Courtesy Photo | Artillerymen from Battery A, 1st Battalion, 158th Field Artillery's High Mobility...... read more read more
By Capt. John A. Brimley
5th Armored Brigade, Division West Public Affairs
ORO GRANDE, N.M. – Loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honesty, integrity and personal courage are the seven core Army values. Each Soldier at every level is taught to embrace endear themselves to these values.
While professionalism isn’t listed, it is one trait that embodies all of the Army values, and the main theme constantly exchanged between 1st Battalion, 360th Infantry Regiment, Task Force Warhawg, 5th Armored Brigade and Alpha Battery, 1st Battalion, 158th Field Artillery Regiment High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, as Task Force Warhawg facilitated training and validated the HiMARS unit during their week-long training event Sept. 23-27 here.
“Professionalism is the best word to describe Warhawg,” said 1st Sgt. Lance Grant, first sergeant of the HiMARS battery, a National Guard unit out of Edmond, Okla.
Task Force Warhawg wasn’t short on compliments for what Grant and his unit added to the value of their own training.
“All soldiers from E-3 to commander knew their weapons systems proficiently,” said Staff Sgt. Michael Stevens, senior trainer mentor with Task Force Warhawg. “They were the most squared away unit we’ve had to deal with.”
Different from the hundreds of engineer, military police and field artillery units Task Force Warhawg typically trains, the HiMARS training mission carries a different set of training validations that Warhawg isn’t institutionally trained to carry out.
“Warhawg generally doesn’t get missions like this, but we got tasked with this one because of the success of the previous missions we had,” said Stevens.
The training battalion is primarily comprised of infantrymen. Many of them have served with artillerymen, but validating a HiMARS unit for their mission is not one that many of them are very familiar with.
“Viper team didn’t have this experience,” said Stevens. “A different team validated the HiMARS unit back in January.”
Warhawg knew the limitations they faced with such a unique mission, but they weren’t short on resources. The 1/158 and Bravo Battery, 1st Battalion, 171st Target Acquisition Battery conducted home station training to prepare them for this mission, and understanding validation was the end goal, with master gunners on hand.
Prior planning between Task Force Warhawg and the 212th Fires Brigade at Fort Bliss, Texas was crucial to mission success. The willingness to succeed on all parts was evident from Day 1.
“We had a meeting brief with the command team, and it set the tone for how it [training] would go,” said Stevens.
It wasn’t a surprise to the HiMARS Battery that the Infantry Battalion had little expertise for this mission, but the willingness to learn and grow increased the trust the Oklahoma unit had in Warhawg.
“I’ve been to Mob [Mobilization] sites, but these guys were great,” said Grant. “With Warhawg, they found answers, if they didn’t have it.”
Despite artillery limitations, the younger soldiers in the battery experienced the knowledge and value Warhawg brought to the table.
“One of the first things they told us was ‘We don’t have one way to do it, we have a way to do it,’” said Spc. Fidencio Ramirez, HiMARS artillery specialist, 1/158 Field Artillery. “To me this made me feel like they were open-minded professionals and they trusted that we knew our jobs.”
For several of the artillery battery soldiers, this is their first deployment, and the jitters that typically accompany soldiers on their first deployment were missing.
“I don’t have a lot of fear. All of my leaders and chiefs have trained me fairly well for this mission,” said Spc. Ben Sawatzky, driver of the HiMARS launcher.
Monday’s mission ended with a 32 to 34-round rocket launch — some simultaneous and others consecutive — but the day’s training ended with satisfaction and a sense of achievement.
“For me, this is why I stay Army,” said Stevens as he surveyed the land in search of Pods expended from the rocket launcher. “I won’t forget this. As an 11 Bravo [infantryman], you get to see a lot of things but this was amazing.”
For Stevens, the experience of training and validating units like 1/158 is what drives every day. He nursed himself back to health from a back injury that left him face-to-face with separation from the Army.
“I worked hard to get back here, and this is why I do it,” said Stevens.
HiMARS is a wheeled system providing ground forces with highly lethal, responsive and precise long-range rocket and missile fires that defeat point and area targets. It is rapidly deployable via C-130 aircraft and operable in all weather conditions, firing rockets with a range of nine to 186 miles.
The guardsmen will soon make their journey to the Middle East and will return during 2014.
| Date Taken: | 09.27.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 09.30.2013 18:32 |
| Story ID: | 114505 |
| Location: | ORO GRANDE, NEW MEXICO, US |
| Web Views: | 191 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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