Never ever go swimming on a military base that has an artillery or  
tank range. Standard practice for years was to dump unexpended ammo  
in the lake rather than turn it in. The folks who run ammo dumps are  
totally anal when it comes to turning in unfired ammo, unless it is  
sealed boxes or pallets. Once the seals are broken you have entered  
one of the circles of hell and turn in can take hours. The result,  
all too often, is unexpended ammo gets dumped. Lakes are convenient.  
But even dry land is good enough for some people. I once reconed a  
firing point at Ft AP Hill, VA and found a couple of hundred live  
20mm cannon shells and 40mm grenades that had been dumped by a  
helicopter.

On Nov 1, 2005, at 18:13, Tim Thompson wrote:

> munitions thread -
> More public benefits from the aforementioned FUDS program, courtesy  
> USACE. Shellfish processors (clam oyster etc) in Delaware and New  
> Jersey discard non-meat items in large piles, during their initial  
> sort of dredge catches. Local contractors buy the shell by the dump- 
> truck load and travel around the Delmarva selling it and spreading  
> it on driveways of individual home owners.
>
> Turns out returning navel vessels from "Dubya Dubya Two" (wait,  
> isn't that the president?) would dump (inventory is SO BORING)  
> unwanted munitions in the Delaware Bay and offshore Atlantic  
> Approaches, often on top of shell fish beds which are still  
> commercially worked.
>
> So our guys get to drive around Delvarva, checking out driveways  
> for grenades, artillery shells, and other odd explosive stuff  
> delivered by the home improvement guys along with the driveway cover.
>
> Don't laugh; a LOT of it has been found. If you visit a friend on  
> Delmarva, you might want to park on the road.
>
> Tim T.
> gas-age pedant
>