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DRAWSKO POMORSKI, Poland - During ongoing training with their NATO allies, paratroopers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade culminated two weeks of marksmanship exercises with the Polish army here May 21.
“We have shot basic rifle marksmanship and now we’re transitioning to advanced rifle marksmanship,” said Sgt. 1st Class Stewart Sword of 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne). “Today we are doing a weapons exchange with our Polish counterparts.”
Approximately 600 paratroopers from the brigade are in Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as part of an unscheduled land-forces exercise to demonstrate commitment to NATO obligations and sustain interoperability with allied forces.
Paratroopers with the 173rd Airborne Brigade – the “Sky Soldiers” – conducted live-fire exercises using M4 rifles, M249 light machine guns and the Polish army’s standard-issue rifles alongside their Polish paratrooper counterparts.
“We’re shooting their barrel, it’s a recoil base 5.56[mm] semi-automatic rifle, and we are attempting to qualify with that,” Sword said.
The “Sky Soldiers” walked up to their respective firing stations, manned by a Polish range safety officer, and received instructions on the basic functions of their rifles. The “AK-47-like” rifle, as described by several Polish range safety officers, were fired by the U.S. paratroopers at 100-meter targets.
“I’m excited to have the opportunity to earn a foreign marksmanship badge,” said Spc. Stanley Burton, a Soldier assigned to 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment. “The rifles used by the Polish army are easy to get adjusted to.”
Those members of the 173rd Airborne who met the Polish army’s weapons qualification standards earned the Polish marksmanship badge.
“We’ve been sharing some of our tactics, procedures and techniques. The Polish have some good techniques that they have developed through the course of their history,” Sword said.
The cross-training of Polish and U.S. tactics has been a focal point of exercises during the paratroopers’ stay in Poland, highlighting interoperability between the two NATO forces.
“The benefits of training with our Polish allies are understanding their weapons system, basic fundamentals of their marksmanship and an opportunity to share experiences and doctrinal procedures,” Sword said.
The 173rd Airborne Brigade, based in Vicenza, Italy, is the Army Contingency Response Force in Europe, and is capable of projecting forces to conduct the full of range of military operations across the United States European, Central and Africa Commands areas of responsibility.
| Date Taken: | 05.21.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 05.22.2014 02:53 |
| Story ID: | 130736 |
| Location: | DRAWSKO POMORSKI, PL |
| Web Views: | 1,241 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Sky Soldiers earn Polish Marksmanship Badges alongside allied paratroopers, by Brian Godette, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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