In 1977, in Germany, I got extensive training on un-exploded ordnance. Some of the guys were out in the boonies on post, and found a "shell" (unexploded fired projectile, in this case) and brought it back to the barracks. Sat night, some drinking, table gets bumped, shell falls (THUMP) onto the floor. Noise alerts the CQ, he investigates, sees the shell, and clears the room, calls EOD.
EOD runs us all out of the barracks in the middle of the night, and takes it away. The next morning, Sunday, usually a day off, we ALL get mustered in formation, and marched to the post theater.
There we got a half day class on unexploded ordnance, and what NOT to do if we found any. It was one of the better instruction sessions the Army ever gave me, both in content and presentation. There was a large display stand of ordnance, and the instructor would pick them up and tell us about them. At several points during the class, when he picked up something, it "exploded" (simulator under the display stand). Let me tell you, if you were dozing off, it REALLY woke you up.
Besides it being a field grade court martial offense to pick this stuff up, the most important thing was that the only thing you could tell about a "dud" was that it didn't go off when it was expected to. NOTHING else.
They told us the story about a private who was picking up the golden eggs on a grenade range (40mm grenade projectiles). All duds, meaning they were safe, right? Supposedly had one in each pants pocket, one in each shirt pocket, and one in each hand, when he bumped his hand against his pocket, and (at least) one of them went off. Letter to the family, GI insurance, and a closed casket.
They told us the story about a LAW range at FT Hood, used for years, shooting LAW rockets at old tanks and halftracks. Lots of duds in the field. They set fire to the field to clean it up. Many explosions. The remainder must be dead, right? Sent guys out to pick them up. Had the burnt, dud rockets piled up like cordwood. One guy tosses another one on the pile, and it (or several) explodes. At least one fatality from that one.
The told us about how warheads with piezoelectric crystals in their fuzes could get really unstable, and had, after lying in the open, for years, gone off from the change in temp of someone's shadow falling across it. They told us a lot of other stuff too.
The warhead the guys in my barracks found, which did not go off when it fell off the table (directly above, one room to the left of mine
) was a WWII German 10.5cm WP (white phosphorus) round, and that afternoon, we were taken to the range where the EOD detonated it. Very impressive. Had it gone off in the barracks (which were two story concrete construction) it would have destroyed one wing completely, and set fire to the rest!
NO warhead is safe, until and unless a real expert (and not an armchair expert like me) certifies it is. DON"T TAKE CHANCES!
EOD runs us all out of the barracks in the middle of the night, and takes it away. The next morning, Sunday, usually a day off, we ALL get mustered in formation, and marched to the post theater.
There we got a half day class on unexploded ordnance, and what NOT to do if we found any. It was one of the better instruction sessions the Army ever gave me, both in content and presentation. There was a large display stand of ordnance, and the instructor would pick them up and tell us about them. At several points during the class, when he picked up something, it "exploded" (simulator under the display stand). Let me tell you, if you were dozing off, it REALLY woke you up.
Besides it being a field grade court martial offense to pick this stuff up, the most important thing was that the only thing you could tell about a "dud" was that it didn't go off when it was expected to. NOTHING else.
They told us the story about a private who was picking up the golden eggs on a grenade range (40mm grenade projectiles). All duds, meaning they were safe, right? Supposedly had one in each pants pocket, one in each shirt pocket, and one in each hand, when he bumped his hand against his pocket, and (at least) one of them went off. Letter to the family, GI insurance, and a closed casket.
They told us the story about a LAW range at FT Hood, used for years, shooting LAW rockets at old tanks and halftracks. Lots of duds in the field. They set fire to the field to clean it up. Many explosions. The remainder must be dead, right? Sent guys out to pick them up. Had the burnt, dud rockets piled up like cordwood. One guy tosses another one on the pile, and it (or several) explodes. At least one fatality from that one.
The told us about how warheads with piezoelectric crystals in their fuzes could get really unstable, and had, after lying in the open, for years, gone off from the change in temp of someone's shadow falling across it. They told us a lot of other stuff too.
The warhead the guys in my barracks found, which did not go off when it fell off the table (directly above, one room to the left of mine
) was a WWII German 10.5cm WP (white phosphorus) round, and that afternoon, we were taken to the range where the EOD detonated it. Very impressive. Had it gone off in the barracks (which were two story concrete construction) it would have destroyed one wing completely, and set fire to the rest!NO warhead is safe, until and unless a real expert (and not an armchair expert like me) certifies it is. DON"T TAKE CHANCES!
