Posted on 04/12/2008 7:29:57 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
A piece of artillery apparently misfired yesterday from the Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County and landed about 2 1/2 miles away, crashing into the roof of a house in the Oak Ridge section of Jefferson Township and onto a child's bed, authorities said.
No one was hurt in the incident, which occurred between 2 and 3 p.m., but the family cat was killed, Jefferson police said.
Picatinny officials said last evening they are investigating the incident. Officials from the base sent an explosive ordnance team to the home to investigate.
Picatinny officials said tonight they are investigating the incident. Officials from the base sent an explosive ordnance team to the home to investigate.
The base commander, Brig. Gen. William Phillips, and Lt. Col. John Stack also visited the home tonight, post spokesman Peter Rowland said.
"We sent an explosive ordnance team to look into the matter," Rowland said. "I can't confirm it, but I can't rule it out either."
The base commander, Brig. Gen. William Phillips, and Lt. Col. John Stack also visited the home last evening, post spokesman Peter Rowland said.
The homeowner heard a loud noise of something crashing through the roof and found the fragment had struck her 10-year-old daughter's bed. Her daughter, Casandra, was not home at the time, Detective Joe Kratzel of the Jefferson Township police said.
"Thank God my daughter was not here," said the homeowner, Cheryl Angle of Longwood Lake Road. "My daughter would have been in that bed."
Family members said Casandra had been picked up 20 minutes earlier to go to a sleepover at a friend's house. A 14-year-old son, Brandon, was home at the time.
Because the shell set a blanket smoldering, family members feared it might have started a house fire.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
That is one big pu.....
Nope. Not gonna do it. Wouldn’t be prudent.
>>They are death on rabbits and birds.
Ditto that. I’ve wanted to plink away on some of the neighborhood cats, for exactly that reason, but I think the neighbors would get annoyed. I did chase one out of the yard, to its house 3-4 houses away, and mildly blessed out the owner. She didn’t know *what* to think.
Pretty close to PA. Was Hillary campaigning nearby? Worth another campaign ribbon, at the least.
That was what I meant, I just didn’t state it very well!
The blind criticizing the blind? LOL
LOL.........good mousers are hard too come by these days !
“The arty crew claimed they had a problem with GPS”
“ooops! Sorry folks, I never really understood decimal points very well.”
Some of the problems too are coming from bases being crowded. They were once in the boonies and now houses are very close to them. In late 1984 my NG unit went to Ft Pickett Va. for training. We had 155 tracks. We had to literally back up on one corner of the base and shoot to another corner. Houses were very close to the base also. Practice Range space is becoming limited especially for heavy artillery. That being said a short round or a round well outside designated impact area does not make for a good day. Had it been inside the base the Battery CO would get a good chewing. The Pentagon needs to review it's requirements for safety buffers as well including wide room for error near ranges.
A little war story from my days in Vietnam:
I was in an M109 battery (not an A1 or A2, but straight M109). We had a battery fire mission one day where one gun chief laid his gun 3600 mills out. In other words, five of the six guns in the battery were firing in one direction and one was firing in exactly the opposite direction. The FDC (Fire Direction Center) worked up data for the errant round and found there were no friendly forces nearby so all that happened was a good chewing out for the gun chief.
One funny thing happened though. When we got back one drill weekend we had a class on grid maps. Top wanted to make me a forward observer because I could read them and configure coordinates LOL.. I said no thanks I'll stick to driving explosives :>}
First fire mission I came about a foot off the bench in back of the Duce and Half. We'd set up for the night and decided to get some sleep. I heard someone yell Fire Mission and next thing I heard was a battery strength fire. Fun year but culture shock for a squid use to Navy ways.
L
That happened at Ft. Hood about 90 miles north of my home. The crew happened to be in its first live fire exercise on the range with the new Paladin howitzer. They set up 180º off and fired SIX rounds off the base. The forward observer called for a ceasefire after he didn't see any impact of the second set of three "Fire for effect" rounds.
"If that cat had nine lives he just spent 'em all."
~ Cousin Eddie
Exaggerative license privilege of the victim.
LOL !
LOL !
Thanks! CRS... It’s amazing they gave it another try!
I can if you give me enough ammo. And enough cats.
Anvil tossing maybe......:o)
Law that forbid ownership of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined, nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants. They serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man. —Thomas Jefferson
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