The mortar shell was fitted with a webcam and caught the feline's final moments:
Posted on 04/12/2008 7:29:57 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
A piece of artillery apparently misfired yesterday from the Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County and landed about 2 1/2 miles away, crashing into the roof of a house in the Oak Ridge section of Jefferson Township and onto a child's bed, authorities said.
No one was hurt in the incident, which occurred between 2 and 3 p.m., but the family cat was killed, Jefferson police said.
Picatinny officials said last evening they are investigating the incident. Officials from the base sent an explosive ordnance team to the home to investigate.
Picatinny officials said tonight they are investigating the incident. Officials from the base sent an explosive ordnance team to the home to investigate.
The base commander, Brig. Gen. William Phillips, and Lt. Col. John Stack also visited the home tonight, post spokesman Peter Rowland said.
"We sent an explosive ordnance team to look into the matter," Rowland said. "I can't confirm it, but I can't rule it out either."
The base commander, Brig. Gen. William Phillips, and Lt. Col. John Stack also visited the home last evening, post spokesman Peter Rowland said.
The homeowner heard a loud noise of something crashing through the roof and found the fragment had struck her 10-year-old daughter's bed. Her daughter, Casandra, was not home at the time, Detective Joe Kratzel of the Jefferson Township police said.
"Thank God my daughter was not here," said the homeowner, Cheryl Angle of Longwood Lake Road. "My daughter would have been in that bed."
Family members said Casandra had been picked up 20 minutes earlier to go to a sleepover at a friend's house. A 14-year-old son, Brandon, was home at the time.
Because the shell set a blanket smoldering, family members feared it might have started a house fire.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Weird.
Some cats just need killin’.
(Relax, I’m kidding a little bit.)
Somebody is going to get courtmartialed for this...
And the gubberment is going to get sued.
The kitty got zotted
This is no doubt a cover up for space aliens. I bet there have been several reports of UFO sightings lately. A stray bomb that just happens to take out the family cat? suspicious.
There's a huge hole in the roof. The little girl's bed is smoldering. The cat is dead and this is their reply: "We sent an explosive ordnance team to look into the matter," Rowland said. "I can't confirm it, but I can't rule it out either."
Duke Bush denied being anywhere near New Jersey at the time.
The Cat Came Back back
Chorus:
Oh! The cat came back, the very next day.
Oh the cat came back, he thought he was a goner.
But the cat came back, he just couldn’t stay away, away, away, HEY HEY HEY!
Lyrics:
Old Man Johnson had troubles of his own.
He had a yellow cat that wouldn’t leave his home.
He tried and he tried, to give that cat away.
He gave him to a man going far, far away.
Chorus.
He gave it to a man going up in a balloon.
He told ‘em to give it to the Man in the Moon.
The balloon came down about 90 miles away.
But where that man is today I can not say!
Chorus.
He gave him to a boy with a dollar note,
Told him to take up the river in a boat,
Tied a rock round its neck must have weighed a hundred pounds,
And now they’re dredging the river for the little boy who drowned.
Chorus.
He gave it to a man goin’ way out West.
He told him to give it to the one he loved best.
The train hit the curve, and then jumped the rail.
And no one is alive today to tell the gruesome tale!
Chorus.
Old Man Johnson swore he’d shoot that cat on sight!
He loaded up his shotgun with rail of dynamite.
He waited and he waited for that cat to come around.
But 97 pieces of that man were all they found!
Chorus.
The A-Bomb fell, just the other day!
The H-Bomb fell in the the very same way.
First went England. Awwwww.. (one singer should drop)
Then went Iraq. Yay! (another singer should drop)
But then the U S A.. awww... (last or all singers should drop)
The human race,
was destroyed,
with out a chance to praaaaaaaaaay...
-pause-
BUT!!
The cat came back, the very next day.
Oh the cat came back, he thought he was a goner.
But the cat came back, he just couldn’t stay away, away, away, HEY HEY HEY!
LOL, after the 8th one is gone it's a short walk.
Not to take away from the seriousness of an incident like this ——— but why would a 10 year old be in bed at 2 to 3 PM in the afternoon?
“A piece of artillery”?
Where do journalists get their degrees, and do they teach the English language there?
Ignorance lives!
Some LT can kiss his career goodbye.
Aside from paying for the repairs and paying for the cat, what are the damages? The government will pay for those things without a lawsuit. If a person was injured or died, a whole different story.
The mortar shell was fitted with a webcam and caught the feline's final moments:
The way it’s written it sounds like the piece of artillery landed in the kids room.
As that great man T.S. Garp once proposed .........that is the safest damn house in America now.....what are the odds that it could happen again !!
Those muzzle fookers are pretty accurate ! Anyone else here claim to be able to hit a cat from that far away ?!!?
/sarc
OK, I am so gonna bill you for a new monitor.
Right after my A— quits rolling on the floor in laughter.
This reads weird. Or maybe I am just too sleepy.
Are they trying to say that an artillery unit fired a shell that struck a civilian home?
If thats the case, someone damn well needs to sue and a General needs to be fired, if not courtmartialed.
Some have a weird sense of humor. The killing of a cat is not funny.
They still haven't figured what's in the water in Jersey, have they?
Not, it isn't funny that, per se, a cat was killed.
But, considering that ordnance dropped from the sky and could demolished a house or people and all that happened was a kitty got nailed and blanket set smouldering, that qualifies as ridiculous.
You sound like a lay member of PETA.
***
New Jersey. Weird things for weird people.
Is that barack hussein obama?
Nope, my longest shot on a feline was maybe 50 feet with a .22 rifle. Used to get them closer with a 12 ga especially when pheasant hunting. They are death on rabbits and birds. We have house cats now, but they run when the door is opened. I think they would have a heart attack if they were ever thrown outside.
“A piece of artillery” is a perfectly acceptable phrase. However, in this context, it is used incorrectly. An artillery piece is the cannon itself, not the munition. The munition is called a shell or a round, never a piece, but then this is the Star Ledger.
If not in school at the time, maybe grounded? Maybe playing in her room? Reading (God forbid...). Lots of reasons.
Poor demon cat.
yes;and if it missfired it didn’t do anything.
Killing a cat - Not funny.
Artillery piece malfunctions - Not funny.
Killing a cat, inside a house (i.e. not aimed at the cat) with an artillery piece from more than 2 miles away - Come on.... That's sort of funny.
It brings up all sorts of funny, but bad taste comments, like...
That'll teach them not to get their cat licensed!
Or the military successfully tested a new "purr-seeking" artillery round today.
Mark
The cat was undoubtedly an insurgent.
You would need one big Jarhead to carry that rifle.
It needs sound effects to bring out the humor, one of those Monty-Pythonesque, ‘stepped on the cat’ screeches.
“MREEEOW!”
See? Works so much better now.
Years back Ft RIchardson landed a few “machine gun bullets” off post - some troopers were firing in the fog, got pointed the wrong way.
Killed a couple of TV sets in two houses next to the post.
Homeowners tried to sue for millions.
They got the wall patched and a new TV.
Hint - If, while looing at a new home, you hear machine gun fire (not SoCal, of course), you might just want to ask where the range is in relation to the house.....
Better yet, get out and get some fresh air. It's a BEAUTIFUL day.
And the Pope is visiting next week. It's the start of something beautiful.
JPII foretold a "springtime of the culture of life."
It IS spring.
“The killing of a cat is not funny.”
Not to the cat.
Sorry.
If you do a web image search for "fat cat..."
Targeting officer prepares for a day's training.
That is one big pu.....
Nope. Not gonna do it. Wouldn’t be prudent.
>>They are death on rabbits and birds.
Ditto that. I’ve wanted to plink away on some of the neighborhood cats, for exactly that reason, but I think the neighbors would get annoyed. I did chase one out of the yard, to its house 3-4 houses away, and mildly blessed out the owner. She didn’t know *what* to think.
Pretty close to PA. Was Hillary campaigning nearby? Worth another campaign ribbon, at the least.
That was what I meant, I just didn’t state it very well!
The blind criticizing the blind? LOL
LOL.........good mousers are hard too come by these days !
“The arty crew claimed they had a problem with GPS”
“ooops! Sorry folks, I never really understood decimal points very well.”
Some of the problems too are coming from bases being crowded. They were once in the boonies and now houses are very close to them. In late 1984 my NG unit went to Ft Pickett Va. for training. We had 155 tracks. We had to literally back up on one corner of the base and shoot to another corner. Houses were very close to the base also. Practice Range space is becoming limited especially for heavy artillery. That being said a short round or a round well outside designated impact area does not make for a good day. Had it been inside the base the Battery CO would get a good chewing. The Pentagon needs to review it's requirements for safety buffers as well including wide room for error near ranges.
A little war story from my days in Vietnam:
I was in an M109 battery (not an A1 or A2, but straight M109). We had a battery fire mission one day where one gun chief laid his gun 3600 mills out. In other words, five of the six guns in the battery were firing in one direction and one was firing in exactly the opposite direction. The FDC (Fire Direction Center) worked up data for the errant round and found there were no friendly forces nearby so all that happened was a good chewing out for the gun chief.
One funny thing happened though. When we got back one drill weekend we had a class on grid maps. Top wanted to make me a forward observer because I could read them and configure coordinates LOL.. I said no thanks I'll stick to driving explosives :>}
First fire mission I came about a foot off the bench in back of the Duce and Half. We'd set up for the night and decided to get some sleep. I heard someone yell Fire Mission and next thing I heard was a battery strength fire. Fun year but culture shock for a squid use to Navy ways.
L
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