Some years ago back in the seventies, I used to do consulting and training for a Latin country that was having a minor guerrilla war. I spent about six months training security detachments for the government. The security units would be assigned to guard numerous government buildings.
One night, I had one security officer walking the perimeter of a national bank building. He completed a walk around the building at about 2am.
As he neared the front door again. He saw seven (7) five gallon cans up against the front door. On top of the cans were two yellow tennis balls. The cans he thought might had been delivered by a truck while he checked the back of the building. The guard got near the cans and realized that they smelled like gasoline. The guard immediately contacted his supervisor and his supervisor contacted this writer, their instructor. The supervisor and I arrived together. As I neared the cans I realized it was a bomb of some unknown type. We immediately contacted Army bomb disposal. After all the cans were gone. Later, the Army disposal officer told us that the cans were filled with homemade napalm and that the yellow tennis balls were the detonators. The tennis balls had a small slit on the side and had been filled with hundreds of striking match heads. Why the balls were left on top of the cans was unknown.
Years later during the interrogation of a captured guerrilla it was discovered that.
The young guerrilla who set up the napalm cans was not instructed on how to set off the cans.
There were suppose to be six napalm cans and one gasoline can. Not seven napalm cans.
The guerrilla was supposed to be given an ice pick to punch a hole in the gasoline can. The punched can would spill gasoline and create a combustible area. The guerrilla was not given a pick or gasoline.
The guerrilla was supposed to throw the tennis balls at the cans. Upon impact a tennis ball filled with match heads would explode into a fire ball. The fireball would set off the napalm cans.
The lesson to be learned here is;
Never be surprised by what you find in your perimeter but be prepared by your actions to what you find. Above all your actions remain calm.
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