There’s a line attributed to EOD bomb technicians. Reportedly, when asked about whether or not they were stressed out when it came time to defusing a bomb, the answer was something to the effect of “I’m not. Either I’m right, or suddenly it isn’t my problem any more.” Ah, gallows humor, you have to love it. And it’s not wrong, either. What a little bit of explosive material can do is eye-opening. What a lot of explosive material can do will re-write the human brain in all sorts of ways, and I don’t just mean on the battlefield, either.
Apparently, there’s been a bit of a legend in western Minnesota. The story goes that in 1975, a snowmobile club wanted to cut some new trails and managed to borrow an Army surplus International Harvester TD24 bulldozer to make this task happen. At some point near Island Lake in Becker County, they encountered a swamp. For whatever reason, even with permission to go around the swamp, the crew decided to press on and sure enough, the tracked dozer got stuck. Now…bear with me for a moment, but at what point do bad decisions start to pile up?
This cartoon actually ran. The team decided that hey, if we “incentivize” the local National Guard unit, then maybe they can come out and ge the stuck dozer out of the swamp. Now, I’m not going to call the cartoon wrong…if anything, that’s actually a pretty solid offer. But the National Guard was not impressed. In fact, they were pissed, seeing the cartoon as offensive, and told the crew to pound sand…or something along those lines.
Bad idea #2: Fertilizer, diesel fuel and dynamite. I wish I was joking…at some point, someone thought that was a perfectly logical solution to freeing a twenty-ton bulldozer from a swamp. Here’s how this next part played out: someone lit a match, the large-scale bomb goes off, the entirety of the swamp in the nearby area liquifies, and the TD24 sinks like the Titanic approximately twenty feet down into the swamp before finding terra firma. And that’s where it lay up until a couple of days ago, when after years of slumber, the dozer was finally extricated from the sludge of the swamp.
Thanks to Aaron Christensen for the tip!
They should park it in front of the local NG Armory….”Thanks for the loan”.
Has Lohnes seen that wrecker?
Yes he has and he is still having problems with his ewreckertion!!!
Please show video of cleaning it up and getting it running
I’m all for rescuing old equipment but, is that thing really worth tying up all that equipment, people, and money?
yes – ever lived in that area during the winter? there is no such thing as too much excitement when there is nothing, and I mean nothing else to do
I would like to know if someone had to pay the bill for all of the equipment, manpower, etc, what would it have cost? Any ideas?
10-20k
You cannot start this IH TD24 dozer it does not meet EPA standards. You will need to install diesel oxidation catalysts, diesel particulate filters, NOx catalysts, selective catalytic reduction, and exhaust gas recirculation. Prior to starting or you will be fined severely. Then National Guard will have you arrested for stealing their dozer. Congratulations to the individual who removed the final drive shafts. That had to be a miserable job.
Did I miss something? Who, and how TF did they hook up the shackles and cables on that thing submerged?
Another observation…I’ll bet Mtchell Cuthbert wears a mask. Alone. In his Prius.
Why not? Plenty of tanks dragged out Russian bogs/swamps.