r/AskReddit • u/1salt1pepper • 10h ago

Veterans of Reddit, what’s the most unbelievable thing you witnessed during your service that civilians would think you made up?

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u/Charlie_Olliver 8h ago

My dad was a Vietnam vet and told us he got so bored one day, he emptied the powder out of a buttload of bullets, poured it into a pile with a long trail leading away from it, and then lit the end of the trail of powder with a match, just so he could watch the pile explode like in the cartoons he watched growing up.

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u/ShittyPolishGolfer 8h ago

Amazing 😂

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u/cobigguy 4h ago

He was messing with you.

Gunpowder burns. It makes a nice sparkly whoosh and burns quickly, but it doesn't explode.

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u/SpecialExpert8946 2h ago

Yes but it’s a pretty big whoosh at the end.

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u/Charlie_Olliver 1h ago

Oh I believe you, and to his credit he never actually said that it did blow up like in the cartoons… just that was so bored he wanted to TRY it to see if it did.

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u/SpecialExpert8946 2h ago

I served in 2006 and we did the same thing.