Air National Guard Conducting Comprehensive Review of Range Ops

Stafford Township, New Jersey  Air National Guard (ANG) officials announced at a public meeting that live-fire training involving military flares would not resume anytime in the near future at the Warren Grove Gunnery Range pending a comprehensive review of range practices. The need for the comprehensive review was 'sparked off' as a result of an incident that occurred back in May when a training mission involving a military flare started a large forest fire. The fire burned over 16,000 acres, damaged several houses, and caused the evacuations of hundreds of residents.

ANG officials described the review as a comprehensive "top-to-bottom review of every aspect of the range". In addition to the comprehensive review, ANG officials announced a change of leadership for the range. The leadership change includes the assignment of a new range commander, range control officer, and operations group commander.

The review and change of leadership may not be enough for some members of the public as well as elected officials who have experienced a series of mishaps and accidents associated with the range over the years including the following 4 incidents:

April 1999, a Pennsylvania National Guard A-10 dropped a dummy bomb a mile off-target over the Pinelands in Burlington County, touching off a fire that burned 12,000 acres and lasted four days.

June 2001, an errant bomb dropped by an F-16 caused a fire that scorched 1,600 acres when the pilot missed a target area that had been cleared of trees and brush.

January 2002, an F-16 crashed near the Garden State Parkway -- the third such crash at the range since 1992.

November 2004, an in-flight F-16 mistakenly discharged rounds when the pilot applied too much pressure on the trigger. The inert rounds traveled some distance and eventually landed on an elementary school. That caused the plane to fire 25 rounds from its artillery cannon instead of simply activating a targeting laser beam as he had intended. Fortunately, the school was empty aside from a custodian, and no one was injured.

The ANG appears to be committed to turning around the image of the range and sustaining the use of the range as a viable military training asset. Only time will tell if they are successful.