Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Times
May 14, 2008
Pg. 10
Metals search halts exercises, proves costly
TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. (AP) — 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.
"This is not just some petty crime. This is dangerous business," said Andy Chatelin, director of range management at Twentynine Palms, which is the world's largest Marine Corps base.
Illegal scavenging of military munitions has long been an issue at military bases. But as metal prices have climbed in the past two years, scavengers have become more audacious and more sophisticated.
After he was spotted by troops in December, the pickup truck driver barreled at a Marine, who fired five shots at the vehicle. The driver swerved, flipped over and spilled hundreds of dollars in collected metal. He was taken to a hospital and later charged with attempted murder.
The military loses hundreds of thousands of dollars every time it is forced to halt training. And when scrappers make off with unexploded ordnance, the public is at risk.
The Pentagon estimates that up to 10 percent of all ordnance such as bombs, missiles and grenades fail to explode on impact. Some of it is left behind in training areas.
In May 2007, two suspected scrappers removed a Vietnam-era missile from the Twentynine Palms base. It later exploded in their Barstow home, killing both men and destroying the apartment. Earlier this year, two workers were injured at a Raleigh, N.C., recycling plant when ordnance suspected of coming from nearby Fort Bragg exploded.
"The expense we have to go through, not just to guard against the loss of training time, but the chance of this hazardous material getting out into the public, is enormous," said Ronald Pearce, who oversees a training range in Yuma, Ariz., where the Marines and Navy practice aerial assaults.
No one knows how much scrap metal lies discarded on U.S. military bases because there are no records of the tonnage of exploded and unexploded ordnance. The number of illegal scavengers also is not clear because the military can only confirm a theft when there is an arrest.
May 14, 2008
Pg. 10
Metals search halts exercises, proves costly
TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. (AP) — 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.
"This is not just some petty crime. This is dangerous business," said Andy Chatelin, director of range management at Twentynine Palms, which is the world's largest Marine Corps base.
Illegal scavenging of military munitions has long been an issue at military bases. But as metal prices have climbed in the past two years, scavengers have become more audacious and more sophisticated.
After he was spotted by troops in December, the pickup truck driver barreled at a Marine, who fired five shots at the vehicle. The driver swerved, flipped over and spilled hundreds of dollars in collected metal. He was taken to a hospital and later charged with attempted murder.
The military loses hundreds of thousands of dollars every time it is forced to halt training. And when scrappers make off with unexploded ordnance, the public is at risk.
The Pentagon estimates that up to 10 percent of all ordnance such as bombs, missiles and grenades fail to explode on impact. Some of it is left behind in training areas.
In May 2007, two suspected scrappers removed a Vietnam-era missile from the Twentynine Palms base. It later exploded in their Barstow home, killing both men and destroying the apartment. Earlier this year, two workers were injured at a Raleigh, N.C., recycling plant when ordnance suspected of coming from nearby Fort Bragg exploded.
"The expense we have to go through, not just to guard against the loss of training time, but the chance of this hazardous material getting out into the public, is enormous," said Ronald Pearce, who oversees a training range in Yuma, Ariz., where the Marines and Navy practice aerial assaults.
No one knows how much scrap metal lies discarded on U.S. military bases because there are no records of the tonnage of exploded and unexploded ordnance. The number of illegal scavengers also is not clear because the military can only confirm a theft when there is an arrest.