Military

Army warns of noise as mortar training begins Wednesday on JBER

People living near Eagle River and Goose Bay in the Mat-Su may awake to loud noises on Wednesday. The U.S. Army Pacific Command said troops from the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division will be conducting mortar certification training at its Eagle River Flats impact area, a 2,100-acre range, just north of Anchorage, where Eagle River dumps into Knik Arm.

Troops will be firing the largest Army mortar shells, 120mm high-explosive rounds, from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day through Friday, according to the Army.

The noise is expected to be heard throughout the Eagle River and Birchwood areas and possibly as far away as Goose Bay, according to Army spokesperson John Pennell.

"It can go a long way, as far as the Knik-Goose Bay area on other side of Knik Arm," Pennell said. "It depends on atmospheric conditions. If it's cloudy, the sound tends to bounce off the clouds and spread out."

Pennell said the training is standard certification -- checking troops out on the proper techniques for firing the mortar system. Pennell said troops only train on the Eagle River Flats in winter, when the area is frozen over, because it "is too swampy in the summer."

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