War Games

The new multi-purpose firing range, just north of the Au Sable Mainstream, permitting combined tank, troop, artillery(?), and helicopter training at Camp Grayling, will open for business this coming summer. Residents and visiting fishermen will again be subject to the noise of war games including sonic booms from rounds traveling downrange as M1 tanks rumble along four gravel lanes firing at both moving and stationary targets. Infantry will move between the lanes firing at their own targets.

This past summer and fall construction crews have turned a large chunk of northern Michigan woodlands into a new high-tech shooting gallery for the use of National Guard tank crews from Ohio. Mike Thorne, a project engineer for the guard, is quoted (in the Bay City Times) as saying: "It will be a fun time for them, but also a realistic time as far as that goes. There will be electronically scored targets so they can have competitions or anything they want out here."

The eight-plus million dollar project (Multi-Purpose Range Complex, i.e. MPRC-H, the H being military for heavy), the largest ever undertaken at Camp Grayling--the military facility that sprawls across 145,000 acres of Crawford, Kalkaska, and Otsego counties--involves about 1000 acres of clear-cut forest and about 10,000 acres for a safety zone for shells that travel outside the practice area. The range is off limits to the public and is either posted or fenced, even though there are four public roads that traverse the area (Jones Lake Truck Trail, Stephan's Bridge Road, Damon Truck Trail, and Bald Hill Truck Trail) and the original lease conditions (with the DNR) specified that the area should be multiple-use, including public recreation, such as hunting and fishing.

The Michigan Department of Military Affairs (MDMA) insists the new range will give troops a better feel for combat conditions and will allow troops, aircraft, and tanks to train together in a simulated battlefield condition. The mission of the range, as originally stated by the MDMA, also included the use of artillery and it isn't clear to this writer--an old artillery man-- how artillery can now be excluded from "combined arms training."

In any case, those who like to visit the Au Sable for rest, recreation, and rehabilitation, and those who live there full time, can expect the war games at Camp Grayling to resume in full force next summer when this military pork project is finished and ready for use. Bleachers will soon be built near a fifty-four-foot high observation tower so the public can watch the training exercises. (There was even a rumor that tickets will be sold to take care of operating expenses.)

This past summer has been fairly quiet as the music of rivers, the songs of birds, and the whisper of wind in the pines was more often heard than the roar of cannon, the jarring staccato of machine guns, and the thumping aerodynamics of helicopter blades. The summer Olympics, certain training requirements (Ohio tank crews undergoing M1 familiarization, a helicopter unit sent to Haiti, and an ordnance unit to Utah), demands for support troops in Germany to replace those sent to Bosnia, and the new range construction have all had an impact on the number of troops training at Grayling this past year. The two-week training has been down more than fifty percent from 1994 even though the weekend training has been slightly up.

In a letter to the Director of the MDMA, Dan Alstott, the President of the Au Sable Manistee Action Council reminded the general that the general's staff made certain assertions in Federal Court resulting in the failure of AMAC to obtain an injunction against the building of this new facility. He listed the assertions as follows:

That the MPRC would result in no increase in training frequency and intensity. The same number of troops will use Camp Grayling for tank training as in recent years.

That the MPRC will reduce noise levels from tank training activities.

That only inert, non-explosive rounds (projectiles) will be used on the MPRC, containing no contaminants in the propellants of the rounds or the rounds themselves.

That no white phosphorous, mercury, or other hazardous substances will be used in and around the MPRC for any purpose.

That there will be no negative impact on fish and wildlife in and around Range 30 and the MPRC.

That, in general, the MPRC will improve environmental conditions at Camp Grayling, resulting in less noise, pollution, and interference with the peace and tranquillity, and environmental quality of the Au Sable River system than the former use of Range 30 (the old tank range).

In his letter Alstott further stated:

The judge was convinced by these assertions and he ruled against us, allowing the new range to go into construction. We are not convinced by your staff's representations and wish to alert you to a continuing watchfulness on our part as we approach 1997. AMAC intends to closely observe and document matters pertaining to the new MPRC-H as they apply to the referenced assertions. We will do whatever is lawfully within our power to hold the military establishment at Camp Grayling accountable for staying within the realm of the assurances made to the Federal Court.

In a related development, the Guard, after test firing some rockets, issued a "Draft Environmental Assessment of the Multiple Launch Rocket System Firing" in August. The Anglers did not respond to this assessment (the time period was severely restricted) since our comments on the previous environmental assessment have been essentially ignored, and there is no reason to assume that any response would be given serious consideration by the Department of Military Affairs. We may very well see the rockets, made famous by television coverage of Desert Storm, being fired in training at Camp Grayling this summer.

In an editorial early last spring, The Traverse City Record-Eagle suggested that "time and technology have caught up with the camp, and the weapons used there today no longer seem appropriate."

Once we had a slight hope that our political leaders would see the folly of continued military expansion in such a sensitive area as the headwaters of the Manistee and Au Sable rivers. That hope has been dashed this past year by an irresponsible environmental assessment, a reckless court decision, continued escalation of military expenditures in a time of peace, and complete indifference to our pleas for a sensible review. The only course open now is watchful waiting, a continuing support for curbs on the use of Camp Grayling, and further support of AMAC and its mission of military oversight.

With the New Year may peace be with us all. RWOL

[Top] [Home]