‘I thought we were invading Canada’: Vt. Guard’s mortar training jolts community

November 18, 2020  |  By Aidan Scanlon  |  Community News Service 

It may be a good 15 miles away as the crow flies, but the hills from Duxbury to Stowe have been alive recently with the sounds of – mortar fire. 

Vermont Army National Guard soldiers with Alpha Company, 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Regiment, 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain) perform a live-fire training lane at Ethan Allen Firing Range, Jericho, in July. (National Guard photo by 2nd Lt. Nathan Rivard)

Booming blasts ringing off the spine of the Green Mountains have left local residents shaken and speculating on the origin of the noises, although some observers correctly suspected the Camp Ethan Allen firing range in Jericho was the likely source.  

Discussion popped up in late October on Front Porch forum where posters offered guesses as to what was causing the surprising and disturbing noises. Thunder, dynamite, cryoseisms – earthquake-like events caused by the expansion of freezing water in the earth’s crust – were tossed out in speculation. Others suggested military operations, and even preparations for an invasion of Canada. 

“On several occasions today, it has felt like someone was bombing our house,” wrote Mary Spencer, a resident of Duxbury. “The first time, I thought that something had crashed down in our attic, but by the third time I realized that it is coming from outside. Is something going on at the camp in Underhill? Does anyone know? It is actually quite alarming.” 

While some were concerned by the sounds, others were simply curious about the cause of them, and a few seemed to relish them.

“The explosions and the Automatic Weapons fire are from the Green Mountain Boys training in Underhill. The sounds get amplified and channelized depending upon the cloud cover and wind direction. These ‘Booming noises’, what I refer to as the ‘sounds of freedom’, roll through Nebraska Valley. I'm just sorry that the smell of cordite doesn't accompany these sounds,” wrote Jon Dubick from Stowe. 

With the foliage mostly gone, it is possible that noise travels farther without leaves to help absorb the sound. 

Dubick was among the few who correctly suspected that it was National Guard range practice happening at the Ethan Allen Training Site. 

Major Scott Detweiler of the Vermont National Guard confirmed that the noises were caused by mortar training. “It's difficult to confirm with accuracy whether or not our training resulted in a boom or not. I can say that from 21 to 24 October we did have mortars, and they were scheduled to fire up until midnight during those four days. So it is possible that people were hearing the noise from those mortar operations,” Detweiler said.

The guard publishes a monthly schedule of training activities booked for the range and recently it’s been busier than usual with some heavier firepower than what is typically used. The difference this fall? The pandemic.

A Vermont Army National Guard soldier with the mortar squad, Alpha Company, 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Regiment trains Recruit Sustainment Company Soldiers on mortar operations at Camp Ethan Allen Training Site in Jericho, May 2016. Guard file photo by Spc. Avery Cunningham.

“COVID has prevented us from traveling to Fort Drum in New York, or other ranges on the East Coast because of travel restrictions and quarantining. If our soldiers were to quarantine before and after travel we would have to pay them the entire time and we're just not budgeted to do that,” Detweiler explained. 

Despite the travel restrictions due to COVID-19, the Vermont Guard troops still have training to do. “We have our largest Army deployment in 10 years coming up in 2021, with nearly 1,000 soldiers leaving from the state,” Detweiler said. 

Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion 172nd Infantry (Mountain Division) are preparing to deploy to regions of the U.S. Central Command and U.S. Africa Command in January-February 2021, according to Vermont National Guard officials. 

Guard trainings include mortars, machine guns and small arms. In addition to guard units, many other law enforcement agencies use Camp Ethan Allen for weapons training, mostly using small arms such as standard service pistols. The schedule for November lists a number of agencies booked for firing range time including U.S. Border Patrol, the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Vermont State Police as well as Burlington and Essex police departments. 

The current schedule runs through the week of Dec. 13 with guard trainings tapering off by late November. 

“This should be the last period of extended training hours for the next several weeks,” Detweiler said. 

So local residents may still hear some blasts coming across the Green Mountains, but it’s most definitely practice. And soon the big guns will head overseas. 

“Fiddlesticks! I thought we were invading Canada,” wrote Mark Leach in Stowe, after the online forum came to the conclusion the explosions were benign. “That would get the news off the election.”

Community News Service is a collaboration with the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program.