Strykers train in pairs at Yakima Training Center

Photo By 1st Sgt. Justin A. Naylor | U.S. Army Pfc. Enrique Morales, a Chicago native and driver with Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, prepares for Stryker live-fire training at Yakima Training Center, Wash., Oct. 10, 2014. Morales and his team, along with other Stryker crews from the brigade are all working through multiple qualification events.  

YAKIMA TRAINING CENTER, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES

10.10.2014

Story by Staff Sgt. Justin A. Naylor 

1-2 SBCT, 7th Infantry Division

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – Moving in tandem, Stryker crews deftly acquired and destroyed targets as they maneuvered swiftly down their lanes. With the call of “on the way,” the gunners opened fire as their .50-caliber machine gun roared above them.

Working in two-Stryker teams, 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team crews qualified together during live-fire training at Yakima Training Center, Wash., Oct. 10.

The qualification event, known as Table 9, is part of the brigade’s Integrated Training Strategy, a broad training initiative designed to ensure that Soldiers have all the training necessary to accomplish any combat mission they are given.

Table 9 builds upon early qualification events and incorporates the “wingman” concept, which involves two Strykers working together to clear enemy targets. The two Strykers, known as a section, are headed by one vehicle commander who ensures both vehicles work together seamlessly.

“The point of this exercise is for that one senior member out of the two crews to essential control and empower both vehicles to engage enemy targets, enemy forces, as quickly and efficiently as possible,” said Capt. Christopher Walgreen, a Gardner, Mass., native and the commander for Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3-2 SBCT.

Stryker crews work on a three-Soldier system, which includes a driver, gunner and vehicle commander. The Stryker variant used during this training is designed to carry dismounted infantryman into combat.

“We realize that you’ll never have a section with just two crews alone and unafraid on the battlefield; you’ll be moving as either a platoon, or if you are moving as a section, you’ll have dismounts in the back, so we’ve also worked to incorporate squad leaders into the process,” Walgreen said.

This involved having those squad leaders provide an extra set of eyes to help identify targets as they popped up.

Walgreen explained that in the past, squad leaders haven’t always taken an in-depth part in Stryker training because they were primarily focused on developing and leading their dismounted teams. This has changed and now squad leaders are expected to play an active role during the Stryker qualification.

“[We want] to get those squad leaders to begin to absorb the fact that they are not just solely responsible for a dismounted rifle squad; that crew and that vehicle is part of their team, their squad,” Walgreen said. “If you have a well-trained and lethal rifle squad, but you’ve not dedicated enough time to your crew and vehicle, then your squad will not accomplish its mission. We’re really trying to tie the two together.”

This table presents the additional challenge of having to coordinate the movement of two vehicles who are often firing at targets simultaneously.

It’s forcing [vehicle commanders] to communicate bigger picture to a wingman off to their left or right and setting the conditions so that the other crew can engage threats as soon as they identify them,” Walgreen said. “If the communication piece falls apart or isn’t there then you have two isolated elements who are operating independently on the battlefield, and that’s when you start to worry about fratricide; that’s when you start to lose your lethality on the battlefield.”

For the Soldiers operating the Strykers and going through the lanes, the training has been tough but insightful.

“I’m hoping to be a gunner one day,” said Pvt. Seth Palmer, a Daytona Beach, Fla., native and driver with Charlie Company, 2-3 Inf. Regt. “It’s going to really help me in the future when I do become a gunner and get out of the driver seat. It’s a lot of action and opportunity to see rounds go down range.”

The qualification event has also been a way to show which Stryker crews are best.

“There’s pretty good competition, but in the end we’re all a team, we’re all brothers,” Palmer said.

The Arrowhead Brigade will continue to qualify Stryker crews throughout October and November and will follow this training up with platoon and company-level events in the future, all working to ensure mission readiness for whatever might come.

• Date Taken: 10.10.2014
• Date Posted: 10.14.2014 15:57
• Story ID: 145058
• Location: YAKIMA TRAINING CENTER, WASHINGTON, US
• Hometown: DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA, US
• Hometown: GARDNER, MASSACHUSETTS, US