[Milsurplus] Truk stuff

[Gordon Smith]

At 04:06 PM 12/31/2021, CL in NC via Milsurplus wrote:
>I ponder the reasoning behind the US keeping folks off of all those 
>islands we blasted into the next realm during WW II, where nature 
>has totally restored them.  First guess is that if they did allow 
>visitation without permission folks would walk it to death, pick the 
>flowers, and trash it up.  Like many things government, visitation 
>to those places is for government employees only, and anybody else 
>needs special dispensation from every acronymed government office on 
>the planet.  15 and 16 inch rifles on those battle ships plowed the 
>fields back then, but now, your Keds are not welcome.
>
>Charlie, W4MEC in NC

Hi Charlie,
I think I can answer that question for you. It has to do with 
unexploded ordnance and the liability if said ordnance blows up when 
someone stumbles over it and it kills them by blowing up.  This is 
not an unfounded fear. I was part of EODMU 1 (Explosive Ordnance 
Disposal Mobil Unit 1) in the early 90's and one of it's missions was 
to find and dispose of unexploded munitions on the Hawaiian island of 
Kahoolawe. Kahoolawe was used as a Naval Test target for ships guns 
from the 1920's to 1990 and was heavily populated with unexploded 
munitions. We used to send a large group of people over to the island 
at least once a year for 2-3 weeks, search for unexploded munitions 
and shell remains, gather them up and then blow them up at the end of 
the search time.

73, Gordon KJ6IKT