Photo By Spc. Moniqua Woods | Soldiers assigned to 4th Battalion, 27th FA Regt., DIVARTY, 1st AD, Battery C, fire...... read more read more
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WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. - White Sands Missile Range, N.M. - Soldiers of the 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment, Charlie Battery, participated in their first field training exercises -- a gunnery week and Network Integration Evaluation 16.1 -- during the months of August and September.
4-27 has been participating in NIE for five years, starting with 11.1, but their newest battery was just activated in June. (For more information on the activation of Charlie battery, refer to the Fort Bliss Bugle’s “4-27 FA Regt., DIVARTY, stands up Btry. C” article online at FortBlissBugle.com.)
"Upon our arrival, we were allotted six months to have at least one section qualified and certified," said Capt. Daniel J. Self, battery commander. "But we couldn't take all that time because NIE 16.1 was right around the corner."
If a platoon’s gun line is not qualified and certified, they are unable to participate in the firing exercises of NIE and therefore not mission capable. Since NIE was a big training event for 4-27, it was extremely important for Battery C to push hard and receive their certification. The pressure was on to get qualified and certified, but Self said he never doubted they could do it.
After only five weeks of training, Charlie fired 145 rounds and certified half of their battery during Gunnery week - time set aside for the commander to test, qualify, certify and ensure that the gun line is mission capable.
"With gunnery out of the way and only two weeks before NIE, we had many late nights and early mornings going over drills and crew operations, especially that last weekend prior to heading out," said Self. "Things weren't easy, and we had some obstacles, but we were able to come out and operate just as well as the other gun lines."
During NIE 16.1, each gun line was tested by Simulated Training Exercises, or “STX lanes” for short. During these STX lanes, the gun line was occupied in one area and would receive a call to provide fire support in another location; that’s when the clock would start. On the way they would encounter enemy fire and/or mortars and improvised explosive devices. They would have to break contact and/or eliminate the threat and then continue the mission. Once in their new position, they would receive their targets and provide accurate fire support, then the clock would stop. In the end, they would receive a go or no go from the master gunner, fire direction officer and battle captains based on their ability to perform convoy and fire direction operations, call for and accurate execution of fire, and enemy combat in a timely manner.
"I'm impressed with Charlie Battery," said Capt. David T. Langdon, 4-27 FA battle captain. "They executed each scenario better than any of the more seasoned platoons."
Not only did Charlie stand out to the battle captain, but 1st Sgt. Santiago Cendejas, 4-27 FA, Battery C, said that he was pretty impressed with the way his battery had performed, especially with many of the soldiers just coming from basic training and advanced individual training.
"After what I have seen in the last couple of days, I am extremely confident in our abilities," said Cendejas. "I see improvement on a daily basis. All I can say is beware, Charlie Battery is here to take over."
Self said he expects to have a completely qualified and certified battery by June of next year, and added the battery will be a big help and support to the 4-27 battalion by increasing its fire support and strengthening its warfighting capabilities.
| Date Taken: | 10.01.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 10.15.2015 17:23 |
| Story ID: | 179056 |
| Location: | NEW MEXICO, US |
| Web Views: | 275 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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