится через 20 метров.
@@williamflowers9435 It is a commonly-held belief, however the RPG-7 has no priming distance. As soon as the trigger on the end of the warhead is depressed, the warhead detonates; the rocket doesn't even need to be fired from the RPG-7 to detonate, hence why the warhead has a safety cap secured over the trigger. It does take some force to depress the trigger, more so than the warhead experiences accelerating when fired, but less so than the weight of the warhead itself. This may sound contradictory at first - the warhead accelerates at a tremendous rate, so the force acting on the warhead is huge - but during propulsion the only forces trying to depress the trigger are from the acceleration force acing on the mass of the sprung tip of the trigger (which is light by design to minimise this force) and the air resistance acting on the small frontal surface area of the trigger tip, both of which together form a very small force (relatively speaking).
Funnily enough, the misconception of the forces acting on the trigger in flight is actually where the myth of the RPG-7 having a priming distance arises from.
I just want to make it clear; the fact that Brandon spent 3 decent monthly wages to get a good hit, is highly appreciated. The banter afterwards, was just *chef’s kiss*
Fuck, do I love this channel!
4, one test and 3 at the torso. Combined it is about 1/2 a year of my current wages.
Crazy that it went through. My dad was EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) during Somalia, and he had to defuse an unexploded RPG round that was sticking out of a soldier's chest, before they could send the body to the casualty collection site. Maybe all the gear kept the RPG from going through his body, and instead getting lodged into the the chest cavity
This may have been the guy depicted in Black Hawk Down, Pfc. Richard Wayne Kowalewski Jr.
yeh he's pretty fucked up still from that tbh@@Undeadsloth_0
I think I remember that scene. I'll have to ask him @@jefforymitchell5697
Something everyone has always wanted to see man. Love the content!!!
I’m glad he mentioned the movie Black Hawk Down. That movie had a few RPG kills. Like the soldier who drove a truck ( not a humvee ) and got impelled through the door and the side of his torso and stayed there without detonating. The other scene, was the RPG exploded and knocked a soldier of a flat bed truck with half of his body gone. The explosion blew off half of his body. Thank you Brandon for this video!
that soldier who got imapled was a real thing. I remember reading about that. his name I belive was channing something
or at least there is a real story of someone getting impaled with an RPG. look up channing moss
I believe the rocket needs to travel a certain distance to arm, just like a 40mm grenade
@@williamflowers9435 Yes it does. I believe it is 15-20 Meters before arming, I don't remember off the top of my head I'll have to look it up.
@@williamflowers9435 yes but in the case of channing moss, the rpg HE warhead broke off when it crash through the humvee window
Brandon needs to contact the guys from Ordnance Lab and cook up a live one for further rocket science! 😂
It's only rocket science !
That would be awesome
Ong
I 1000% SUPPORT THIS idea!
Doog I was thinking exact same thing
As a Bulgarian myself, I can confidently say this dude is doing the equivalent of street racing in rush hour by trusting our tech XD
Да ладно, неужели всё так плохо?
Even worse, its originally Russian tech.... yikes lol
@@kyledabearsfanat least it’s not Chinese
@pandaslayerxx102 lol your name is pandaslayer hahaha thanks for the chuckle
Why would he have shooted a tank aswell?
8:07 seems to be a very universal celebration for when someone connects with these things
You know what would have made this even cooler? Getting ballistic high-speed to do a collab on this. They're breakdowns at 250,000 frames a second are amazing.
#akgnotificationsquad
Yea that would bee realy fucking cool
Stay tuned.
I don't want to see the slow-mo of a rocket propelled grenade performing abdominal replacement surgery, even if it is on a lifeless dummy. Just watching the video from 8:20 forward makes me hurt.
@@prdurnion83 fully disagreed. Did you see that 50cal against bullet proof glass? Shockwaves emanated out, and somehow also came in from the outside in a sort of resonance. It would be interesting to watch a simulacrum of a person.
@BallisticHighSpeed Your guy got in touch after we filmed this, I’m fucking excited to see what you guys managed to get your hands on 🥵
The scene from Black Hawk Down was inspired by the real life incident where one of the soldiers who died died from direct impact of an unexploded RPG. It's possible, based on the original report, that the impact was under the arming distance of the rocket which would be why it didn't explode on hitting the Humvee either, despite managing to penetrate it with sheer KE.
If it really went through the door in the actual incident, I can well believe that. A squishy human body not providing enough resistance to trigger the detonator is one thing, a steel door not doing so is another, and IIRC that nightmare was extremely close-ranged, would very likely be within the 30 foot arming distance.
@@WJS774 I'm basing my info off of the book which I assume to be mostly accurate, as it's not, strictly speaking, a work of fiction or a dramatization. I haven't read the incident reports or other news from the event but I assume a claim like that would have been easily refuted and AFAIK it wasn't.
@@APS_Inc according to an unclassified field document "iraq small arms handbook", the rpg 7 has an arming distance of 3-15 meters. HEAT warheads have a "self destruct" after 2.5-4 seconds, theyre lucky.
i should rephrase the "rpg 7" as "All PG7 ammunition minus HEAT"*
That was my dad's battle buddy who was hit by the RPG. I remember my dad telling me about that only one time a while back.
10:25
"Good, that's one less loose end"
Cool MW2 reference
I prefer truth is the game was rig from the start
Fair enough, the New Vegas opening sure is an 18 karat run of cool.
I always assumed that the RPG missile would explode on contact with the human torso, it is so interesting to find out that it would go through you.
These ones are not loaded with explosives I think.
I love Eli’s cameos. It’s always entertaining.
I love how he brought his RPG, just to say he can not currently fire it. 100% content goals
10:25 saddest betrays in gaming history
That joke about not getting it in countries where women can show their ankles made me spit on my fucking phone laughing. Jesus Christ. 😂
I'm seeing a lot of comments of people that served or friends that did and had encounters with these. I couldn't even imagine. Thank you all for your service.
AMEN
I served in CoD BO2
My uncle took a RPG to the abdomen while he was deployed, it didn't detonate but instead split him open. The pack on his back held him from completely opening up, and he made a full recovery. The scar he wears looks insane though, he is an amazing tough man and has a purple heart and other medals he took home as well @BrandonHerrera
showed him this video and he said it looks exactly like he felt lol.
I thank him for his service and sacrifice for all of us.
Does this make you a rocket scientist now ? I’m going to say yes since you did an experiment
No that makes you a dunce. RPG-7 is not a rocket launcher , it is a recoilless rifle
@@ivanmonahhov2314 it’s a joke, relax
@@ivanmonahhov2314expect it's not. It fires a recoilless charge to get it out of the launcher. Then fires a rocket motor to accelerate to target. That's what makes these rounds so expensive, it's extremely hard to import even inert warheads because of the rocket motor.
@@ivanmonahhov2314it’s a rocket propelled grenade launcher not a recoilless rifle, so yes, a rocket launcher or recoilless launcher as it’s not rifled
@@ivanmonahhov2314 its a firearm that is a recoilless launcher that shoots a rocket propelled grenade, in the romanized/latin character version of the russian words, RPG is literally an acronym for rocket propelled grenade.
But this does show you have zero sense of humor and are in fact a dunce.
He is a rocket scientist, now. Take your hat and sit in the corner.
Thanks Not-Eli. Thankyou for your service.
Brandon that was so much fun to watch. You guys were infectiously happy. Yes, expensive, but totally worth it. I appreciate your rocket science ❤
#akgnotificationsquad
Brandon sprinting toward me wielding an RPG keeps me awake at night
I fired the M80 Zolja during my army training, used the integrated plastic sights
The device was very accurate, hit exactly where I was aiming at a distance of around 240m
That said, I think the scope on your RPG was not zeroed properly, or the training rocket was heavier than the live ordnance
The crazy and morbid part is that if you are close and it doesnt explode, it continues to push threw you do to rocket propulsion, unlike a bullet that slows down almost instantly after leaving the barrel.
because itself cauterizes the wound that would be to inflict more pain before you actually should come to your injuries now I've got 3rd degree burns on 30% of my body I know what that felt like I couldn't imagine having internal organs cauterized
WHAT?! This is gonna be awesome.
My buddy made me a lifesize RPG-7 on his 3D printer. Fricken sweet.
Thanks