ROCK ISLAND, ILL. - The Joint Munitions Command is assisting the North Dakota National Guard's flood-fighting efforts during the current flooding.
Ice jam flooding is a serious threat to citizens living near the Missouri and Red Rivers in North Dakota. Ice jams back up water like a dam. One way to remove these barriers is by blowing them up.
The Guard was activated to assist with flood fighting. They decided to use explosives to remove ice jams on the Missouri River. These explosives were provided by JMC.
The Guard then asked JMC to provide more explosives to replenish their supply. Sgt. Maj. Robert Schuchard of the Guard contacted JMC requesting thousands of blocks of C4 and thousands of feet of detonation cord on March 26.
Glenda Bender, the transportation officer, at Tooele Army Depot in Tooele, Utah, determined that Tooele could deliver the needed explosives in the 18-hour timeframe requested by the Guard.
These explosives may be used to break up additional ice jams on the Red River.
"Employees at Tooele pulled, packed, and shipped the explosives in three hours, which is really fast," said Lance McRae, a logistics management specialist for JMC.
"The items were in the unit's hands less than 24 hours after they were requested, even though Tooele is 1,200 miles away," he said.
Tooele is one of numerous installations run by JMC. JMC provides bombs and bullets to America's fighting forces -- all services, all types of conventional ammo from bunker buster bombs to rifle rounds. JMC manages plants that produce more than 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition annually and the depots that store the nation's ammunition for training and combat. JMC is responsible for the management and accountability of $26 billion of conventional munitions and stores $39 billion of missiles. To learn more, visit www.jmc.army.mil.
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