Quote:
Originally Posted by Raellus
Could be. But wouldn't he hear and/or feel the impact of at least the second miss (the one that hit his ruck)?
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Sure, but in the time that it took him to work out what that impact on his ruck might have been, further thought processes would have been severely disrupted by an acute case of death. I guess what I'm trying to say is, in hindsight it might seem strange that he didn't react but I suspect he was suffering from what psychologists nowdays refer to as "cognitive dissonance". In the absence of easy to recognise clues, no discernable targets in front of him, possibly no bang or crack or flash, his brain may not have had enough information to reach the correct conclusion about what was happening (at least not in time to react appropriately anyway).
Edit: And now that I think on it further, at what altitude did this engagement take place? The speed of sound is different at altitude compared to at sea level. Up in the mountains would the round still be travelling fast enough to break the sound barrier? Is the speed of sound higher or lower at higher altitudes? (Embarassing, I should know this off the top of my head but I've just finished a very tough day at work and my brain is completely fried).