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AP investigation: U.S. military explosives vanish, emerge in civilian world

Grenades, plastic explosives, land mines and rockets have been stolen from or lost by armed forces

By Kristin M. Hall, Justin Pritchard and James LaPorta, Associated Press
Published: December 4, 2021, 5:14pm
3 Photos
Stolen military fragmentation grenades found in a home in Quantico, Virginia, on Jan. 19, 2010.
Stolen military fragmentation grenades found in a home in Quantico, Virginia, on Jan. 19, 2010. (Naval Criminal Investigative Service via AP) Photo Gallery

The Marine Corps demolition specialist was worried — about America, and about the civil war he feared would follow the presidential election.

And so, block by block, he stole 13 pounds of C4 plastic explosives from the training ranges of Camp Lejeune.

“The riots, talk about seizing guns, I saw this country moving towards a scary unknown future,” the sergeant would later write, in a seven-page statement to military investigators. “I had one thing on my mind and one thing only, I am protecting my family and my constitutional rights.”

His crime might have gone undetected, but authorities caught a lucky break in 2018 as they investigated yet another theft from Lejeune, the massive base on coastal North Carolina. In that other case, explosives ended up in the hands of high school students.

These are not isolated cases. Hundreds — possibly thousands — of armor-piercing grenades, hundreds of pounds of plastic explosives, as well as land mines and rockets have been stolen from or lost by the U.S. armed forces over the past decade, according to an ongoing Associated Press investigation into the military’s failure to secure all of its weapons of war. Still more explosives were reported missing and later recovered.

Troops falsified records to cover up some thefts and, in other cases, didn’t report explosives as missing, investigative files show. Sometimes, they failed to safeguard explosives in the first place.

The consequences can be deadly.

In August, an artillery shell exploded at a Mississippi recycling yard. Chris Smith suddenly found himself cradling a co-worker who was bleeding profusely from his legs. The man died right there.

“For no reason at all,” Smith said in an interview.

Two days later, an intact shell was found at the scrap yard.

The AP unearthed dozens of explosives investigations by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Army Criminal Investigation Command and Defense Criminal Investigative Service. In the majority of these 63 cases, the military didn’t realize any explosives were gone until someone recovered them where they shouldn’t be.

These were not rusty war trophies cast out of Grandpa’s attic. They were taken from military shipments or bases.

Military officials said thieves in the ranks are a small minority of service members and that — compared to overall stockpiles — the numbers of lost or stolen explosives are minuscule.

“We want to get the number to zero, so there is no loss, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t take seriously losses that happened,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Uriah Orland said.

The AP’s AWOL Weapons investigation has shown that poor accountability and insider thefts have led to the loss of more than 2,000 military firearms since 2010. Some guns were used in civilian crimes, found on felons or sold to a street gang.

In response, Congress is set to require that the military give lawmakers detailed loss and theft reports every year.

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