Posted on 05/14/2008 3:19:45 PM PDT by gracie1
Hundreds of Marines were conducting a combat training mission in the Mojave Desert when an air patrol spotted something kicking up dust: A civilian pickup truck speeding across the barren landscape.
Behind the wheel was a suspected scrap metal thief who had been combing the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center for spent brass shell casings. His intrusion onto the base was the 12th time in six months that scavengers had inadvertently halted combat exercises.
Bombing ranges have become prime hunting grounds for so-called "scrappers," who are motivated by soaring commodity prices to take greater risks in their quest for brass, copper and aluminum. The scavenging causes headaches for the military, which cannot patrol every inch of the remote bases where spent ammunition, shrapnel and unexploded ordnance are easy to find.
(Excerpt) Read more at onenewsnow.com ...
/johnny
Fort Hood officials have to chase brass pickers off ranges and out of the impact area all the time.
The icing on the cake was the 2 fools who brought home the missle. I hope no innocent lives were lost by their neighbors lack of common sense. I also am concerned about live ordnance being sold to terrorists.
If they were called "running targets" there would be no problem.
Blow their stupid asses straight to hell!
Situtation calls for the three Ss.
I bet it happens more often than not. Nothing left but a big hole.
“Blow their stupid asses straight to hell!” My first thought exactly. They want scrap metal, drop some on ‘em!
That’ll put a crimp in their brass shell casings.
When I was in the Infantry School at Benning in the early 70s, the patrolling exercise was held on leased land south of the post. You could tell where the next ambush spot was because there was always a couple of pickup trucks usually with a whole family, husband, wife, kids sitting under a tree just waiting for the ambush. After the patrols left the area they would move in and police up the brass.
During the exercises held on post, you could navigate to the next objective by looking for the roach coaches.
Ain’t that the truth. LOL.
Yep, I remember those days. I was there in 75, again in 76 and stationed there from 79-82. Brass pickers were a common sight as were the roach coaches. I suspect they still are.
Pardon me for asking the obvious question, but why is the military leaving huge quantities of valuable scrap metal lying on the ground, while our government forks over welfare checks, food stamps, and housing subsidies to unskilled workers who “can’t” find jobs? Can’t we send able-bodied people around these sites with metal detectors, during non-combat training times, to pick up the scrap and call in reports of unauthorized intruders? Pay them 50% of the proceeds from the scrap, use the rest to cover admin costs and return any extra funds to the military.
I’ve seen some duds (inerts?) scattered around Ft Irwin (China Lake?) that were so large they could’ve only come from ships. Never did figure out how they got there.
By the time I left Benning, I was sure two Roach Coaches were organic to an infantry platoon.
Funny thing, when I got to Korea, I discovered pretty much the same thing. When a platoon left post for an exercise, two moma-sans would fall in behind. I thought the average infantryman was heavily burdened until I saw the crap these moma-sans would carry. Two, maybe three ice chests full of cokes and goodies to sell the troops.
> ... halted combat exercises.
I think I found the problem.
Don’t do that.
Word will get around.
LOL! Yep, and I bet they always walked away with a pocket full of money and empty ice chests too.
/johnny
Give the Marine Cobra drivers something to send to hell.
Besides islamotards.
They all kinds of idiots on the Barry M. Goldwater range in southwestern Arizona. It is one of the nastiest places in the US, just North of the Mexican “Tortured Desert” (appropriately named), and also hosts the very rarely used “Hell’s Trail”.
Other than those who try to loot UXBs, a pretty insane activity, there are some murderous drug runners. For this reason, the US government hired a small band of Apaches to hunt stray Mexicans on the range. Finders keepers.
It is a place for the hardest of the hardcore, and even they are only allowed in with permission. Like Kennesaw, Georgia, it is pretty much the law that you have to be armed.
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