UXO Claimed to be Inert

In the past, some EOD personnel often told civilians that the ordnance recovered was inert. These innocent white lies comforted the civilians and made the military look better. However, because the emergency EOD units usually deal with the ordnance item that was unearthed and do not initiate a full-scale cleanup, this practice of deception throws other governmental agencies, like the EPA or state, off the track and can result in very bad stuff still buried. 

EOD training is often incomplete. Eor example, it is usually given by one branch of service for their ordnance and only for current inventory items. Thus, EOD teams responding to a call for assistance from police may encounter ordnance unfamiliar to them (i.e., the Dover AFB EOD encountering a World War I field artillery 75-mm mustard shell). 

There are also practice bombs. In the author s experience, they were seldom used. Indeed, many of the current confrontations over closing active ranges result from the resounding military chorus that they must practice with live ordnance. There is a logical synapse between ordnance called inert when found by civilians and the need to practice with live ordnance. 

Nitrostarch was also used in wartime as a bomb explosive. It looks like flour in fact, it is flour with the additional spice of nitrogen. And some spice it is Funny how words like cement and flour, often used to describe inert ordnance, bring to mind other words like liars and fools.  

---