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Piece of artillery crashes into home in Jefferson Twp. (Kills Cat)
Star Ledger ^ | 04/12/2008 | Bill Swyaze and Kristen Alloway

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 ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: misfire; oops
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To: the invisib1e hand

That is one big pu.....

Nope. Not gonna do it. Wouldn’t be prudent.


41 posted on 04/12/2008 10:14:59 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd (Typical White Person)
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To: SLB

>>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.


42 posted on 04/12/2008 10:17:47 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (<===Typical White American)
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To: Responsibility2nd

Pretty close to PA. Was Hillary campaigning nearby? Worth another campaign ribbon, at the least.


43 posted on 04/12/2008 11:17:47 AM PDT by sphinx
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To: centurion316

That was what I meant, I just didn’t state it very well!

The blind criticizing the blind? LOL


44 posted on 04/12/2008 12:23:53 PM PDT by EEDUDE
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To: SLB

LOL.........good mousers are hard too come by these days !


45 posted on 04/12/2008 12:24:08 PM PDT by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.©)
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To: spunkets

“The arty crew claimed they had a problem with GPS”

“ooops! Sorry folks, I never really understood decimal points very well.”


46 posted on 04/12/2008 12:33:38 PM PDT by EEDUDE
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To: spunkets
A farm house in TX was shelled with live 155mm rounds a few years back. I think they came from Fort Bliss. The farmer and his wife were eating breakfast at the time. Shells hit just outside the house somewhere. No one was hurt during that WTF moment. The arty crew claimed they had a problem with GPS, but obviously the officer was disoriented and had no appreciation for direction. Down range was in the opposite direction...

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.

47 posted on 04/12/2008 1:43:21 PM PDT by cva66snipe (Proud Partisan Constitution Supporting Conservative to which I make no apologies for nor back down)
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To: cva66snipe; Squantos; FreedomPoster

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.


48 posted on 04/12/2008 3:17:19 PM PDT by SLB (Wyoming's Alan Simpson on the Washington press - "all you get is controversy, crap and confusion")
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To: SLB
I was in the unit just a year and wasn't on the gun crew itself {ammo hauler}. First day out down at Stewart we got tossed off the range for a short round. The Captain didn't chew on us but the FDC people, Fwd Observers, and gun crews got some drills and refreshers before we went back out. With the crews only shooting one or two times a year things are gonna go wrong.

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.

49 posted on 04/12/2008 4:36:39 PM PDT by cva66snipe (Proud Partisan Constitution Supporting Conservative to which I make no apologies for nor back down)
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To: Squantos
"It's pre-disastered!"

L

50 posted on 04/12/2008 6:13:50 PM PDT by Lurker (Pimping my blog: http://lurkerslair-lurker.blogspot.com/)
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To: spunkets
A farm house in TX was shelled with live 155mm rounds a few years back. I think they came from Fort Bliss. The farmer and his wife were eating breakfast at the time. Shells hit just outside the house somewhere. No one was hurt during that WTF moment. The arty crew claimed they had a problem with GPS, but obviously the officer was disoriented and had no appreciation for direction. Down range was in the opposite direction...

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.

51 posted on 04/13/2008 5:43:53 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952 (Just say "No" to BO.)
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To: BufordP; Lijahsbubbe; aculeus
Poor demon cat.

"If that cat had nine lives he just spent 'em all."

~ Cousin Eddie

52 posted on 04/13/2008 5:57:35 AM PDT by Ezekiel
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To: Exit148

Exaggerative license privilege of the victim.


53 posted on 04/13/2008 6:01:48 AM PDT by Rebelbase (Carbon is the fourth most abundant element on the planet.)
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To: Lurker

LOL !


54 posted on 04/13/2008 6:50:58 AM PDT by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.©)
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To: Lurker

LOL !


55 posted on 04/13/2008 6:51:25 AM PDT by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.©)
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To: Arrowhead1952

Thanks! CRS... It’s amazing they gave it another try!


56 posted on 04/13/2008 12:05:00 PM PDT by spunkets ("Freedom is about authority", Rudy Giuliani, gun grabber)
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To: Squantos
Those muzzle fookers are pretty accurate ! Anyone else here claim to be able to hit a cat from that far away ?!!?

I can if you give me enough ammo. And enough cats.

57 posted on 04/15/2008 5:20:50 PM PDT by archy (Et Thybrim multo spumantem sanguine cerno. [from Virgil's *Aeneid*.])
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To: archy

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


58 posted on 04/15/2008 5:27:41 PM PDT by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.©)
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