My close grenade encounter.

[Kitty]

Standing back from the obvious risks and seriousness of your job Spotter, my inner child is now jumping up and down and yelling "Wanna go!"
As to the Lieutenant that picked up the grenade and blasted himself into local legend, what do you expect? He was a Rupert.
Just out of curiosity, but just how much ammo/grenades/shells do the French harvest each year? I've heard of it, but never seen any real figures. And what about the old Gas shells? Just how do they deal with them when they become critical. I know they leave well alone unless something has to be done, but i mean.... gas.

[Rich Payne]

I just had a look at a Belgian defence website. The DOVO (Dienst ontmijning) were talking about dismantling 300 tonnes of ordnance, including 3658 "toxic projectiles" in a year.

I know that they have a special facility on an old military base for making gas shells safe but that it cannot keep up so the stockpile continues to increase.

As everywhere, increased development and deeper ploughing are still bringing things to the surface.

Googling "DOVO" and "unexploded" will bring you some English language references if you're keen on that sort of information.

[Kitty]

Cheers Rik, I wasn't aware they dealt with so much.

[Hagen]

Originally Posted by spidge

Surely a Lieutenant would not pick up and unexploded ordanance!

The saying "A gun is always loaded" surely applies here too.

It is like coming across a snake and picking it up to see if it bites!

You wouldn't think so, but apparently he did. I don't know about picking up a snake but, after basic I went on to my training assignment (I was an ammunition specialist) and I'm laying there in the rack one evening when this guy comes in smelling to high heaven of skunk. Said he got sprayed when he tried to pick it up. I said what the hell did you think would happen if you tried to pick up a skunk. He said someone told him that if you grabbed the skunk by the tail it couldn't spray you. Needless to say he spent that night outdoors. They are some real geniuses out there.