Soldiers training at Fort McCoy in 2022 have amenities and access to resources that their predecessors couldn’t have imagined possible.

They also have restrictions and responsibilities that those who came before them never had to worry about. Today, natural and cultural resource conservation is integrated into the training mission in many ways.

One of these conservation efforts is clear to anyone who has spent time on installation lands for more than 15 years but would be completely invisible to anyone else. Brass shell casings and other objects remaining after ammunition and missiles are used, collectively referred to as ammunition residue, used to be left behind after training exercises and could be found on the ground surface in many locations around the installation.

Current Army regulations require the collection and turn in of retrievable ammunition residue and some of these materials are authorized to be recycled or sold via the Qualified Recycling Program.