2005 CPEO Military List Archive

From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Date: 24 Apr 2005 22:33:11 -0000
Reply: cpeo-military
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] Live shell missing from Ft. Ord (CA) range
 
DEFENSE LANGUAGE INSTITUTE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CENTER
Public Affairs Office
Presidio of Monterey, Calif. 93944
Phone (831) 242-6423 or 5104

Live shell missing from range area
By Bob Britton
DLIFLC Public Affairs Office

PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, APRIL 21 -- Explosives ordnance experts reported a live-ammunition round missing from the former Fort Ord Multi-Range Complex today. The obsolete live shell is a pre-Vietnam era type 2.36-inch rocket, M6 Series used before and during the war. This shell has a live explosive charge and is considered armed and dangerous.

If someone finds this shell, leave it in place and call the Presidio of Monterey at 242-7853.

The missing shell was discovered yesterday near a fuel break area on the ranges, marked with a flag and prepared for destruction today, said Lyle Shurtleff, the manager of the Military Munitions Removal program on Fort Ord.

Ordnance experts from Parsons Engineering Co. reported the shell missing early this morning as they prepared a series of planned explosives for ongoing detonations in the range area. The Army Corps of Engineers contracted with Parsons several years ago to remove all unexploded ordnance or UXOs and other munitions found in the range areas. This UXO ordnance removal of the inland ranges will take several years.

Before any former Fort Ord range is declared safe, safety and explosives experts follow certain procedures. First the surface vegetation must be removed, so that UXO experts may examine the ground and what lies underneath the surface. Metals in the ground are located by aerial surveillance or physically searching the ground a small area at a time, such as a100 feet by 100 feet with an instrument called a magnetometer or metal detector. Ordnance experts identify possible ordnance sites with small flags planted by the metal object. Then Global Positioning Satellites pinpoint the exact location and depth of the object.

After UXO experts find a particular shell or other munitions and discover its identity, the civilian team members return to the site at a later date to detonate the shell in place. Several obsolete 2.36-inch rocket shells have been found in the range area over the years, so this is a fairly common site. However, this was the first time one was reported missing from the range sites.

Agents from the Criminal Investigation Division or CID, are investigating the incident with the cooperation of the Presidio of Monterey.




-- Lenny Siegel Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041 Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545 Fax: 650/961-8918 http://www.cpeo.org

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