Article by Guest Author: Jack Imber
Author of the book DEMINER available from Amazon

A large squadron of dragonflies approaches a group of UXO field techs working in a marshy area at a southern military base. One man looks up and seeing them yells "Incoming!" Like tiny attack helicopters the dragonflies begin to wipe out the clouds of biting gnats that everyone calls "wings with teeth".

"Die suckahs!" shouts another man as the one sided battle continues. We all smile, receiving a reprieve from the tiny gnats that no longer are getting into our eyes, ears and up our noses. Perching on our hats and shoulders our winged friends devour their 'gnatty grits' for breakfast.

Metal detectors continue their high pitched squeal as the team moves slowly through a patch of crushed speaker magnets. Bits and pieces of a target vehicle are also found strewn around the area. "More seat springs" a woman says as she places a jangled mass of large gage wire into her bucket.

"Another mortar!" yells someone on the left of the sweep line. "It's a sixty H-E with a P-D fuse".

"Mark it!" shouts the team leader as he prepares to document one of hundreds of mortars and other UXO's found in this five acre area.

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UXOInfo.com is proud to welcome a new guest author, Jack Imber. Jack has many years of experience in the UXO world and has brought his experience to print through his book "Deminer." We look forward to Jack's creative insight into the industry as he shares articles with our readers. The following is book jacket summary from "Deminer:"

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St. Pete's Beach, Florida Beachgoers at a popular Florida beach in the Tampa area cheered from a distance as MacDill Air Force Base EOD detonated a barnacle-encrusted WWII M122 photoflash bomb.

The old munition (shown below) was described by several beachgoers as resembling a log, was cause for concern for one man who noticed the item in the surf and notified authorities.

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Portland, Oregon A group of kids stumbled upon an old munition item in Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge. Police were called after the children carried the potentially dangerous item home. One of the boys reportedly thought the bomb would make a 'cool' Instagram photo.

The Metropolitan Explosives Disposal Unit and the Oregon Air National Guard EOD secured the area and safely removed the item for proper disposal.

Cumming, Georgia An antique dealer helping a collector consign a lifelong collection of antiques found more than she bargained for when she found an old cannonball in the collection. Going through the collection at her home, she showed the find to her husband, an Atlanta police officer.

After researching cannonballs on the internet, the husband warned her that it could potentially be live. The couple then drove to the nearest police department, smartly leaving the cannonball behind at the house, to report the find. The local police department instructed her to call 911 so that a record of the call could be generated.

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East Falmouth, Massachusetts A local resident called police to report finding "old ammunition shell" on the beach. Falmouth Police responded, and later contacted the Mass State Police Hazardous Devices Unit. The Bomb Technicians moved the device to an open area off Blacksmith Shop Road where they safely disposed on the ordnance through open detonation.