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thedrifter
05-24-07, 06:52 AM
May 23, 2007 9:34 PM
Flash Bang Cover-Up

By Investigator Abbie Boudreau
ABC15.com

The ABC15 Investigators uncovered U.S. Marines injured by a widely-used flash bang grenade, even though the government admitted to knowing about possible safety defects.

Our investigation took us across the country, where we encountered many starting revelations, and ultimately exposed the manufacturing company that is being accused of putting potentially dangerous grenades in the hands of those on the front line.

"I had two flash bangs on me. My Marine didn't have one, so I reached back on the left side of my flak jacket to hand him one," former U.S. Marine Cooper Brannan told ABC 15.

"When I pulled it, it was like right here and then - boom! I looked down and my hand was really mangled. I thought I lost my hand," he recalled from when he was injured at war by a flash bang grenade, in November 2005.

It was a MK 141 flash bang grenade that Cooper Brannan said blew up in his hand.

When deployed, a flash bang creates a bright light and loud bang, giving it its name. They are used by SWAT team members and the military to shock and disorient targets, often in hostage rescues, and on the battlefield.

"I was handing it off and it pre-detonated. All three safeties were on it," Brannan said. "I wasn't horsing around or anything like that."

Brannan remembered waking up in a medical facility in Ballad, Iraq.

"In total, they said this has happened to like six or eight military servicemen, that they encountered," Brannan said. "They were telling me that more than 75% of the time they have to take the whole hand."

He said Marines used these flash bangs every day.

"There was one time, they were setting down the case, and they went off inside the can," Brannan told us.

So why were so many U.S. Marines being injured by their own ammunition?

The ABC15 Investigators traveled to New Mexico to meet Paul Cooper The man who created the MK 141, 20 years ago.

"Certainly, that should be investigated and corrected," Cooper said.

For the first time, he publicly acknowledged injuries like Brannan's may have been prevented.

"This kind of warfare and this type of situation was never anticipated 20 years ago," Cooper told ABC15 in an exclusive interview. "It [MK 141] wasn't for battle field type usage."

Cooper said it was not designed to handle the rigors of war.

He explained that damaged flash bangs can go off early, which could be the reason for the injuries.

But Ken Malley has a different take. He tests flash bang grenades for the U.S. Military. He said one possible reason for the early deployment of the MK 141 could be attributed to one specific design factor: the fuse is plastic, instead of metal.

"It has to be a very brittle, and hard plastic, which means it's more susceptible to being cracked."

Just like in the case of a soldier, whose entire left hand was amputated in 2004, when a MK 141 prematurely exploded.

An Accident Investigation Board suspected the device had a cracked fuse.
So, if the plastic fuse was to blame, why did they use it, when experts said there were safer alternatives?

"What would be the benefit of using a plastic fuse?" ABC15 Investigator Abbie Boudreau asked Malley.

"The only thing I can think would be maybe, might be the cost," he said. "It's cheaper to produce a plastic fuse."

Our investigation took us to the U.S. Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia.

We sat down with Jerry Mazza, the Program Director for Ammunition.

"Plastic is cheaper, so we can save three cents - I don't know that," he said.

He admitted to knowing about the injuries involving the MK 141 for years.

"As sad as it may sound, that a finger, doesn't equal 10 bodies," he told ABC15. "And that may sound, non 'PC,' but that's just my opinion."

Mazza said he thinks the problem is not the way the MK 141's were used or the plastic fuse.

Rather, he had a different reason.

"We have found, that there are issues with the manufacture of it as well."

We obtained an internal government document that shows the Marine Corps had reports of potential manufacturing defects with the MK 141, since 1997.
It listed cases involving cracked or missing fuse lugs, which is the top part of the flash bang that if damaged, could cause it to blow up prematurely.

Yet the Marine Corps chose to keep these possibly dangerous flash bangs in the hands of U.S. Marines for another 10 years.

"Was this an oversight?" Mazza asked. "I don't think so."

It wasn't until in March 2006, when Mazza said injury cases started piling up, that the Marine Corps cancelled its multi-million dollar contract with the maker of the MK 141, Pyrotechnic Specialties Incorporated, or PSI.

The Marine Corps cited poor inspection practices, and manufacturing problems with PSI.

But then the ABC15 Investigators encounter a twist we never expected.

"We said we want no more grenades, and PSI had already manufactured - x number," Mazza said. "My understanding is that instead of destroying them or whatever, they re-packaged them commercially and gave them to the FBI."

Mazza said the FBI was not aware of the problems with the MK 141's when they bought them from PSI.

He told ABC15 that at least one FBI agent was then injured, when a flash bang blew up in his lap.

So, we tracked down David Karlson, the CEO of Pyrotechnic Specialties, at his south Georgia home.

"Can we ask you a couple of questions?" Boudreau asked Karlson.

He had nothing to say.

Karlson told us on the phone PSI no longer manufactures the MK 141.

However, he said his company continues to produce other ammunition for the U.S. Military.

Certainly a concern for victims like Cooper Brannan, who cares dearly for his fellow marines.

"I'm living my dream, it's amazing," Brannan said.

Brannan is now a world away from the battlefield, and is living out his dream on the baseball field.

Something he did not think was possible, while battling through nearly a dozen surgeries.

He is now a minor league baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres organization.

In the wake of allegations against PSI, the FBI confirmed that its wrapping up a long-term investigation into the company. An FBI spokesperson stated the agency will soon turn over its findings to the U.S. Attorneys office for prosecution.

Ellie

lucien2
05-24-07, 07:43 AM
They could replace the flash bangs with frags.......