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Mortar detonated in Rolla
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Author:  Patrick [ Sat 05-09-2009 9:26AM ]
Post subject:  Mortar detonated in Rolla

http://www.therolladailynews.com/news/x1518870693/Mortar-exploded

So an employee of Taylor’s Used Cars & Salvage finds a UXO on his property. Is his first impulse to call 911? No. He calls a local National Guard recruiter to come over and tell him what kind of explosive it is. They realise it's an old 60mm mortar, probably an illumination round. At this point they decide to get the police involved, probably at the behest of the recruiter who knows that it's not wise to handle such things without professional help. So the police arrive and what does Rolla's Finest do? They PICK IT UP and move it to an adjacent field and THEN call Fort Leonard Wood EOD to dispose of it. EOD moved it again to a rock quarry and detonated it with C4.

I'm guessing the round in question was white prosphorus, primarily for illumination but very deadly up close. You'll remember the scene in We Were Soldiers where they had to slice the guy's face open to prevent the WP from spreading through his whole body. Had this round been unstable enough to explode it would have easily done so in the face of the first guy unlucky enough to pick it up. Were they prepared to deal with the effects of blinding hot WP if it went off in their faces and couldn't be extinguished with water?

We had to deal with UXOs all the time in Kosovo. Kids would walk up to us on the street to try to hand us old landmines they had dug up behind their homes. Every time we saw something like that we stopped what we were doing, set up a perimeter, and called EOD. And waited. Usually for hours. We found a box with wires coming out of it and had to wait four hours for EOD to detonate a box that turned out to have nothing but computer parts in it. But no one died that day trying to be heroic so it was worth it. And pretty impressive to watch. Anyway, you just don't take matters like this into your own hands. Once they saw what they were dealing with the first to attempt to move the UXO should have been by EOD, and with their robot at that. WP is dangerous enough in a fresh round. Old explosives have a way of... complicating things. Old dynamite bleeds nitroglycerin after all.

It's a miracle no one was seriously hurt or killed and I question the logic behind the decision making here. Then again, this is Rolla we're talking about.

Author:  blitzvergnugen [ Sat 05-09-2009 9:56AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Mortar detonated in Rolla

Quick Reference guide:
UXO == Unexploded ordnance
EOD == Explosive Ordnance Disposal
WP == White Phosphorus

Author:  LostBoyz [ Sat 05-09-2009 10:27AM ]
Post subject:  Re: Mortar detonated in Rolla

watch hurt locker, it is pretty epic

Author:  theshed [ Sat 05-09-2009 1:59PM ]
Post subject:  Re: Mortar detonated in Rolla

... seriously? You sure this isn't a joke? I really hope that the officer who decided to move the round has disciplinary action taken against him for being that stupid, and everyone has to go through training on proper procedure for handling explosives (its easy: if you think its an explosive, don't touch it, cordon off the area and call the bomb squad let them deal with it).

And reading up on illumination rounds, I don't think they're WP, I think they're basically pyrotechnic flares with parachutes attached. I could be wrong, but even so, it would still be incredibly painful and probably deadly for you if one of them went off when you were nearby.

Author:  cmptrnrd16 [ Sat 05-09-2009 2:42PM ]
Post subject:  Re: Mortar detonated in Rolla

LostBoyz wrote:
watch hurt locker, it is pretty epic

qft

Author:  FrankieM [ Tue 05-12-2009 9:08PM ]
Post subject:  Re: Mortar detonated in Rolla

Can't verify this, but was on the RDN message board:

Chad1 wrote:
Talked to someone at the source and the RPD officer did not move it; the person who brought it from the car moved it. Seems the round fell out from under the car when they were removing the gas tank. The pin had been pulled and the round fired but it failed to function. If this is the case, it was a dud and although it was just an illum round, it could cause severe burns if it functioned.

Author:  bagvwf [ Thu 05-14-2009 6:31PM ]
Post subject:  Re: Mortar detonated in Rolla

I work with Taylor's all the time. The way they handled it doesn't surprise me a bit. Fucking idiots.

Don't take your cars there. Ever.

Also, don't EVER go to Smitty's.

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