Mark Conley
Active member
God, it seems, does have a soft spot for the healers...
The texas doctor training site we taught at was formerly a 105 mm artillary range. All sort of rounds had been fired at this site over the years: straight shrapnel, cannister, heat, you name it, if it could be shoved into a 105mm body it was fired at the site. The site had been swept and cleaned of all the "live" rounds years before, but we still were required to brief the doctors about the condition, and what not to do when they encountered something that could go boom in the dark.
One day, one of the teaching cadre heard hammering sounds coming from the back of one of the GP medium tents the doctors stayed in during the course. The instructor investigated, and found a navy dentist pounding down the stakes at the back of the tent that had come loose. In one hand was a metal rod stake. In the other hand was a 105mm Canister round with the brass timer cap still on top, indicating that the blow-out charge was possibly still in the body. Think of a large shot gun shell, with the strike cap on top instead of the base. And the steel body had all these dents and scrapes, as if it had been pretty well used for pounding.
Well, after the cadre teacher just about stroked, he informed the officer what he had in his hand. Needless to say, the dentist put it down real gently. Talking later with the dentist, he told us he'd been using the club he'd found for the last three to four days for about every hammering task he could find, including staking down the tent.
The tent was off-limits for about four hours until the EOD people could examine and remove the shell (it was found to be a true dud, thank god).
The student went home alive. the cadre teacher received a commendation. And we had another story to tell the students.
The texas doctor training site we taught at was formerly a 105 mm artillary range. All sort of rounds had been fired at this site over the years: straight shrapnel, cannister, heat, you name it, if it could be shoved into a 105mm body it was fired at the site. The site had been swept and cleaned of all the "live" rounds years before, but we still were required to brief the doctors about the condition, and what not to do when they encountered something that could go boom in the dark.
One day, one of the teaching cadre heard hammering sounds coming from the back of one of the GP medium tents the doctors stayed in during the course. The instructor investigated, and found a navy dentist pounding down the stakes at the back of the tent that had come loose. In one hand was a metal rod stake. In the other hand was a 105mm Canister round with the brass timer cap still on top, indicating that the blow-out charge was possibly still in the body. Think of a large shot gun shell, with the strike cap on top instead of the base. And the steel body had all these dents and scrapes, as if it had been pretty well used for pounding.
Well, after the cadre teacher just about stroked, he informed the officer what he had in his hand. Needless to say, the dentist put it down real gently. Talking later with the dentist, he told us he'd been using the club he'd found for the last three to four days for about every hammering task he could find, including staking down the tent.
The tent was off-limits for about four hours until the EOD people could examine and remove the shell (it was found to be a true dud, thank god).
The student went home alive. the cadre teacher received a commendation. And we had another story to tell the students.
