ABSTRACT
Military explosive ordnance has been utilized throughout the world for centuries. As such, it continues to be discovered in various locations: from former battlefields, along coastlines from failed deepwater disposal operations, on military ranges, and in homes of souvenir hunters and collectors of military paraphernalia. Although some of the found ordnance may not contain explosives, much of it does, and it may indiscriminately detonate and kill those near it. Yes, U.S. Civil War cannonballs from the 1800s can explode with the same lethal effects as more than 100 years ago. The wide variety of modern explosive ordnance can detonate with devastating effects, whether on the battlefield or in the hands of collectors. Scores of unwitting people, both military and civilians, are maimed and killed each year by handling military explosive ordnance, some of which has become more sensitive by being damaged or by having deteriorated from the weather or careless handling. Indeed, it is in the hands of children and collectors that most first responders encounter unexploded military ordnance. In many cases the individual possessing the ordnance will state authoritatively that the item is totally inert and harmless. Unfortunately, most people have no familiarity with the ordnance and, for whatever reason, “think” that it is inert when it really is not. However, there is another, more sinister possibility that the first responder and the investigator may find explosive-filled military ordnance in the hands of criminals and terrorists.