Who else lives in a FUDS?

[coastalrichard]

Got a letter from the Army Corps of Engineers..."Our records indicate that your property is within a Formerly Used Defense Site (FUDS) known as Camp Gordon Johnston...Please be aware that military munitions could still be present. These could be dangerous and may not be easily recognizable". Yikes!

 

[rockyrude]

Re: Who else lives in a FUDS?

I guess post holes are out of the question now.

 

[halfmoa]

Re: Who else lives in a FUDS?

Got a letter from the Army Corps of Engineers..."Our records indicate that your property is within a Formerly Used Defense Site (FUDS) known as Camp Gordon Johnston...Please be aware that military munitions could still be present. These could be dangerous and may not be easily recognizable". Yikes!

Holy schnikies! If you lived closer I'd ask if I could come over with my new metal detector.

Were you aware of the history of the property before you received the letter? Seems like the kind of thing someone would've mentioned along the way...

 

[Summer Fun]

Re: Who else lives in a FUDS?

I'll come down with my metal detector for a small fee and a boat ride.

 

[JRJ]

Re: Who else lives in a FUDS?

If you need any holes dug, have them come over to investigate

 

[coastalrichard]

Re: Who else lives in a FUDS?

Everyone locally knows that Camp Gordon Johnston was used as an amphibious landing training facility (for the D-Day invasion) and that both Dog Island and St. George Island were targets for strafing practice. This notice would have been real nice last year when I cleared another acre in my back yard

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: Who else lives in a FUDS?

Reminds me of a job my cousin was telling me about.

He was mechanical engineer (retired) that worked for an engineering company down in Maryland. They would bid on and win allot of military/government contracts primarily for land remediation. One of those contracts was to clear an old artillery testing ground. He said it was unbelievable how much stuff they dug up when they were cleaning the place up. They were encountering undetonated live mortars with the tail end sticking up out of the ground at an angle. My other cousin (his son) who was working with him at the time said the hairiest thing that happened on the job site was when they were screening the dirt on a big screening rig. A loader came over and dumped a load of dirt on the running screener. As the dirt and rocks fell away, all the sudden it was clear that handful of hand grenades were bouncing on the top of the running screener. From what I was told, the guy monitoring the screener ran pretty darn quick to jump in, and lay down in the bucket of a Bobcat.

 

[bassman284]

Re: Who else lives in a FUDS?

Definitely a "call before digging" situation. Link of an event in Iowa a couple of days ago:

Dug before calling

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: Who else lives in a FUDS?

Definitely a "call before digging" situation. Link of an event in Iowa a couple of days ago:

Dug before calling

I was under the impression the Dig Safe folks locate utilities by following maps and such made by the utility companies when they buried the lines. Maybe I'm wrong? Don't think the military charted where every munition landed when they were playing with that stuff...

 

[bassman284]

Re: Who else lives in a FUDS?

I was under the impression the Dig Safe folks locate utilities by following maps and such made by the utility companies when they buried the lines. Maybe I'm wrong? Don't think the military charted where every munition landed when they were playing with that stuff...

Oh I'm sure they are not charted and would require some intense searching to find. I guess the point I should have made was that if it was my place, I'd rather have someone else doing the search. I got blown up by LP about 35 years ago and didn't really like it. Fortunately it was a relatively small blast and my damage was limited to losing the hair on my hands and lower forearms and minor hand burns. Still fairly memorable.

 

[Captain Shikaboo]

Re: Who else lives in a FUDS?

My neighbor was metal detecting on a FUDS site (he didn't know it at the time) he found an old ammo box with a bunch of love letters from the 60's. Pretty cool.

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: Who else lives in a FUDS?

I guess the point I should have made was that if it was my place, I'd rather have someone else doing the search.

Agreed.
I Just don't think the folks at Dig Safe would be keen on finding live ordnance that's now deteriorated, and could have a shorter temper. Sounds more like a job for a specialist, and I bet the former land owner isn't picking up the tab.

I got blown up by LP about 35 years ago and didn't really like it.

Short of the moron who gets fired out of the cannon at the circus (it's a job right?), I can't imagine many people would.

 

[NYBo]

Re: Who else lives in a FUDS?

Just think of the lead content of the soil! No vegetable gardening in that stuff.

 

[minuteman62-64]

Re: Who else lives in a FUDS?

Don't live in one, but worked in one for a number of years - in the Tierrasanta neighborhood of San Diego. The rains would wash out channels that would expose old shells and other ordinance. Obviously a great attraction for neighborhood kids. Came to a head in the late 1980's when some kids were fooling around with an old morter shell and it exploded, killing one of them. After that, DoD came in and did a more thorough cleanup (was supposed to have been cleaned up when the land was sold to developers).

 

[angus63]

Re: Who else lives in a FUDS?

My first job out of college was dragging for surf clams and processing them thru a 90 million btu oven. Often picked up unexploded bombs around the target islands on the east end of Long Island. Had a kid watching the conveyor full time for salvage and bombs. Bombs would cost me hours of downtime to have the Nat Grd come out for removal. Had a one hundred fifty lb bomb go thru the system once. Luckily it was breached and watersoaked.

 

[Philip_G]

Re: Who else lives in a FUDS?

well, I suppose now that you know it has to be disclosed if you ever sell the place.