Fireworks and the lack thereof

[Foul Mike]

Colorado law prohibits anything that explodes or leaves the ground and any other things that are fun, so,"Here Kid, light this sparkler before they are illegal too."
It is drier than a popcorn fart out here to the point that jackrabbits are now carrying canteens and most people in my small town are smart enough to realize that this is not a good year for fireworks but there are still those few fools that have to have a Come to Jesus meeting with the Police and the Fire Dept. Most don't speak English but some do. I wish they would load them on the South bound bus when they catch them or take them to Jail charged with Felony Stupid.
I know it is "Years gone Past," but when I was a Kid we had M-80s, Cherry Bombs, sky rockets, Roman candles, firecrackers[1/12in. and Ladyfingers} and who ever got hurt from a Ladyfinger? I think that Kids of that era were smarter than the ones of today and had it going on as to how to have fun with that shit but we did blow a few things up. We read the directions that said,"Place on ground, light fuze and retire quickly."and by the Grace of God," most all retained their fingers and if they did have a fuckup they knew that THEY had done it wrong.
If it was such a thing that the Fire Dept. and Police Dept. and all of the Politicians we are dealing with now, that had the neat fireworks we all had as Kids,--were dealing with those cool fireworks now they would all be having Kittens and those Kittens would be having Gerbils that were going up their asses to find their brains.
They write laws that say,"It was great fun for me when I was younger but you can't have them now because I know how to protect you."
Fuck them. Have a great Independence Day and 4th of July. Too few even know what it is all about. Regards, FM
PS. I found a 40 year old M-80 in the shop. It is going to get lit, how do you think that will go? and when?

 

[BOLTRIPPER]

i'll just leave this here

 

[Maggot]

i'll just leave this here

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Redmanss]

Drive north, old man. There's freedom to be found up this way, just blow it off before heading back to occupied CO.

And on the bigger firecrackers, I can about guarantee if they were around while I was growing up, I would not have ten fingers and/or vision in both eyes to this day. As it was, I was the kid who took his model airplane X-Acto knife to firecrackers and bottle rockets, raided the powder from them to stuff into a Testors paint jar, packed that shit in there with a long fuse, and made one hell of a boom with it. I can only imagine what I would have done with quarter sticks...

 

[TripleBull]

I remember buying enough real M-80s at a store in Missouri (Misery) to fill a half gallon milk jug. "What mailbox, officer?" You could do some decent damage with an M-80, but rockets were my favorite. Pull off the nose piece, put a couple of M-80s in there, glue the nose piece back on and enjoy the report.

 

[FS1]

I remember tying them to rocks and throwing them in the water. They would float without the rock. Seemed like the whole ground shook. Also created a few floating sunfish. I lived through it. How is that possible?

 

[Maggot]

I remember tying them to rocks and throwing them in the water. They would float without the rock. Seemed like the whole ground shook. Also created a few floating sunfish. I lived through it. How is that possible?

A black guy i wrked with put it this way.

"I used to believe God took care of children and damn fools but since that car hit me I looks out fo myselfs."

 

[Foul Mike]

I think a lot of us did this shit. My Grandad could make a stump pop out of the ground in several pieces. and it was quite uneventful, but he and his friends made some LOUD fireworks to go off at noon 4 July, and bet on it at a dime a pop. High in the Colorado Rockies. Now Over run.
Part of growing up.
You learned not to be stupid with HOT Powder. I have seen plenty of fires over the years and worked on a few.

Colorado now has a bunch of BIG Fires. All these people that moved here have Loved it to death. so now a lot burns.. Sad.
Most of the young people I meet that have been here for a few years are usually pretty cool. but not all.
Huge influx of people and inadequate infrastructure. and I ain't talking Homeless either.

 

[Srgt. Hulka]

If you can find them, try an Angry Elf firecracker. You will NOT be disappointed.

Also, for you guys that shoot fireworks, I recommend getting one of these and give up those punks and clicker lighters. A trigger start propane torch. This will certainly make your Independence Day celebration a lot more enjoyable. I've used one for about 20 years now. I won't use anything else.

 

[Gunfighter14e2]

Pull off the nose piece, put a couple of M-80s in there, glue the nose piece back on and enjoy the report.

We did the same thing except we used a half stick of 60% from the local hardware store in town. At 12 years old I bought every stick Dad or Grandad used on the farm, but we just used them for boosters to set off the mains. On the 4th we would tie a full stick to a rocket bundle an set her off at 2000hrs sharp most every year. Locals said they could set their watches an clocks by it. One year we did 2 sticks, but I was picking up glass from windows all over the place, last time we did that. Grandma an Mom were pissed, an we had to chase cows an pigs half the night. The chickens quit laying for 4 days as well, I think that is what really pissed the woman off, though.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

We did the same thing except we used a half stick of 60% from the local hardware store in town. At 12 years old I bought every stick Dad or Grandad used on the farm, but we just used them for boosters to set off the mains. On the 4th we would tie a full stick to a rocket bundle an set her off at 2000hrs sharp most every year. Locals said they could set their watches an clocks by it. One year we did 2 sticks, but I was picking up glass from windows all over the place, last time we did that. Grandma an Mom were pissed, an we had to chase cows an pigs half the night. The chickens quit laying for 4 days as well, I think that is what really pissed the woman off, though.

So, what I hear you saying is.... you didn't get quite enough elevation on that one. The following year you perfected the performance by........?

Adding a second stage, perchance?

 

[hic28]

Few years back I had a mortar blow the tube out and came up about eye level before engulfing us in a brightly colored ball of magnisium. How none of us were burned was pretty amazing. That was the single best firework ever.

 

[MtnCreek]

If you can find them, try an Angry Elf firecracker. You will NOT be disappointed.

Also, for you guys that shoot fireworks, I recommend getting one of these and give up those punks and clicker lighters. A trigger start propane torch. This will certainly make your Independence Day celebration a lot more enjoyable. I've used one for about 20 years now. I won't use anything else.

Great idea. The lighter sticks don't work well. A long (grill style) lighter stops working once hot.

Something that works well for shells is pull the fuse and ignite with model rocket igniters. Might as well add a little FFg to the launch charge while there. lol

 

[bogeybrown]

Neither @oneshot86 , @Mike Casselton , nor I have absolutely any history with homemade explosives, sorry PYROTECHNICS. And I can swear that none of us were there to see any of us blow shit up

 

[Gunfighter14e2]

Adding a second stage, perchance?

Model rocket engines, worked the best. The main issue with them was with 2 sticks it was heard in Francesville an Winamac both. F'ville was 6 air miles away. The rocket engines (5 total) only lite once the mains were about out. It was out of sight for awhile, before both sticks went off. None of us even thought about a field fire had something gone wrong! But, rest assured the woman brought that point up as well.

 

[oneshot86]

i dont have a very large safe with a hole cut in the side, tipped over, that i can fill w water, to make my own 50 ft water columns

not me

 

[Mike Casselton]

Agent K? Where are you?
Oh that's right Agent K is a figment of our collective imagination.

 

[Mike Casselton]

i dont have a very large safe with a hole cut in the side, tipped over, that i can fill w water, to make my own 50 ft water columns

not me

Buuuuuh woooomp!

 

[oneshot86]

dance like an indian

 

[oneshot86]

there is no agent k

i have never heard that before

 

[oneshot86]

lol, mike, that shit was fun

 

[FS1]

Any anvil shooters here? Total insanity.

 

[Bullfroggy]

it was heard in Francesville an Winamac both.

You from northern Indiana?

 

[Maggot]

Neither @oneshot86 , @Mike Casselton , nor I have absolutely any history with homemade explosives, sorry PYROTECHNICS. And I can swear that none of us were there to see any of us blow shit up

Arent they illegal or somehting.

Ya'll are so naughty.

 

[Alphatreedog]

I remember my older brother and his batshit crazy buddy making a pipe bomb .
I may have been eleven and they were 4 and six yrs older . We walked to the woods with about five of us as they regailed us with the construction and pilfering of materials from both dads . We get to the woods and they instruct the audience to wait here and then they disappear. Few minutes later they come running like its time to do chores and they got plans . They clear the treeline and WOOOMPPP . The fuckin world went tilt , not boom not bang but a deep up thru the souls of your feet , left side came up , right side went down Woomp . Without a word nor snicker nor single digit IQ comment we scattered like fuck8n roaches . Some things in life you just know as if written in to your genetic code . No one ever tells you .It's not in books or on tv . Father Strittmatter never gave a sermon on . But as sure as the sun shines there is a line you don't cross with some shit and everyone instinctively knew that we not only crossed some to date undefined boundary in the laws of nature but may have actually damaged the fabric that holds the universe together . None the less we ran one peeled off here and one peeled off there until it was me my brother and future asylum resident . Once we retreated to the safety of our neighborhood fort we came unglued with laughter . Did you see this , I thought that etc . Once the realization set in that no police were coming , no National Guard or Men In Black
my brothers buddy sees this as a challenge and declares we gotta do this again but bigger .For clarity I have spent a lifetime proving again and again that I am at least ten IQ points lower on the scale than a bag of hammers but there was something genetically imprinted in me or maybe it was divine intervention and speaking tongues. I stood up looked Cra Cra in the eyes and said " you're fuckin crazy and must want to die. " . Welp older bro hopped up , slapped mw in the head for the F bomb and home we went . Disturbingly funny is the fact that aside from working for the Old Man this was a near daily occurrence . And I'm fairly certain that most here grew up doing the same shit . Fuck safe space , fuck feelings , and fuck Jimmy' shin bone is sticking out of his leg .

 

[Gunfighter14e2]

You from northern Indiana?

Yes, the farm was 1 mile east of 39 on 400 north, between F'ville an Winamac. After Uncle, I returned to the farm until 74 when I moved to FLA.

 

[Maggot]

I remember my older brother and his batshit crazy buddy making a pipe bomb .
I may have been eleven and they were 4 and six yrs older . We walked to the woods with about five of us as they regailed us with the construction and pilfering of materials from both dads . We get to the woods and they instruct the audience to wait here and then they disappear. Few minutes later they come running like its time to do chores and they got plans . They clear the treeline and WOOOMPPP . The fuckin world went tilt , not boom not bang but a deep up thru the souls of your feet , left side came up , right side went down Woomp . Without a word nor snicker nor single digit IQ comment we scattered like fuck8n roaches . Some things in life you just know as if written in to your genetic code . No one ever tells you .It's not in books or on tv . Father Strittmatter never gave a sermon on . But as sure as the sun shines there is a line you don't cross with some shit and everyone instinctively knew that we not only crossed some to date undefined boundary in the laws of nature but may have actually damaged the fabric that holds the universe together . None the less we ran one peeled off here and one peeled off there until it was me my brother and future asylum resident . Once we retreated to the safety of our neighborhood fort we came unglued with laughter . Did you see this , I thought that etc . Once the realization set in that no police were coming , no National Guard or Men In Black
my brothers buddy sees this as a challenge and declares we gotta do this again but bigger .For clarity I have spent a lifetime proving again and again that I am at least ten IQ points lower on the scale than a bag of hammers but there was something genetically imprinted in me or maybe it was divine intervention and speaking tongues. I stood up looked Cra Cra in the eyes and said " you're fuckin crazy and must want to die. " . Welp older bro hopped up , slapped mw in the head for the F bomb and home we went . Disturbingly funny is the fact that aside from working for the Old Man this was a near daily occurrence . And I'm fairly certain that most here grew up doing the same shit . Fuck safe space , fuck feelings , and fuck Jimmy' shin bone is sticking out of his leg .

Pipe bomb? Did you say 'Pipe Bomb".

Do you mean the kind you make from 1" ID steel pipe filled with flash powder and crimped in a vice ...

Why I remember...wait!!

Whats the statue of limitations?

 

[MtnCreek]

 

[Alphatreedog]

It was my brother . He's passed and I was eleven . It was heavy walled 2 1/2 maybe 3 inch pipe and I remeber the tards saying Hercules Shotgun powder . It was about a foot long .

 

[Maggot]

Hercules Powder brings back memories.

I lived for a short time in NJ in a valley between Picatinny Arsenal and Hercules Powder. Every once in a while there would be a sizable
BOOM that would echo back and forth across the valley.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

I don't care how long the statute is. If it don't get said, then it don't get 'looked into'.

Deep, deep holes don't need no "lookin' in."

Not unlike the philosophical points that were alluded to up above,,,, there are those times when one smartly realizes that they ain't near smart enough to even think they're smart enough to realize how dumb they just were. And that they got's learnin' to do.

I know others, and myself as well, who went and took some courses after that. Getting a legitimate Blaster's License is a whole lot proper'er than just "winging it".

Don't ask ME how I know that,,,,, I saw it in a movie once't.

 

[cav has been]

Even though the statute of limitations has long since ran it's course I make no reference to my mis-spent youth....... Chinese New Year in Taipei provided some unique opportunities. Those folk have got the art of making fireworks down pat. Firecrackers with enough uumph to rock pursuing taxi cabs for instance. Bottle rocket wars, hotel to hotel, across bustling intersections......... Things a young inebriated trooper on R&R found entertaining.

 

[Nodakplowboy]

We have lots of fireworks up here. The kids take care of the fireworks, I put together the 5# tannerite show.

 

[Strykervet]

Only saw one M80 or something like that, my father had one that was 20 years old (in the 80's) and put it in seamless thick wall steel tube about 3" dia. Made a big bulge and split that damn pipe! I wouldn't have guessed it. When we were kids, we did all kinds of shit. We had fireworks "wars" where 20 kids would get together with a garbage bag full of, well, everything, and we'd shoot roman candles and bottle rockets at each other until the sun came up! We lived in the sticks at the time. I don't know how I didn't get hurt. The shirts took so many burns it was just falling off, covered in black soot and a little blood, looked like I survived a cluster bombing. We all did.

Now I really can't stand it. Just don't like the noise. Now that I have suppressors, I don't even like firing non-suppressed weapons, don't know what it is. The dog and cat aren't too partial to it either, the cat always hides for a couple days around here and the dog won't leave my side. He doesn't mind a gunshot or one or two bangs, it gets his attention...

But it sounds like fucking Fallujah around here! Constant staccato for hours only interrupted by bigger booms, shotguns and rifle shots. Was quieter living on Ft. Lewis when the ranges were active. I have an acre, well I live on an acre now, full of trees that are covered in turpentine sap. This shit burns like napalm, not kidding. Every year I find fireworks littering the woods and small burn spots where they tried to catch. Luckily none have. Usually it's dry as hell but we got a little more rain lately so hopefully it won't be too bad this year.

Seen a roof catch fire one year when I was a kid. Also saw a commercial fireworks display at a football field in Huntsville AL go up all at once; was pretty cool but dangerous. One of the mortars went off inside the tube and set everything else off as I remember. One of the big starbursts went off right in the middle of the field and streaks of light went all around us. Some people got hurt, few cars caught on fire when a starburst blew in the parking lot. Tried to find a video of it but it was in the 80's.

Have fun, be safe, don't burn your neighbor's house down.

 

[Graywolf.260]

There was the prototypical "get off my lawn, ya damn kids" guy named Pat whose yard bordered our favorite backyard football field. One fourth someone got hold of a pretty decent size rocket, not modified with M80s but still a good size old-school rocket with respectable report. We set up a modified shoulder-launched missile with a 2x4 and from about 75 yds away made a Hail Mary shot toward the front picture window. Somehow it flew straight, smashed through the glass and curtain and exploded in the house. Absolute chaos and frantic retreat through the neighborhood, every man for himself, somehow no one was apprehended and no one spoke of it until months later.

 

[Alphatreedog]

There was the prototypical "get off my lawn, ya damn kids" guy named Pat whose yard bordered our favorite backyard football field. One fourth someone got hold of a pretty decent size rocket, not modified with M80s but still a good size old-school rocket with respectable report. We set up a modified shoulder-launched missile with a 2x4 and from about 75 yds away made a Hail Mary shot toward the front picture window. Somehow it flew straight, smashed through the glass and curtain and exploded in the house. Absolute chaos and frantic retreat through the neighborhood, every man for himself, somehow no one was apprehended and no one spoke of it until months later.

Never did anything that guerilla. Our shining Nobel Prize for exceeding the natural laws of stupity was funny none the less . We had a row of stores that backed up to my buddy's neighborhood and one was a Chinese restaurant. We fucked with these guys fairly consistently . One of us would walk in and start screamin godzilla followed by some Chinese mocking gibberish at which point the old man would come out of the kitchen at mach 5 . Guy would be wielding a butcher knife screamin and losin his shit in Chinese . One time ( let's call him Jimmy ) Jimmy ran in to do the dead and when he came running for the glass door we held it shut . Old guy nearly got em . If it weren't for laughin our nuts off at his reaction and lettin go the door he woulda been in the beef fried rice .
One of our other points of asshatery was the kitchen door . There was no knob on it so in winter we would yell some stupid shit then run . Well one day as we're yelling into the hole in the door good ol Jimmy produces a lit M80 outta no where and proceeds to insert thru hole in door . There was a second pause where everyone stopped , looked at each other like did he just fuckin do that and then ran . Welp Jimmy was the first to bolt and musta been trying to multi task . You know run from an impending Juvenile detention sentence and admire his handy work at the same time . Any who numb nuts runs head first into a dumpster and knocks himself out cold . We saw it yet in our haste to also avoid Juvi and biblical ass beatings from our dads we nearly cleared the alley when we turned went back and grabbed him .
We never saw anyone come out and in retrospect they were probably trying to tend to the blood comin out their fuckin ears from the fashbang on steroids .
Of all the truly stupid shit we did I gotta say that I truly miss Roman Candle fights .

 

[FS1]

A short piece of emt as launcher is a great way to out shoot your opponent in a bottle rocket fight.

Watched a friend hold a firecracker with the tips of his finger nails. He said it won’t even hurt. That purple thumbnail looked painful though.

 

[QuickNDirty]

Drive north, old man. There's freedom to be found up this way, just blow it off before heading back to occupied CO.

And on the bigger firecrackers, I can about guarantee if they were around while I was growing up, I would not have ten fingers and/or vision in both eyes to this day. As it was, I was the kid who took his model airplane X-Acto knife to firecrackers and bottle rockets, raided the powder from them to stuff into a Testors paint jar, packed that shit in there with a long fuse, and made one hell of a boom with it. I can only imagine what I would have done with quarter sticks...

Some of the best times of my life were spent re-purposing fireworks with my brother. It's amazing I never managed to burn the house down, or lose fingers/vision. Got lots of burns, occasionally attracted the attention of local LEO, and sometimes even scared myself with how damn potent that experiment was. Especially on July 4th at Lake Tyler. Cops came out when the booms got a little too close to sounding like artillery, or some nancy-boy got upset that everyone in the parking lot was shooting at each other.

Fuckin' firework wars were the best. The main goal was to ignite the stash of the enemy. No safety glasses or any of that shit. I was usually wearing shorts and a tee shirt and barefoot, too. No better feeling than unleashing as many roman candles as I could hold in two hands in the direction of the cardboard boxes behind the car/trashcan/tree and seeing everyone run like hell and a bunch of shit go off on the ground.

My brother at the time was a truck driver and would stop off at a wholesaler in Memphis and pick up ~$1500 of bulk shit. My uncle also operated firework stands around Alto, TX and after the season he'd give me something like 150 pounds of leftovers, and would burn up the rest in a wooden container as a sort of grand finale.

I'm a big fan of blowing shit up =)

 

[bogeybrown]

Probably the weirdest and most fun interview I had to do was with the whole PD Bomb Squad when I was applying. Most took place in a formal setting but mine ended up being impromptu on an explosives range.

They asked about all the shit I'd blown up and set fire to in my life. Normal self preservation dictated that I never confess federal crimes to a group of fellow cops and superiors but they were adamant that immunity was in place. They explained that they didn't trust guys who wanted to be Bomb Techs but who hadnt grown up with the insatiable "I wonder what would happen if...." mentality.

We ended up trading stories for a few hours while we took turns making up charges and blowing shit up. As usual it was one of mine that set the range on fire and got us kicked off. I don't know if there was even a vote to decide whether I was on the Squad after that, they just told me when to report for the next training day. Sadly the leadership eventually changed and the new commander figured out how to remove the fun from explosives. How big of a fucking douche does a guy have to be to accomplish that!?!?!?

 

[Maser]

I think the cops in my city have pretty much given up on trying to catch people with explosive fireworks.

 

[hankpac]

When I read stuff like this, I imagine people like Antifa, or even ISIS wouldn't stand a chance. Americans, Real Americans have this slight mental twist.
I am encouraged. I hope you have passed this knowledge on (with the usual "If I ever catch you doing this shit, etc") to your sons.

 

[pga43]

I'll take the fireworks over the morons who fire off rifle rounds into the air!

 

[Alphatreedog]

Probably the weirdest and most fun interview I had to do was with the whole PD Bomb Squad when I was applying. Most took place in a formal setting but mine ended up being impromptu on an explosives range.

They asked about all the shit I'd blown up and set fire to in my life. Normal self preservation dictated that I never confess federal crimes to a group of fellow cops and superiors but they were adamant that immunity was in place. They explained that they didn't trust guys who wanted to be Bomb Techs but who hadnt grown up with the insatiable "I wonder what would happen if...." mentality.

We ended up trading stories for a few hours while we took turns making up charges and blowing shit up. As usual it was one of mine that set the range on fire and got us kicked off. I don't know if there was even a vote to decide whether I was on the Squad after that, they just told me when to report for the next training day. Sadly the leadership eventually changed and the new commander figured out how to remove the fun from explosives. How big of a fucking douche does a guy have to be to accomplish that!?!?!?

Reminds me of Andy McNabb ( Hope that's right ) and his account in Bravo Two Zero of sending a palm tree into orbit never to be found . I seem to recall him saying if x amount of explosives would do the job then more equals better . So he used all he had .

 

[hankpac]

By the way. I was reminded by all this, of a moment in time, that shall stay with me for the rest of my life. In fact several of us who were there were just discussing this event.
In Viet Nam, one common factor was that we were all simply kids with some training. Even the oldest of us weren't older than early 20's.
On an operation off of FB Veghel, shortly after it was established (1968), C company was working some mountains just northwest of there. We had discovered several stray 20 mm cannon barrels, buried in the brush, and as we penetrated the triple canopy rain forest, kept finding more and more stuff. It looked like we had disturbed a major transport of weaponry.
We finally stopped for a break, and while one of the guys was off to the side, dealing with a bout of diarrhea he discovered a hidden bunker. Inside were stacks and stacks of small arms ammunition. Literally tons of it, in one bunker. AK ammo, mostly, plus cans full of belted ammo. After he alerted the CO, others started finding bunkers too.
Turns out that this rounded mountain top, had at least 15 bunkers about 15x20 completely buried and completely ful of small arms ammo. Then we started finding artilery ammo. Whatever corresponded to our 105's and 106's. HE, AP, WP, Beehive. An amazing assortment of it either cased and stacked tightly, or loose and piled together. The bunkers were STUFFED. They had taken the time to cover the bunkers and replant small trees on each. Incredible work.
To the south of this huge complex was a deep canyon, about 100 feet across, and about 300 feet deep!
The NVA had built a solid structure along the wall of the canyon out of bamboo, vines and sticks, creating a suspended sidewalk down into the bottom of the canyon, and up on the other side. The CO quickly ordered that all the bunkers would be daisy-chained, and that the entire shitaree would be touched off at one time. Smitty, our engineer got this really wierd look on his face, and said sure, he could do that.
Several of the NCOs, and other guys who just had bad upbringing started using enemy det cord, enemy blasting caps, enemy cases of Semtex or whatever they were using like our C-4, and had us PVT's running det cord spools from bunker to bunker. they transshipped wiley peter rounds distributing them to the other bunkers, and made sure the 20 mm anti aircraft stuff had plenty of stuff to make it burn or explode.
After a couple of hours I was standing near Smitty, and asked him if we were getting close to done, so I could start making my way down into the canyon and across to safety, behind a stand of those large trees with the big supporting buttresses (Ficus as it happens. Of all things, same tree you wife uses in the house!). He mopped his face with his towel, and said, "This is a work of art. You cannot rush art."
Well, as it was, it looked like the NCO's were detailing different groups to leave to the other side, so I joined the platoon RTO, and we went with our platoon down into the canyon and across. It took ua about a half hour, with a stop to fill canteens. We walked casually down slope and got behind a big tree. I peeked around the trunk, and realized that even though i had walked what I thought was a long way, we were still only about 150-200 yards from the men still working on the bunkers. I turned to Fluery, the RTO and he said , "We're fine." I dug out a "hard-core bar" and started munching, and watching.
Finally the last few guys came hustling back and headed past us. I leaned out, saw Smitty bent over working on something, out in the open with his hands cupped. He suddenly jumped up, looked around, shouted, "Fire in the hole!" and started running for all he was worth.
He disappeared from sight as he threw himself down the canyon, onto the walk way, and up the other side.
He appeared on our side, huffing and puffing but still pelting down the trail, as fast as he could possibly go.
He noticed us hiding behind a stree, and skidded to a short halt.
"YOU GUYS ARE TOO CLOSE!"
He ducked into a sprint and continued downhill, as we started to get up. He screamed back over his shoulder, not slowing a bit, "Too late, stay there, cover up!"
Fluery and I fell back against our tree, which was at least 8 feet thick at the base, plus the walls of the buttresses that protected us from the side, at least 4 inches thick, too.We huddled close together, and I pulled my ruck onto my legs. I peeked again around the side of the tree, and could just hear Smitty below us shout, "Any second!"
The BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOmmmmmmmmmmmmm, was felt more that heard, the ground shook, and leaves fell from the trees overhead. The ground on the other side of the canyon seemed to lift for several yards, then disappeared in a huge cloud of dust, smoke, and flames. All over head, for as far as one could see, munitions that had been blasted from the pits was flying and going off like huge firecrackers anywhere from 6 feet to 100 feet over our heads. The crack and boom of all that ordinance exploding combined into a white noise punctuated by explosions large and small. It went on and on.......and on. Eventually quiet descended. Even the constant drone of insects was stilled. The medics scattered around the group started calling out, "Anybody hurt? Everyone OK?" the NCO's and LT's took up the call, and soon everyone reported that no one had been injured. It got quiet again, then soon, from here and there, we began to hear laughing.
The forest rang with peals of laughter for a good 5 minutes. I was thinking to myself, "We must be the biggest idiots or the luckiest idiots in the entire country."
Within a few minutes we had all gotten back into a proper mindset, and continued down the hill, following the canyon direction (Generally south), and eventually joining the Rau Nho River, outside the A Shau Valley. It was there we discovered 33 buried 2.5 ton trucks, and 5 artillery pieces, one of which is at Ft Campbell at the Pratt museum. That is a different story.

 

[Maggot]

By the way. I was reminded by all this, of a moment in time, that shall stay with me for the rest of my life. In fact several of us who were there were just discussing this event.
In Viet Nam, one common factor was that we were all simply kids with some training. Even the oldest of us weren't older than early 20's.
On an operation off of FB Veghel, shortly after it was established (1968), C company was working some mountains just northwest of there. We had discovered several stray 20 mm cannon barrels, buried in the brush, and as we penetrated the triple canopy rain forest, kept finding more and more stuff. It looked like we had disturbed a major transport of weaponry.
We finally stopped for a break, and while one of the guys was off to the side, dealing with a bout of diarrhea he discovered a hidden bunker. Inside were stacks and stacks of small arms ammunition. Literally tons of it, in one bunker. AK ammo, mostly, plus cans full of belted ammo. After he alerted the CO, others started finding bunkers too.
Turns out that this rounded mountain top, had at least 15 bunkers about 15x20 completely buried and completely ful of small arms ammo. Then we started finding artilery ammo. Whatever corresponded to our 105's and 106's. HE, AP, WP, Beehive. An amazing assortment of it either cased and stacked tightly, or loose and piled together. The bunkers were STUFFED. They had taken the time to cover the bunkers and replant small trees on each. Incredible work.
To the south of this huge complex was a deep canyon, about 100 feet across, and about 300 feet deep!
The NVA had built a solid structure along the wall of the canyon out of bamboo, vines and sticks, creating a suspended sidewalk down into the bottom of the canyon, and up on the other side. The CO quickly ordered that all the bunkers would be daisy-chained, and that the entire shitaree would be touched off at one time. Smitty, our engineer got this really wierd look on his face, and said sure, he could do that.
Several of the NCOs, and other guys who just had bad upbringing started using enemy det cord, enemy blasting caps, enemy cases of Semtex or whatever they were using like our C-4, and had us PVT's running det cord spools from bunker to bunker. they transshipped wiley peter rounds distributing them to the other bunkers, and made sure the 20 mm anti aircraft stuff had plenty of stuff to make it burn or explode.
After a couple of hours I was standing near Smitty, and asked him if we were getting close to done, so I could start making my way down into the canyon and across to safety, behind a stand of those large trees with the big supporting buttresses (Ficus as it happens. Of all things, same tree you wife uses in the house!). He mopped his face with his towel, and said, "This is a work of art. You cannot rush art."
Well, as it was, it looked like the NCO's were detailing different groups to leave to the other side, so I joined the platoon RTO, and we went with our platoon down into the canyon and across. It took ua about a half hour, with a stop to fill canteens. We walked casually down slope and got behind a big tree. I peeked around the trunk, and realized that even though i had walked what I thought was a long way, we were still only about 150-200 yards from the men still working on the bunkers. I turned to Fluery, the RTO and he said , "We're fine." I dug out a "hard-core bar" and started munching, and watching.
Finally the last few guys came hustling back and headed past us. I leaned out, saw Smitty bent over working on something, out in the open with his hands cupped. He suddenly jumped up, looked around, shouted, "Fire in the hole!" and started running for all he was worth.
He disappeared from sight as he threw himself down the canyon, onto the walk way, and up the other side.
He appeared on our side, huffing and puffing but still pelting down the trail, as fast as he could possibly go.
He noticed us hiding behind a stree, and skidded to a short halt.
"YOU GUYS ARE TOO CLOSE!"
He ducked into a sprint and continued downhill, as we started to get up. He screamed back over his shoulder, not slowing a bit, "Too late, stay there, cover up!"
Fluery and I fell back against our tree, which was at least 8 feet thick at the base, plus the walls of the buttresses that protected us from the side, at least 4 inches thick, too.We huddled close together, and I pulled my ruck onto my legs. I peeked again around the side of the tree, and could just hear Smitty below us shout, "Any second!"
The BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOmmmmmmmmmmmmm, was felt more that heard, the ground shook, and leaves fell from the trees overhead. The ground on the other side of the canyon seemed to lift for several yards, then disappeared in a huge cloud of dust, smoke, and flames. All over head, for as far as one could see, munitions that had been blasted from the pits was flying and going off like huge firecrackers anywhere from 6 feet to 100 feet over our heads. The crack and boom of all that ordinance exploding combined into a white noise punctuated by explosions large and small. It went on and on.......and on. Eventually quiet descended. Even the constant drone of insects was stilled. The medics scattered around the group started calling out, "Anybody hurt? Everyone OK?" the NCO's and LT's took up the call, and soon everyone reported that no one had been injured. It got quiet again, then soon, from here and there, we began to hear laughing.
The forest rang with peals of laughter for a good 5 minutes. I was thinking to myself, "We must be the biggest idiots or the luckiest idiots in the entire country."
Within a few minutes we had all gotten back into a proper mindset, and continued down the hill, following the canyon direction (Generally south), and eventually joining the Rau Nho River, outside the A Shau Valley. It was there we discovered 33 buried 2.5 ton trucks, and 5 artillery pieces, one of which is at Ft Campbell at the Pratt museum. That is a different story.

Damn, I guess Ill just keep my M-80 in the outhouse story to my self

 

[bogeybrown]

Reminds me of Andy McNabb ( Hope that's right ) and his account in Bravo Two Zero of sending a palm tree into orbit never to be found . I seem to recall him saying if x amount of explosives would do the job then more equals better . So he used all he had .

Yep, in calculating shots, "p" is used in equations as the quantity of explosives required to accomplish the task. The running joke is that "p" stands for "plenty"

I went to a school that was basically explosives camp for lunatics. They let us play with everything we wanted and experiment with all manner of shit. BUT, the final exam was a series of tasks working with explosives, and if you used too much on a shot you'd get an unacceptable result and fail. It was a funny moment as they were explaining that "more isn't always better" and all the pyros amongst us were shaking our heads at the heresay of it. They were right though, and we learned when we could use "all we had" and when you'd fail to do what you wanted by using "too much" bang.

I still can't bring myself to say "too much explosives" with a straight face

 

[Sean the Nailer]

"Everything you got" is always "a good start"!

 

[Maggot]

"Everything you got" is always "a good start"!

And

"If it goes boom its alright with me"

 

[Maser]

If your Independence Day doesn't involve diesel fuel mixed with fertilizer, then you're not a real Patriot!

 

[hankpac]

Damn, I guess Ill just keep my M-80 in the outhouse story to my self

NO, Dude, I want to hear it. An M-80 in the outhouse is RIFE with possibilities. Besides, i have another one for later that is pretty close for stupidity. Same engineer, about a 2 weeks before the story above.