Ammo flight turns in 51K pounds of munitions residue, $424K in excess material

Published Aug. 10, 2011
By Senior Airman David Carbajal
451st Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- It's not uncommon for service members to want to drop a few pounds while deployed. In three months, one unit on base has dropped about 25 tons of excess weight.

The 451st Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron munitions flight has turned in about 51,000 pounds of munitions residue and more than $424,000 in excess munitions containers as part of an ongoing disposal project.

The excess material was turned into the installation's Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office to be recycled either here or at stateside locations.

"We turned in 15 aircraft pallets of 30 mm residue alone," said Tech. Sgt. Thomas McMasters, the unit's senior munitions inspector. "The residue we turned in is very valuable and can be reused in the future."

Most of the "residue" the unit turned in was casings from 30 mm and M206 munitions.

The 30 mm rounds are primarily used by the 74th Fighter Squadron's A-10 Thunderbolt IIs to return fire in hostile situations. The M206 infrared countermeasures munitions are used by U.S. and NATO forces to counter heat-seeking missiles shot at their aircraft.

When the aircraft return from combat sorties, the munitions casings are extracted from the aircraft and taken to ammo for disposal.

Before the excess can be turned in, members of the flight must perform a complete inventory of the materials, and certify the items free of explosives.

"We take an in-depth look of the condition of the containers and the residue," said Staff Sgt. Rebecca Montelius, munitions crew chief. "This gives us a good opportunity to ensure the munitions are safe before we turn them in to DRMO."

Recently, the unit made that opportunity count; they found more than 20,000 unexploded ordnance components and five live M206 flares.

"This definitely isn't a normal occurrence," said McMasters. "But we took the necessary steps in order to remove the hazards and ensure the safety of our troops and the DRMO personnel who handle these assets."

The necessary steps were time-consuming ones.

"It took two eight-person teams, working dual shifts for about a month to completely recertify the residue which led to the discovery of the live rounds in the expended residue," said McMasters.

The flight earned July's U.S. Air Force Central Command unit safety award of distinction for discovering and disposing of the unexpended rounds.

Ammo also turned in nearly 1,240 munitions containers to DRMO. Similar to the munitions casings, the containers are reusable and can be reutilized. Munitions specialists place the value of these containers at $424,145.

"Safety is our primary concern," said 1st Lt. Jonathan Tolman, munitions flight commander. "But in this case, we were also able to be efficient with our resources."