MILITARY equipment thrown out by mistake prompted a huge search by soldiers at the Hervey Range tip near Townsville at the weekend.

The operation sparked widespread panic among families of the troops involved, who believed their partners were set to be sent to Iraq.

It is believed two sets of night vision goggles and a helmet were placed in a garbage bag after being removed from an injured soldier in the Combined Arms Training Activity exercise at High Range which ended on Friday.

The bag was thrown out along with general waste, forcing about 200 soldiers to be called out to the Bohle Plains Landfill and Transfer Station to rummage through rubbish.

The gaffe came days after the loss of a green ammunition box containing three 81mm illumination mortar rounds on Tuesday.

media_camera Soldiers at the Hervey Range landfill and waste transfer facility at Bohle Plains.

The ammunition is believed to have fallen from a military truck travelling north along Mingela Rd, before turning east on Hervey Range Rd.

Soldiers searched the tip site from about noon to 5pm on Saturday and 6am to noon yesterday.

Captain Jay Ellul said an investigation had been launched into how the helmet and goggles managed to go missing.

“The equipment is important, but not dangerous,” he said. “We just want to make sure we do as much as we can to find it.

media_camera Soldiers get busy looking for some missing military equipment, accidently thrown away.

“As to how it occurred, an investigation has been immediately launched and is still ongoing. The equipment is important to the conduct of our operations.”

None of the missing equipment had been located as of yesterday afternoon.

The families of soldiers called out for the search were left in a state of panic, after fearing their loved ones were being deployed to Iraq.

It is believed soldiers involved in the training exercise were briefed on Friday night to be prepared for deployment given the political unrest in the Middle East.

Families took to social media to say they were not notified that they were being recalled to base for the search until they arrived at Lavarack Barracks.

The $30 million Exercise CATA saw 1700 soldiers from Lavarack Barracks 3rd Brigade come together with support from the RAAF and Brisbane-based personnel.

The month-long exercise included live fire and specialist equipment including drones and weapon-locating radars used in Afghanistan.

It was aimed at simulating war and soldiers were monitored by a new Battlespace Management System.