The Might behind the Mechanized Forward Observer

Photo By Staff Sgt. Christina Dion | Saltillo, Miss., native Sgt. Bradley Stacks, a gunner and forward observer, assigned to Delta “Death Riders” Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armor Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, performs maintenance checks on the gun system on the M3A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle March 23 at the Drawsko Pomorskie training area motor pool. The 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division is an armored brigade combat team and the U.S. Army’s current regionally-aligned force for Europe. They will spend the next three months training alongside NATO allies in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Christina M. Dion, 319th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)  

DRAWSKO POMORSKIE, POLAND

03.23.2015

Story by Sgt. Christina Dion 

319th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

DRAWSKO POMORSKIE, Poland - For tankers the M1A2 Abrams tank may be the best armored vehicle in the Army’s arsenal, but for Saltillo, Miss., native Sgt. Bradley Stacks, a gunner and forward observer with Delta “Death Riders” Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armor Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, a specialized Bradley is just as lethal.

As 1st Bde., 3rd Inf. Div., begins its three-month rotation and works side-by-side with the Polish Armed Forces. All Soldiers must maintain their equipment and share knowledge. For Stacks, this provides an opportunity to learn without the hazards of a war zone.

“The Polish version of the Bradley is the BMP,” said Stacks. “I hope we can cross train and maybe get some tactics from each other; learn a little bit and teach a little bit.”

Stacks mission is a little different than most Bradley operators. As the FSNCO, or fire support noncommissioned officer, he and his crew operate an M3A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle with the mission of calling in artillery, and other fire support assets during combat operations for troops on ground.

The normal M2A3 personnel carrier, and Stacks’ M3A3 have subtle visual differences, but drastic operational differences. The common M2A3 has a primary role as an infantry troop carrier, while the M3A3 that Stacks has nicknamed “Dingo” is the company level fire control center making his Bradley one of a kind in his unit. With the aid of communication and laser targeting systems, Stacks and his Soldiers are able to track the position and movements of friendly troops, while tracking and targeting opposing forces.

“I’ve used it [the M3A3 Bradley] in Iraq in 2010,” he said. “They don’t have air conditioners so it was hot, but it definitely makes you feel safer.”

Whether in the M3A3 forward observer version of the Bradley or the M2A3 troop carrier, weapons capabilities are impressive. The Bradley has an M242 25 mm chain gun on the turret packing 200-rounds-per-minute max-rate of fire and a M240C 7.62 mm machine gun, which has 900-rounds-per-minute max-rate of fire.

“Compared to a tank, it’s not that much, but it’s quite a bit of fire power if you know how to use the weapon system properly,” he said. “If you are accurate enough, you can touch somebody that’s 3 kilometers out with the (armor piercing) rounds.”

With the combined firepower of Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and other armor assets that Stacks’ company operates, Delta Co. lives up to their reputation as the “Death Riders.”

• Date Taken: 03.23.2015
• Date Posted: 03.26.2015 13:00
• Story ID: 158185
• Location: DRAWSKO POMORSKIE, PL