Gear adrift is not always, as the saying goes, a gift.
Such was the case for a few neighborhoods in the Killeen, Texas, area, where various forms of ordnance mysteriously appeared Friday night after reportedly going missing from nearby Fort Hood.
Once base personnel realized there was ordnance unaccounted for, Army representatives contacted the Killeen Police Department to assist in the retrieval process, the Killeen Daily Herald reported.
The munitions were found stored across a number of homes, spread out across four different neighborhoods like an ordnance William Wallace.
“The ordnance was training ammunition and was not high explosive ordnance,” a base statement said.
“They took the ordnance from a live-fire training exercise that was conducted at Fort Hood, April 18, and the soldiers were not authorized to remove the ordnance from the post. All missing ordnance has been recovered."
Sometimes you bring home a little groceries. Sometimes a little ordnance.
Five soldiers have since been apprehended and are under “military control,” the Fort Hood statement said.
The report did not specify how the ordnance was located, but did say an explosive ordnance team from Fort Hood was called in to assist in the recovery.
The Killeen Fire department also joined the retrieval effort.
“I felt very unsafe about it, especially knowing my kids were here and I wasn’t present, so I had to rush over here and figure out what was going on,” Killeen resident, Christina Sparacello, told Big Country News.
All munitions were safely recovered on the same night as being reported missing, the report said, and residents were allowed to return to their homes.
The Army’s Criminal Investigation Division is investigating the incident and will make additional information available as the investigation proceeds.
Jon Simkins is the executive editor for Military Times and Defense News, and a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War.
