I can haz big gunz?

Until I started doing you-know-what at home, I never knew the local gun range was used so much during the day. Granted, I never expected them to use it all that much at night, but they have in the past. Even on weekends. But weekends are always a little different as schedules vary all the time.

But during the week, I'm on a pretty normal routine. And having big guns go off during that routine never occurred to me. Now that I hear the air raid siren, it's at the front of my mind. Oh, didn't I tell you? These are BIG guns.

It's a place called Pumpkin Neck (even though that's not the "official" name the Navy gives it. Here's a blurb:

The Explosives Experimental Area (EEA), located to the south of the creek on Tetotum Flats, consists of 1,641 acres. The EEA is more commonly referred to as Pumpkin Neck (Figure 4). Approximately 8 percent of the EEA consists of developed areas, over 60 percent is hardwood and pine forest, and marshland is also common. Two large open field test areas are located in the center (Navy 2003a). These areas are used exclusively for testing naval ordnance and include static detonation arenas, drop test towers, static thrust stands, thermal test retaining cages, fast and slow cook-off facilities, shock test facilities, and high explosive vibration facilities. Access to the EEA is through a gated entrance and is open only on request with proper authorization. Access is denied to most personnel during explosive testing events when the one access road is blocked (Navy 2003a, B. T. Weedon, U.S. Navy, personal communication, January 18-20, 2005). Access within EEA is controlled by test specific Standard Operating Procedures (V. Lovejoy, U.S. Navy, personal communication, January 27, 2006)

Source: Public Health Assessment.

And while I'm sure they still test conventional weapons like this:


There's also a bit of technology in their newer tests: