Posted on 05/07/2008 9:35:52 AM PDT by Stonewall Jackson
Munitions pose no danger
FORT KNOX — World War I-era munitions found at a construction site at Fort Knox pose no danger, Army ordnance experts determined.
Construction workers at the site of the future Human Resources Center of Excellence discovered the mortar shells Friday while moving soil for a sewer system.
As an additional safety measure, an expert from the Army Corps of Engineers was brought in to inspect the site and present the post with options for proper site clean up and disposal.
Based on inspection findings, Col. Mark Needham, garrison commander, directed an ordnance expert be hired to maintain site security and integrity.
Construction at the site will soon resume, Fort Knox officials said.
“We found buried ordnance all the time and had too deal with it as encountered. Routine for any old or in some cases new military installations.”
When I was at Ft. Polk, our Squadron Commander (SCO) wanted target reference points consisting of 2 8ft pickets and a VS-17 panel with some IR-15 Phoenix lights (programable IR trnasmitters) for the night fire placed downrange.
So my platoon got the detail and when we went downrange we found quite a few unexploded Rockeye II bomblets in the area where they wanted the TRP’s. So in the end the SCO didn’t get his TRP’s for the “tactical gunnery” that he wanted.
The whole thing was a joke because at the time we were undermanned meaning we couldn’t field all of our vehicles, and it wasn’t even for record either.
I work with one of the EOD guys who was sent over to take care of these shells, and he informed me that they were mustard gas shells.
LOL......Poor planning on the CO’s part ?
I still have a have a few dozen of the IR Phoenix Jr Programables. (that fell off a truck) Awesome tool for marking .
Sub-munitions were not my favorite stuff to deal with . We would BIP such in most cases and PUCA aka Pick Up and Carry Away the rest in most cases to a general demo area when we did surface and sub surface clearance operations of UXO.
Not fun to do such at night ........:o) Or Day !
Stay safe and my respects and gratitude to you and your family for serving !
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