M72 found along highway in BC

[pbi]

I was Bn Orderly Sgt one night and read the log as I was bored. A few months earlier a disgruntled wife (hell hath no fury...) reported that her dearly beloved corporal hubby had a stash of pyro, including an M 72, para flares, smk gren etc.

Was that 3PP? I recall a case in Vic while I was there  involving a guy in Recce Pl who had accumulated a frightening pile of ammo, explosives and pyro in his house, mostly while being a TDM sentry or ammo handler during live fire trg (Cbt Sp Coy often got dinged with running those ranges, if you recall...) I can't recall who turned him in, but when the MPs got the news, it was decided to evacuate the houses around his PMQ for safety.

At his court martial in the Dockyard, the list of items covered a full page of 8 1/2 by 11 paper. His defence was that he was planning to go to Africa as a merc, and was setting up his own "personal training programme". Can't recall the sentence, but the case reminds me that weapon and ammo thefts were not at all uncommon in the 80s and 90s, including Vic, Wainwright, Shilo, Timmins, Brantford, Pet and other locations.

Cheers

 

[Devlin]

Sadly it doesn't boggle the mind too much that these guys decided to play with it and take hero pics with the M72...guess Darwin is alive and well somewhere. My 8 year old has more sense than this

 

[57Chevy]

I did hear at one time of someone using det cord for a clothsline 
It might be the same one as pbi mentions. ;D

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

2 Charlie and 57 the lots will tell you which unit used them but if there were 100 in the lot and different units got a certain number from that lot you could very well be dealing with many units.

According to this article and the good Sgt we no longer use them.  We may not be using the model that was found but we are using them still.

http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/cbc-article.aspx?cp-documentid=26164060

A picture of the sights would be able to help with the model.

 

[medicineman]

God forbid they actually ask someone who is currently serving - not someone who got to shoot the original one  :.

MM

 

[Franko]

A Vietnam vet who never served in Canada....awesome reporting. Wonder by who?

By CBC News, cbc.ca, Updated: October 30, 2010 9:05 PM

Fail.

 

[Michael OLeary]

Gerry Flowers
United States Marine Corps (Ret.)

http://www.mooresmarauders.org/gerry_flowers.htm

1968-1971: United States Marine Corps: Sergeant 2nd CAG, Vietnam

Summary: Duties included all aspects of team planning, equipment, armament, mapping and tactics for ambush, mission accomplishment, and safe egress (or medevac) or a highly trained, highly motivated team of young marines.

Obviously, it's impossible to find anyone on the left coast that might have more current (or even Canadian) military experience.

 

[57Chevy]

Being a self contained weapon, I find it hard to believe that this would be a result of someone removing it from a
range practice as the salvage of such is duly accounted for.
Quote:
"Upon notification that a user has not returned or accounted for its self contained weapons and salvage a review of its EXPENDITURE sheet/range clearance sheet will be conducted. If the discrepancies are not corrected the Ammunition Technical Officer will then inform the commanding officer. The CO will then determine by the information given to him by the ATO if a formal military police investigation is required."

Self Contained Weapons

 

[AmmoTech90]

Don't know any details about the find itself, but from the pictures the following is clear:

It had a projectile in it.  Note I don't say a live projectile, because DISPLAY items are made to look as realistic as possible and with the quality of pictures that cannot be ruled out.

It is a M72A3 or earlier.  That means IF it was in Canadian service, it was over a decade ago or so.  This is evident from the design of the rear cover that hinges down, current ones are padded and black.

Two theories:
1.  This was lost back in the mists of times (10 to 40 years ago) and just found.  I've seen older stuff in just as good condition on ranges, weathering is a funny thing.

2.  One of Canada's friendly neighborhood organized crime groups acquired it and had to ditch it.  Bikers, Asian gangs, etc, could have acquired one from overseas.

 

[Old Sweat]

While one cannot take chances, and the warhead would probably still be live, is there a possibility that moisture has contaminated the rocket motor and/our the firing mechanism? In other words, how good is the seal of the front and rear covers?

Don't get me wrong. Potentially this was a very dangerous situation, and the old adage about God protecting fools (and drunks) from themselves was never truer.

 

[George Wallace]

While one cannot take chances, and the warhead would probably still be live, is there a possibility that moisture has contaminated the rocket motor and/our the firing mechanism? In other words, how good is the seal of the front and rear covers?

The photos showed the end caps already off and the launcher fully extended.  Once the mfr seal has been broken, even if the caps are put back on, it is no longer guaranteed to be watertight.

 

[AmmoTech90]

Most susceptible component to water ingress is the igniter.  If you look at the photo showing the rear of the projectile, the white/translucent plug in the venturi is the ignite which contains BP.  BP is very hygroscopic.  The white ring you can see in the photo between the igniter and venturi is basically caulking to waterproof the inside of the rocket motor.  There are black spots on it, could be removed caulking, or more likely, dirt that has fallen in.

 

[medicineman]

Obviously, it's impossible to find anyone on the left coast that might have more current (or even Canadian) military experience.

They coldn't get me at home - I was Base Duty Warrant  ;D.

Something AT90 noted though - since a certain high profile bike gang owns alot of turf up Island, they may well have accidentally lost it  :.

MM

 

[Michael OLeary]

They couldn't get me at home - - I was Base Duty Warrant

Perhaps you were unavailable because of your onerous and secretive duties, but with the number of reporters trolling this site for juicy rumours, you'd think they could have picked out a fact or two to go with a current national story. And maybe even asked a question for clarification.    :

 

[medicineman]

If it makes sense, do the opposite, right?

MM

 

[CEEBEE501]

It seams that I Had incorrect information earlier, and thus made a incorrect correlation between 2 separate events

 

[The Bread Guy]

And now it's too late, the M72 will henceforth and forever be known as a "self-propelled rocket launcher", now ranking higher than the Katyusha and MLRS in Google.

When it's not known as a "bazooka", that is.....

Use of Bamberton for 1980s military exercises may help answer how a loaded rocket launcher ended up in brush near the Malahat Drive last week.

Maureen Alexander of the Bamberton Historical Society suspects the grenade launcher, found by logger Steve Taylor Oct. 28, may be a weapon lost or stolen during those manoeuvres by cops and soldiers nearly 30 years ago.

The time frame basically fits the vintage of the Canadian-made NATO-stamped M72 bazooka a navy agent stated might have origins in the late 1970s ....

More from the Cowichan News Leader Pictorial here.

 

[Greymatters]

Well, youve got to realize that the Cowichan News Leader isnt exactly your modern state-of-the-art paper and their staff arent all Pulitzer Prize winners.  We're mostly happy that they got the part right where they described it as a weapon.  Although whether its a rocket launcher, grenade launcher or bazooka is kind of up in the air.  Thank God we have the Bamberton Historical Society around to help us clear that up...    :

 

[Nostix]

It could be worse. Many people around my neighborhood solely read the University of Victoria's student newspaper.  It makes the Cowichan News Leader look like the New York Times.

As of press time, the Canadian Forces base in Esquimalt has been evasive about the possibility that the launcher might be one of theirs. Lt.-Cmdr. Nathalie Garcia from Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt has conceded, “We have similar launchers in our inventory.”

So how long does it take to nip out to the storage shed and see if all that inventory is there? How is it that, almost a week after the fact, the base has yet to give any further statement? Would we sit back and say, “In your own time, dear soldiers,” if that launcher had been found a few kilometres closer to our homes? What if someone unearthed it here on campus

More from the Martlet (If you dare, it gets far more childish) here.

This is apparently a legitimate source of community news.

 

[Haggis]

Maybe a better approach would be for DND to say "Yes, we are investigating and comparing the information on the launcher (i.e. lot number) and the circumstances of it's discovery and recovery against our past and present inventories and activities.  To say anything more at this point would be speculation.  Once the source of this item is known we will be in a better position to possibly determine how it got there and who may have been involved, but we do not yet have that information."

There.  Done.