In what won’t be the last instances of laser-related “friendly fire” three US soldiers in Iraq have been hospitalised, and one has been blinded in one eye, by a green dazzling laser:
Since November 2008, a single unit in Iraq “has experienced 12 green-laser incidents involving 14 soldiers and varying degrees of injury. Three soldiers required medical evacuation out of Iraq and one soldier is now blind in one eye,” writes Sgt. Crystal Reidy
Interested readers can check out that laser at the link below. It’s the GBD-III, from B.E. Meyers, assuming Wired is reporting it correctly: http://www.bemeyers.com/index.php?option=com_product&catid=1&id=3
Notice the power level: 250mW of 532nm green light. In contrast, typical laser pointers (the kind you use in presentations) are only in the ~0.5-3mW range. With 250 mW, this nifty device can potentially expose your eyes to light several hundred times brighter than staring directly at the sun. Definitely not a toy…