Pass the Ammunition - Carefully

Moving some nerve gas from Denver to Utah

Shortly before sunrise one day last week, a military convoy stretching a full mile snaked its way 3 1/2 miles from Rocky Mountain Arsenal to a runway at Stapleton International airport in Denver. The four U.S. Army trucks eased up beside a pair of C-141 Starlifter transport planes. Aboard the trucks, stacked on metal pallets and tightly harnessed with black nylon webbing, was the deadly cargo. "We've taken every conceivable safety precaution," Brigadier General Walter Kastenmayer told reporters. "I have no concern that we can't do this safely."

Thus began the long-planned airlift of 888 nerve gas bombs from Denver to Tooele Army Depot in western Utah. Each slug-shaped bomb is 7 ft. long and packed with 346 Ibs. of a clear, odorless liquid called GB. A good whiff or a splash on the skin can kill a human being within minutes. Dubbed "Weteyes" because tears are one of the first symptoms of exposure, the bombs were built for the U.S. Navy in 1969 and stored just three miles north of Stapleton. But the Weteyes were too close for comfort for many Denverites, and lobbying was intense to move the bombs to Tooele, storage ground for the largest cache of chemical munitions in the free world.

The Army first tried to remove the bombs in 1978 but halted the effort when inspectors discovered that ten of the bombs were leaking GB.-- Utah Governor Scott Matheson tried to block the transfer but Colorado Senator Gary Hart attached a rider to a defense bill directing Washington to detoxify the bombs or have them removed by this October.

One thousand military personnel and civilians took part last week as the 15-flight "Rocky Mountain Transfer" got under way. Soldiers carrying grenade launchers patrolled Stapleton, and teams of medics with Chinook helicopters were stationed at four points along the air route, which was mapped across the sparsely settled northern sections of both states. In Utah the truck convoy that would carry the bombs 40 miles from Dugway Proving Ground, where the planes were scheduled to land, to Tooele was well rehearsed: drivers and guards had traveled the route three times, foiling nine different mock terrorist attacks along the way.

On the appointed day, wind conditions were ideal: only a breeze from the southwest, which would blow the gas away from Denver in case of a disaster. At 6:37 a.m., the first plane began rolling down the runway, escorted by a Jeep outfitted with a machine gun. Halfway down the strip, the C-141 ground to a breathtaking halt; mechanics rushed out, found the trouble--a faulty pressure gauge--and replaced it. By that time, the second and only other plane of the day had disappeared into the red-streaked sky.

At Dugway, reporters outfitted with gas masks awaited the transports. An official coolly advised them: "If the plane should crash on landing, head for the bus." At 7:46 the first Starlifter landed, followed 54 minutes later by the second one. A crew member lit up a cigar in celebration. Said Public Affairs Officer Colonel Richard Horvath, who arrived on the first flight: "We had a good time up there." But with the flights stretching into next week, many Utah residents were not lighting up quite yet.

* The gas was drained into three 1,600-lb. steel cylinders and will be flown to Tooele as well.

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