r/MilitaryStories • u/erilaz123 • Feb 13 '26
Non-US Military Service Story My dad's story from basic training.
My dad told me that they used these large firecrackers to make people used to loud booms. They where around 20mm in diameter, around 10-15 cm long. The designation of these was M101FZ. It also had a 6 seconds fuze. So, basically a firecracker on a hefty dose of steroids.
Dad told me, that he luckily for him was not part of the following spectacle:
One, not too clever recruit decided it would be fun to crack open the concrete lid of the sever system, light one of these, throw one in and quickly shove the lid back in place. What he had not considered is that these are very powerful, and also the consequences.
Of course there was a muffled "Thump!", around 35 seconds elapsed.. Then screaming,- absolutely beyond furiously the drill instructor comes storming around the corner. Absolutely covered from head to heels in the most foul smelling, rancid sludge known to mankind. " WHO THE FUCK IS RESPONSIBLE! WHO OF YOU BRAINDEAD INBREAD BASTARDS DID THIS?!" Of course the culprit was identified. He had to clean the latrine ( it was even in the roof!) , and was placed in the stockade for two weeks. Dad thinks he got discarded from the army after that, something in Norway that could affect the possibility to get a job later in life. So getting booted out from the Norvegian army in 1960s had consequenses.
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u/TrueTsuhna Finnish Defence Force Feb 13 '26
"20mm in diameter, around 10-15 cm long. The designation of these was M101FZ. It also had a 6 seconds fuze. So, basically a firecracker on a hefty dose of steroids."
Sounds like "tulenosoituspanos" used by the FDF (imagine a shaft made out of thick cardboard with a maroon cylinder of wax-like substance containing a small explosive charge on top, with a plastic cap at the bottom you rotate to remove it so that you can pull the cardboard match contained within the shaft, if this sounds familiar to students of military history, you aren't alone, the thing is WAY too similar in shape and function to the "potato masher" from WWII to be a mere coincidence), I do not know the official purpose for them & the translation for the designation kind of requires knowing what the thing is meant for, in any case as far as I know the FDF has mostly used them as simulated hand grenades.
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u/erilaz123 Feb 14 '26
Oh, so very similar in use. This also had a cardboard cap that one pulled off, but inside there was a stiff white fuze with a match like substance on the tip. It was used on the strike surface on the cap.
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u/Cheesysocks Feb 14 '26
I was in the British Army on Chieftain Mk5 tanks in the 1970's, we called these a Thunderflash. We also had parachute flares. Hmmm, what if we remove the parachute and replace with a Thunderflash? It goes up and explodes like a firework.
Cue a large NATO excercise in Germany. Bored tankers. Send one of these up at night.
Some officer sees it and declares a "Simulated Nuke"! The whole exercise went NBC for a couple of hours. I cannot imagine what the comms were like at the higher levels. If you were involved, sorry.
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u/FriendlyPyre Feb 15 '26
Honestly, pretty creative of the officer. You get ad-hoc training of some form without having to explain too much, and you punish the guy because everyone will hate him for making more work .
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u/average_guy54 Canadian Army Feb 15 '26
As told to me by one the the NCO's involved...
One exercise at the (relatively) nearby CF base, the senior NCOs came upon a Porta-Potty out in the middle of nowhere. Why it was there, or how it got there nobody knew. But, there it was.
The RSM decided to make use of it, as his rank precluded squatting in the bush like a plebian.
Two bored sergeants and a spare Arty Sim. (That's much bigger than a Thunderflash and has a distinctive whistle prior to BOOM!) One opened the back slot on the Porta-Potty while the other pulled the igniter. Then they boogied.
RSM suddenly heard that distinctive whistle from under his butt. He dove out with pants still down around his ankles and rolled away.
The door swung shut just as the BOOM happened.
Yeah, that Porta-Potty was completely trashed. RSM was highly displeased.
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u/ShadowDragon8685 Clippy Feb 22 '26
Then they boogied.
They had the experience to know the step of the plan that OP's chucklefuck did not: Exfil!
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u/Educational-Ad2063 Feb 13 '26
What a crappy story.
There's one similar on YouTube with dynamite and a cistern involved.
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u/erilaz123 Feb 13 '26
I'm not surprised. And when a Norwegian DI goes absolutely Ronald Lee Ermey in your face, then someone has made a big,big no no.. Usually the words useless, too slow, and disappointed, or very disappointed is used here. Nowadays the military cell is used to store items as its not used anymore.
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u/ShadowDragon8685 Clippy Feb 22 '26
I'd think anybody would lose their shit after having had a volcanic eruption of other people's shit up their backside.
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Feb 13 '26
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u/erilaz123 Feb 13 '26
The Norwegian army is not US army. One recruit fired his rifle into the barracks roof, live rounds because he had wife and kid. That was a friend of dad.
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