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 They do it on some of the best bits of Northumberland too; not that that is any consolation 
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  The army argues that its custodianship of these such places constitutes the protection that has helped keep such areas extra pristine and wild in unuse though.
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They'v gotta do it someplace, but why here? It's not as bad as it used to be re. live shells lying around, but I still come across live rifle shells in quantity. It's not possible to walk when and where you want in Southern Englands last 'wilderness'
Oh come on! The Army has to train with live ammunition and it is probably better to use large, uninhabited areas like North Dartmoor. Where else do you suggest? London?
Losing access to parts of the North Moor for some days each year is a small sacrifice on our part compared to the sacrifice that these soldiers may be called upon to make. The loss of some live ammunition is not ideal but inevitable in fast-moving infantry manoeuvres. A modern rifle cartridge is not, in itself, particularly dangerous unless either the primer is struck or it is subjected to fire.
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 Or if it is put in a vice! As a kid on my mum's street found out during world war two! He lost an eye!
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Yes London; far more useful for training against the 'war on terror' - look at Gaza as an example
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If you use pliers to take out the actual bullet head bit, then the powder within the cartridge has survival fire lighting uses in an emergency. Note - this is only for use in emergencies for expedient firelighting!
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 So what happens after half past eight then?
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Ed, they train on Salisbury plain for that! At Dovecot, the German village, a fibua training small town setting of empty house buildings shells. Just the bare bones of buildings, used to train for street to street and house to house fighting! What I always used to hate though was wandering around it afterwards picking up all of the spent brass from the blanks fired. It takes a while after an exercise, as there are potentially thousands of brass casings there to be picked up and sent in for recycling! Brass is an expensive commodity see!
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| Edited: 28/01/09 18:12 |
But there are no soft innocent civilians there Trevor; no wonder they always screw it up 
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 If you use pliers to take out the actual bullet head bit, then the powder within the cartridge has survival fire lighting uses in an emergency. Note - this is only for use in emergencies for expedient firelighting! I'll remember that next time I find myself with damp tinder & need to light my Honey stove. "Well, you see officer, the 5.56 ammunition is only for firelighting purposes. What do you mean, 'put on this Brazil football jersey & run in that direction'?"
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And they get to use blanks too!
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.JPG) 1: It's a National Park and is supposed to have some sort of protected status and be accessible. 2: It's a pretty huge part of the North Moor which is often not accessible. A modern rifle cartridge is not, in itself, particularly dangerous unless either the primer is struck or it is subjected to fire.
Seen that done by teenage boys on the Moor - with hexamine pretty loud bang - lucky(pretty daft lads- 'trained' army cadets funnily enough!) My father found a whole steel ammo case full of live rounds last year... There was a boy who lost his hand (or similarly bad injury) when picked up ux mortar shell on North Moor (1980's I know but still an issue)
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 lol CB!
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There were a couple of unlucky Guardsmen digging in shellscrapes on the North York moors a few years ago, hit a bueried old moartar round and were very badly injured, both invalided out of the army.
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This is open to accusations a little of Nimbyism though Mole. If you had said "Why the BBNP - why the Pembrokshire NP, and as others have pointed out, why any of the areas in the UK that are plagued by this? Of course they have to train somewhere, BUT what relevance remote Welsh/English hillside has on modern theatres of war is open to question I suppose where the only "recent" conflict that bore any resemblance was the Falklands. We have a "German village" too in the BBNP, and it was built on the basis of the cold war, although I suppose you could argue that flushing buildings is similar wherever you are in the world!
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 This is open to accusations a little of Nimbyism though Mole. If you had said "Why the BBNP - why the Pembrokshire NP, and as others have pointed out, why any of the areas in the UK that are plagued by this?
Steady on there Tony! Accusations of nimbyism seem a little harsh when Mole simply started the thread in relation to the OM news article regarding military training on Dartmoor! 
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Yes Matt, exactly as people only complain when they find housing estates or roads or airport extentions being built near to them, by reading planning articles/news stories too!
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| Edited: 28/01/09 18:45 |
I am not accusing anyone of Nimbyism Matt, I said it could be open to accusations of such, especially given the tone of the OP with all the angry smileys! (Why is Dartmoor so special in this respect?)
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| Edited: 28/01/09 18:51 |
This is open to accusations a little of Nimbyism though Mole. If you had said "Why the BBNP - why the Pembrokshire NP, and as others have pointed out, why any of the areas in the UK that are plagued by this?
It is my stomping ground As Matt points out - thread was started in relation to the news about Dartmoor..... But I agree - No National Park ought to be used for the sort of training which excludes the public for significant chunks of the year. Dartmoor has been used for best part of 200 years. I don't think the army needs to totally remove itself. What I dispute is that they actually need all that space for training. - if you walk around in the wildest parts within the ranges, there's rarely any sign of recent activity - I think that they are just loath to let go of land that the MOD regards as 'theirs' (- Much of itis actually Prince Charles's- don't hear him moaning about that - probably gets rent for 'useless' land). It's like as if say, most of the Kinder Plateau was closed to the public regularly whilst only a tenth of is actually used for training. 2033 my arse
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