FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. \u2014 Despite its characteristic arch, a 60mm mortar can be shot directly at someone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The issue, of course, is lining things up<\/a> \u2014 and keeping one\u2019s appendages attached in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe way that you aim it is you take your thumb, you put it by the lip of the tube, and you say, like, \u2018I think that\u2019s about the enemy,\u2019 \u201d U.S. Army Capt. Tyler Meredith told a group of reporters and service officials during a recent visit to Fort Campbell, Kentucky. \u201cAnd then you pull your thumb back a little bit and you shoot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Related injuries can be gruesome. In 2019, the Army publicly recounted an 81mm mortar mishap<\/a> that left a soldier with a hand split \u201clike a hoagie sandwich bun.\u201d The soldier failed to \u201csweep the tube,\u201d leaving his hands at the mercy of the blast, the projectile and its fins.<\/p>\n\n\n\t