I watched a M109 Paladin fire and the shock wave hurt my body — here's the video

FORT BLISS, Texas — I stepped into the rear hull of one of the two M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzers parked on a section of the desert training grounds at Fort Bliss. 

As the six-person Paladin crews, which were partaking in an exercise called Bulldog Focus, waited for the go-ahead to test fire, they showed me a dry run of how it loads and shoots. 

Then I jumped out and set up two cameras before watching the 155mm cannon fire, which, when it did, sent out a shock wave so strong that it felt like someone lightly punched me all over my body. 

Here's what I saw: 

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