How Many Ex-Marines Have Hazardous Military Flares In Their Possessions?

This is troubling, since we now see the lack of responsibility ex-marines might exercise, and the damage these military flares can cause.

After the Popp brothers were identified as potential suspects, Joshua Popp admitted in an interview that he took the flare while serving in the United States Marine Corps, the complaint reads. He indicated it was customary for Marines to collect the flares, used in training exercises, for personal souvenirs.

For those not aware of this story, the Patrick Cudahy meat plant earlier this month burned as a result of a military flare being used. 

The blaze burned for more than three days at the plant. It caused more than $50 million in damage, forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents and temporarily stopped work for most of the plant’s 1,800 employees.

Now we learn that the Marines can take a military flare away as a memory-keeper of their time with short hair!   This truly needs to be looked into. 

Each is charged with second degree recklessly endangering safety, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday.

We can only hope so.

The fire investigation revealed that the blaze was sparked by a military grade green star cluster marker flare that was fired from a nearby residential area. Portions of the rocket and canister of the flare were recovered at the Patrick Cudahy plant.