UXO DETONATION CLAIMS 1 SOLDIER’S LIFE - ACCIDENT

A New York National Guard Soldier died in an Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) detonation accident on 24 Jun 2005 at 1000 local at Ft Dix, NJ. Three Soldiers who were in ADT status for annual training were members of an advanced party for live-fire training on a range. They were conducting a recon of the range when they are reported to have broken away from their 12-man party and proceeded across into another range. They were not authorized to be on this range. There, they were taking pictures and collecting dud rounds. A 29 year-old PFC picked up what is suspected to have been a grenade and it detonated during handling, killing him immediately. EOD recovered multiple dud rounds (40mm TP rounds and 37mm rounds) from the PFC’s pockets after the accident. There is a possibility that 1-2 40mm HEDP rounds were involved. The advanced party is reported to have been fully trained on restricted areas, which were also clearly posted as such, and on the safety policies prohibiting the handling of ordnance. The range where the accident occurred had a broad spectrum of ordnance from small arms to aircraft gunnery (short of missiles).

Submitted on 12/06/2005

Submitted by: Anonymous
Reference: https://safety.army.mil/plr/

Copyright © 2005 DarwinAwards.com

James said:
Maybe Toss: Lacks Excellence
As a National Guardsman myself, I have first-hand knowledge of the dangers of range ops and the need to follow the rules concerning safety. Nevertheless, the stupidity displayed here doesn't really grab me. Perhaps it's in the way the article was written (military safety blurbs tend to be dry), but it's just not quite up to DA standards. I'll defer to my fellow mods...

Greg said:
Maybe Toss: Lacks Excellence
I agree - the guy really should've known better than to pick up the grenade, yes, but the write-up is too dry at present. I'm always torn as to whether to let something with a bad write-up slide or not - I play it by ear, and as James said, this one just isn't grabbing me. Thanks anyway.

Jack said:
Maybe Toss: Other
I'm going to reject this (abet reluctantly), becase of the issue of inadequate supervision of the soldiers involved. The NCO in charge should have kept better track of his people.

Jason said:
Definitely Keep: For Darwin's Eyes
I'm gonna call this a DA. Having been at live fire in the past. We were all schooled equally on this subject. I would suggest a DA for the PFC and and Honorable Mention to the other members that dodged the bullet.

Tracy said:
Neutral: Darwin Award
Ooooh, I disagree. Stupidity was here (in buckets), and maybe a decent write-up would improve it

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