Army asks ski resorts to return its howitzers

CNN.com ^ | 28 April 2004 | Associated Press

[Moose4]

RENO, Nevada (AP) -- The U.S. military is demanding the return of five howitzers that two Sierra Nevada ski resorts use to prevent avalanches, saying it needs the guns for the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Alpine Meadows and Mammoth Mountain received the artillery pieces on loan from the Army and began using them last year to fire rounds into mountainsides and knock snow loose.

[Moose4]

I think this says volumes about the state in which X42 left our military. They have to go scrounge up five surplus M119s from ski resorts to equip our troops! At least the ski resorts are being patriotic about it.

(Please note that I'm not criticizing the loan of the howitzers. They're very valuable tools for avalanche control and save lives in the high country. But how sad is it that we're so short on materiel that the Army has to go get them back?)

}:-)4

[NTegraT]

""Given it's a war effort, their needs are greater than ours," "

They were on loan, not a gift. That means they should be returned when requested, it's not a choice. Geez

[zeugma]

I'll bet having the howitzers around was a hoot. If I had the spare $1M to buy one, I'd get it and loan it to them as long as they let me take the shots occasionally. :-)

[2banana]

I have seen a bunch of army brass checking out the big guns seen outside most VFW halls...

[G-Bear]

Now there's a thought.

The Army could save money by letting civilians buy weapons
systems, and during an emergency we could loan them back
to the Army.

During times of peace, we would still get to play with our
big guns!

[stainlessbanner]

They might check ebay for some artillery pieces.

[bondjamesbond]

I have seen a bunch of army brass checking out the big guns seen outside most VFW halls...

Most of those are concreted in, these days. :(

But avalanches at Alpine Meadows are a serious business. It's a nice resort, but when the snow gets deep, I head someplace else.

[Tom A]

They were on loan, not a gift. That means they should be returned when requested, it's not a choice.

Fair enough to call back something on loan. The question arises though - where in the campaign against terrorist insurgents in an urban setting do you get to use a howitzer?

[CJ Wolf]

Gotta be a cheaper way to trigger an avalanche.

http://www.docsmachine.com/nonPB/mortar

New show on cable. Monster Mortar.

[Moose4]

The question arises though - where in the campaign against terrorist insurgents in an urban setting do you get to use a howitzer?

When you get 25 or so Islamonazis dumb enough to stand around in the same building?

}:-)4

[DTA]

"-- The Russian military is demanding the return of five howitzers that two ski resorts use to prevent avalanches, saying it needs the guns for the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. "

oops, sorry for the typo, it's U.S. Military

ANOTHER CLINTON LEGACY (C)

[Servant of the 9]

Congress needs televised hearings on what Billy Jeff Clinton did to our military.

So9

[KellyAdmirer]

I don't understand, in the James Bond movies all the bad guy has to do is fire a few pistol shots or something to start an avalanche....

[Lockbar]

I'm sure the Army can help arrange for the ski resorts to get some old artillery from former Soviets or other eastern block nations. Lots of old, but still operational heavy hardware available over there.

[miltonim]

lol

[jordan8]

What sort of rounds do these ski resorts fire? Surely they don't fire military shells. The metal fragments would be a pollution problem.

[Deguello]

"They have to go scrounge up five surplus M119s"

I may be more likely a Homeland Security issue rather than military needs. Tom Ridge may have just realized that they were in public domain.

[Moose4]

I don't know, actually. I've seen TV specials showing ski patrol crews using compressed-gas-powered guns similar to a real cannon, and I think they were using some sort of thin-walled high-explosive round designed to maximize blast and minimize shrapnel. Some places will also resort to flying helicopters over avalanche areas and throwing explosive charges out the doors.

I imagine the shells must be some sort of special round that's strictly blast. You're right, I can't see enviroweenies not making a huge stink if standard rounds were used--then again, the enviroweenies would probably rather see skiers die in the avalanches anyway.

}:-)4

[zeugma]

The Army could save money by letting civilians buy weapons systems, and during an emergency we could loan them back to the Army.

During times of peace, we would still get to play with our big guns!

Sounds great. We could call it the CDBHS (Civil Defense Big Hardware System). Everyone wants bigger hardware with MORE POWER!. I'd certainly enjoy a tank for the daily commute. Would be expensive to feed gas-wise though. Oh well, it's the price you pay for Bigger and Better toys.

BTW: I can't stand the term "homeland security" sounds like something straight out of the third reicht. We had a perfectly good american phrase, "civil defense", that could have been used.

[Moose4]

Actually I've heard worse ideas, but the military has gotten ridiculous about letting surplus into the hands of private individuals, even before 9/11. There's hundreds, maybe thousands, of perfectly good obsolete warbirds rotting in the desert or being scrapped because the Navy and Air Force won't let them into the hands of private collectors who want to restore and fly them. Hey, if somebody's crazy enough to want to buy a surplus F-4 Phantom II off the Navy, why not let them buy it?

The Navy is even suing a private collector who fished a World War II Corsair fighter out of a swamp in North Carolina and started restoring it. Despite the fact that the plane crashed in 1944, and it laid there for fifty years, the Navy wants the salvager to give the plane back, ignoring the ten years of work and thousands of dollars he's put into it...and pay for "damaging" it to boot!

}:-)4