Fighter jet Strafes School

[Opiate]

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By WAYNE PARRY, Associated Press Writer

LITTLE EGG HARBOR, N.J. - A National Guard F-16 fighter jet on a nighttime training mission strafed an elementary school with 25 rounds of ammunition, authorities said Thursday. No one was injured.



The military is investigating the incident that damaged Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School shortly after 11 p.m.


Police were called when a custodian who was the only person in the school at the time heard what sounded like someone running across the roof.


Police Chief Mark Siino said officers noticed punctures in the roof. Ceiling tiles had fallen into classrooms, and there were scratch marks in the asphalt outside.


The pilot of the single-seat jet was supposed to fire at a target on the ground three and half miles away from school, said Col. Brian Webster, commander of the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard. He does not know what happened that led to the school getting shot up.


The plane was 7,000 feet in the air when the shots were fired. The gun, an M61-A1 Vulcan cannon, is located in the plane's left wing. It fires 2-inch-long bullets that are made of lead and do not explode, said Webster.


"The National Guard takes this situation very seriously," said Lt. Col. Roberta Niedt, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. "The safety of our people and the surrounding communities are our foremost concern."


Schools in New Jersey were closed Thursday because of a teachers convention.


Webster would not identify the pilot or detail possible disciplinary measures.


Mike Dupuis, president of the township's Board of Education, said school workers are mindful that the firing range is nearby.


"Being so close to the range, that's always in the back of our minds. It is very scary. I have children in that school and relatives that work there," he said.


The range has been used by the military since the end of World War II, long before this area of south Jersey was developed.

im amazing that the school is so close to the firing ground in the first place. just interested, but are strctures like a school often built near firing targets in the US, or is this just a one off?

[Cadwiz]

Most of the firing ranges and training areas I went to were out in BFE. They had big fences with barb-wire on top and no tresspassing signs every twenty feet.

[avhg1]

Not being in the military, I don't know the layout of the bases in my area, but they are all surrounded by development. Many of the schools in the area are very close to the base. There are all kinds of testing and disposal going on at those places. In fact, there is a big stink right now because a disposal plant is being re-activated in a populated area.

[ironman]

This is plane Sick.

[the_marq]

Live fire training, 3 miles from an elementary school?


Can I get a WTF?

[psyday]

It's a miracle there were no children there. I'd say that pilot's career is over permanently and for good reason.

[Redlemon]

* puts tinfoil hat on *
And who did New Jersey vote for?

[superiorrain]

Thats a crazy story. I wonder if the pilot used to go to school there. That would the story an interesting spin.

How a school can operates near a firing range is beyond me unless it's a military school in which more understandable.

[Coppertop]

Anyone else here immediately think of the Calvin & Hobbes strip where Calvin daydreams about flying the fighter jet and bombing his school?

[Frowning Budah]

Who needs teroist. We can do it to our selves.

[gcbrowni]

The problem is development. These sorts of places were once BFE, but many bases are now surrounded by development. It's similiar to a problem many gun ranges are experiencing: people buy a house close to a gun range and then complain about the noise.

Morons.

[feelgood]

It's Bush's fault...

Maybe one of the student somehow got ahold of the pilot and ordered him to fire on the school instead....

"Damn pilot, I told you to use missiles"

[PayUp]

Originally Posted by Coppertop

Anyone else here immediately think of the Calvin & Hobbes strip where Calvin daydreams about flying the fighter jet and bombing his school?

Exactly my first reaction.

Then:
How in the world are a school and a firing range that close.

[Coppertop]

Is this merely a http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=74942]coicidence[/URL]?

Is it time for the foil beanies already?

[Cowman]

Originally Posted by psyday

It's a miracle there were no children there. I'd say that pilot's career is over permanently and for good reason.

Now..I think this is rediculous and never should have happened as well..but..to say its a miracle that there were no children at an elementary school at 11pm on a wednesday night is..a bit of a stretch. =/

[rfra3645]

Originally Posted by Coppertop

Anyone else here immediately think of the Calvin & Hobbes strip where Calvin daydreams about flying the fighter jet and bombing his school?

Verry funny yes it is Calvin come to life.



Ok now for my own spin... (Yes i have been watching too much fox)

In my local little bfe location last year the school was going to expand and the county would not let them build the school on the site because there is an airport within 1 mile of the proposed site. (Wallmart eventually bought the land from the school) but it’s just a little rinky dink airport with 1 little runway can accommodate crop dusters and Cessna’s and the type. There should be a national standard for this kind of thing.