Marine Corps Live Fire Mishap Rained Artilery Shrapnel Over Highway

The Marines might be the first to fight, but they shouldn't be lighting up our own roadways. During a celebration of the U.S. Marine Corps' 250th anniversary last October at Camp Pendleton, an artillery shell malfunctioned and detonated early. Unfortunately, that shell exploded over Interstate 5. Shrapnel showered two California Highway Patrol vehicles. No one was injured, largely because the State of California closed the freeway against the wishes of the Trump administration.

An internal report on the incident was publicly reported earlier this week and described the malfunction as a "one in a million" event. According to the Associated Press, the celebration's organizers planned on firing 60 live rounds from six howitzers over Interstate 5. During the first volley, a round detonated early above the freeway. The lengthy 666-page report had "no definitive answer" to why the malfunction happened. The theories ranged from the cannons being positioned too close together to the potential presence of anomalous electromagnetic energy.

In the days leading up to the anniversary, Governor Gavin Newsom ordered the closure of I-5. The Marine Corps had requested that CalTrans erect signs stating "Overhead fire in progress." The very real M795 high-explosive round going off at 1,480 feet over I-5 only justified the decision. Shrapnel only rained on a CHP motorcycle and an empty patrol car. The vehicles were part of Vice President Vance's protection detail. Newsom said in a statement about the closure:

"The President is putting his ego over responsibility with this disregard for public safety. Firing live rounds over a busy highway isn't just wrong — it's dangerous. Using our military to intimidate people you disagree with isn't strength — it's reckless, it's disrespectful, and it's beneath the office he holds. Law and order? This is chaos and confusion."

The malfunction quickly led to the cancellation of the rest of the display. The CHP swept the highway for other shards of shrapnel and reopened I-5 half an hour later. While Newsom would describe the live-fire exercise as an intimidating show of force, it seemed like a satirical farce ripped straight from an episode of "Veep" and illustrated the current administration's dangerous incompetence.