An explosion is, at its essence, a rapid release of heat and pressure. The
physics are as complex as they are dispassionate; joules and kilopascals blend to impose grave injuries then categorized by mathematical calculations and arcane Latin. What you must truly understand about explosions though, is that none of that matters in the moment. It barely matters in the aftermath. What matters in the moment is the sudden overwhelming eruption of light and sound and pressure and heat amidst clouds of smoke and dirt and whirling steel. For the survivors, what matters next are the effects of heat and blast and metal fragments upon burned and tattered flesh. Orienting weapons for follow-on ambushes. Protecting against secondary blasts designed to catch those moving to aid the wounded and recover the dead. Maybe this is a single-device attack. Maybe this is just the start of a long day or night of fighting. You clarify the situation; identify the status of your force; ascertain the condition of your weapons and equipment. You prepare for whatever is coming next.
Nine of my Marines experienced it firsthand in December 2004. A Chinese anti-tank mine filled with 5.4 kilograms of explosive material designed to cripple an armored vehicle exploded under the front left tire of their metal and fiberglass Humvee. The blast pushed the floorboard to the steering wheel and launched the driver through the thankfully open roof of the vehicle, breaking his legs in multiple places, but sparing him a snapped neck. The truck and its remaining passengers slid 50 feet down an Iraqi street before they came to rest, the vehicle nose down in a huge roadside hole.
Explosions are a common wartime experience, the nature of which has changed very little, even if the technology for delivering them has. British Pvt. Alfred Day experienced the same trauma firsthand in February 1916. The explosion of a trench mortar shell a mere five yards from his head left him bleeding in the mud near the river Somme, shrapnel wounds in his left thigh, his upper lip blooming like scarlet flowers.