The US military dropped off its last batch of artillery shells carrying deadly VX nerve agent to be destroyed

Insider ^ | May 7, 2021 | Ryan Pickrell

[Tijeras_Slim]

My Great Grandfather was a Captain in WWI and lost his helmet during a fight and grabbed one he found in a trench. It was upside down and mustard had settled in it. It burned his head and he lost a bunch of his hair. It grew back eventually, but when he went bald in his 70’s he jokingly blamed the gas.

[Squantos]

Legacy Inventory still present ...... Stay Safe !

[Squantos]

Destroyed a few hundred rounds left buried at Fort Wingate in 88 ........ scary crap.

[Night Hides Not]

Reading stories like yours reaffirms my belief that I had it made when I was in the Army.

I served with a Chaparral/Vulcan battalion in Germany whose mission was short range air defense for Bitburg, Hahn, and Spangdahlem. When the Air Force had an alert, I reported to the Wing Command Post, where I would spend the next 4 days in the CP (we had two officers with a TS, my BC and me...). I took a shaving kit and 3 clean sets of fatigues.

My first alert was memorable. I was briefing the Wing Cdr on the deployment of our weapons systems, when the NATO Evaluation Team hit them with an NBC input. The Base Disaster Preparedness Officer was called to the "Eagles Nest", where he immediately recommended Alarm Red, i.e. full mask and protective gear.

The Eagles Nest went silent when I, an Army butterbar, interjected, "Colonel, may I make a recommendation?" I said, "Colonel, here's 3 reasons for NOT going Red, though Yellow may be appropriate:"

Ramstein (the location of the "attack") is 60 miles southeast, but the winds are westerly.

Soman is a nonpersistent nerve agent.

It's raining like hell outside, neutralizing any effects of this agent.

Wing Cdr said, "let's go Alarm Yellow." In the background, I saw the NATO team chief nodding in approval.

15 minutes later, I heard the Wing Cdr's voice boom out, "as long as I'm in command, any time there's an NBC input, I want that Army Lieutenant up here." So it was, for the next year and a half.

I never thought it was a big deal, NBC Officer was one of my extra duties in my battery, I received excellent training at Vilseck. A couple of years later, when I was on Battalion staff, I scored a week at the NATO school in Oberammergau, one of the most beautiful towns in the world.

[Chainmail]

It's a good thing you were there! The one point of common sense among the panicked and the untrained.

Never underestimate the value of the Butterbar who knows what he is doing!

I remember the huge pamphlet the government put out about how we were supposed to respond to nuclear, biological, and chemical weapon terrorism after 9/11 and it was a thick, information-dense tome - describing in detail the effects of those weapons, what they were made of, etc.,etc.. But not one word about the importance of watching the wind direction and getting you and your family upwind.

Knuckleheads!