It hit and damaged JD Vance’s security detail motorcade.
Like, either this was a stupendous coincidence that a shell went bad and purely accidentally just happened to detonate just so as to literally rain on Vance’s motorcade…
… or… this was a kind of not so subtle fuck you buddy from at least one Marine.
A 155-millimeter shell fired during a live-fire demonstration for the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton on Saturday prematurely detonated, dropping fragments of the shell on a California Highway Patrol vehicle and motorcycle that were part of Vice President JD Vance’s protective detail, according to a patrol report.
Yep, thats right, it gets even clownier with more detail.
EDIT:
Ok, this gets even more deepfried clownicized.
So…from seeing more articles with more pictures, I think what happened is this:
Marines do a mock amphib landing on a beach to the west of I5.
From there, they set up mobile 155mm cannons, on the beach… and aim their shots at some part of Camp Pendleton that I guess was cleared off as a … firing range? Howitzer absorbant sponge zone?
So… yeah, fired from a beach, up and over a cliff, over I5, headed something like east, to land inside some part of Pendleton.
…Does… Pendleton have a preexisting artillery range?
Not only did shrapnel fall on I5 generally…
It hit and damaged JD Vance’s security detail motorcade.
Like, either this was a stupendous coincidence that a shell went bad and purely accidentally just happened to detonate just so as to literally rain on Vance’s motorcade…
… or… this was a kind of not so subtle fuck you buddy from at least one Marine.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/19/us/politics/shell-interstate-5-marines-california.html
Yep, thats right, it gets even clownier with more detail.
EDIT:
Ok, this gets even more deepfried clownicized.
So…from seeing more articles with more pictures, I think what happened is this:
Marines do a mock amphib landing on a beach to the west of I5.
From there, they set up mobile 155mm cannons, on the beach… and aim their shots at some part of Camp Pendleton that I guess was cleared off as a … firing range? Howitzer absorbant sponge zone?
So… yeah, fired from a beach, up and over a cliff, over I5, headed something like east, to land inside some part of Pendleton.
…Does… Pendleton have a preexisting artillery range?
Pendleton covers almost 200 square miles and has ranges for just about every ground-based weapon the USMC uses.
Ok, thanks for that, did not know.