U.S. ARMY Police and Army units scoured Wahiawa unsuccessfully yesterday for an explosive device, like the one shown here, lost during a Thursday training exercise.

Search continues
for missing bomb stick

The Army says the explosive
likely will not go off on its own

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By Rod Antone
rantone@starbulletin.com

More than 200 Schofield Barracks soldiers and Honolulu police officers continued to look under cars, through brush and along the side of Wahiawa roads yesterday for a missing explosive training device.

Although the missing device is used only to train bomb-sniffing dogs, it still has a blast radius of 300 feet.

Military ordnance experts said it does not have a fuse or detonator.

"The best analogy I can give you is, pick up a bullet on the street without a gun," said Maj. Gerald Muhl, commander of the U.S. Army Pacific Explosive Ordnance Disposal Control Team. "You can pick it up, you can throw it, kick it. We don't want you to do that, however.

"But the chances of it going off are absolutely minimal."

Though the device does not have a detonator, military officials said it could still explode if subjected to extreme heat, shock or friction.

Muhl also said the recent wet weather has probably helped to "desensitize" the device.

Military bomb-sniffing dogs were also taken into Wahiawa's sewer systems just in case rain washed the device into a storm drain.

The device was reported lost Thursday afternoon during an on-base training exercise for the Army's bomb-sniffing dogs.

Army officials said one of the trainers had hidden the 9-inch yellow flarelike device -- which has the words "Dyno Nobel" written on the side -- under an Oldsmobile Cutlass, one of the 282 cars located in the base's impound lot. Before the dogs were allowed to find it, however, the owner of the vehicle arrived and drove his car off base.

Army officials would not comment on what sort of disciplinary action, if any, would be involved for allowing the training device to leave the impound.

"That is something that we will have to do internally as we look at the future of this type of training," said Col. Arnaldo Claudio, Hawaii provost marshal. "There is obviously some lessons learned."

Once the device was discovered missing, military officials contacted the individual in the car by cell phone. However, he had already driven off base and was at a Chevron station in Wahiawa.

Yesterday, Army mechanics took apart the Oldsmobile in which the device was hidden to ensure that it was not still there.

To re-create what happened, the military also placed a similar object of the same weight and length in the vehicle and drove it along the same 5-mile route that was taken Thursday.

Claudio said in several instances the device rolled out from under the car before it left base. Still, he said the military will continue to search both on and off base until both the Army and the Police Department are satisfied that no more can be done.

"We're close, but we're not there yet," said Claudio. "It will be a joint decision between HPD and ourselves."

By yesterday evening, Claudio said the route along which the device could have been lost -- including Kunia Road, Wilikina Drive, Kamehameha Highway, California Avenue and North Cane Road -- had been searched more than 20 times.

The search continued throughout the night and is expected to go on today.

Both military and police officials ask anyone who finds the device not to attempt to handle it. Instead, call Schofield Barracks military police at 655-7114/5555 or Honolulu police at 911.