Photo By Winifred Brown | Sgt. 1st Class Nicholas Bisnett, assigned to Reconnaissance Platoon, Headquarters and...... read more read more
By Wendy Brown
Fort Bliss Bugle Managing Editor
DOÑA ANA RANGE COMPEX, N.M. – Soldiers assigned to 3rd Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, practiced a variety of scenarios using moving Strykers and live rounds during their gunnery Table IV at Range 61 here March 16.
“There are offensive and defensive scenarios, where the truck is already holding a battle position or battling forward, and targets pop up on both – moving and stationary,” said 2nd Lt. Cam Woodworth, assigned to Company A, 3rd Bn., 41st Infantry Regt., 1st BCT, 1st AD, and in charge of the range.
“There’s also a down-gunner drill where the vehicle commander and the gunner switch places and a chemical attack scenario where they’ve got to put on a Promask and shoot from a locked down vehicle,” Woodworth said. “So they’ll lock down all the hatches and engage targets.”
Soldiers prepared to qualify using .50 cal. machine guns and MK19 .40mm automatic grenade launchers shot from Strykers, said 1st Sgt. Imari Jackson, first sergeant, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Bn., 41st Infantry Regt., 1st BCT, 1st AD. They finished the tables and qualified March 22.
“The crews need to be proficient at engaging targets at random distances,” Imari said. “So that way when we get in a combat situation, it’s not new to them. If they’re proficient here, we know for a fact when something comes around out there, they’ll be proficient.”
All five of the battalion’s companies did the training, including the forward support company, which did the training using their own medium tactical vehicles, said 1st Lt. Zachary Trevathan, executive officer, HHC, 3rd Bn., 41st Infantry Regt., 1st BCT, 1st AD.
The unit’s annual gunnery tables include six tables, and for the first three, Soldiers use only blank ammunition, said Sgt. 1st Class Jose McFadden, assigned to Company A, 3rd Bn., 41st Infantry Regt., 1st BCT, 1st AD, and the training’s range safety officer.
“This is the first time, if we have inexperienced Soldiers, they’re getting to put live rounds down range,” McFadden said. “They get that real target feedback where a target will go down once it’s been engaged.”
Ultimately, the practice builds unit cohesion, McFadden said.
“We (want to) build some synchronization as far as what is the driver doing, what the gunner is doing and what the vehicle commander is doing,” McFadden said. “(We want them to build) that team so they can fight as a team and ultimately build up to collective tasks such as fighting as a platoon.”
Sgt. Thomas Sherlock, an infantryman assigned to Reconnaissance Platoon, HHC, 3rd Bn., 41st Infantry Regt., 1st BCT, 1st AD, said he found the training useful.
“It’s just a good chance to gain familiarization on the weapons system and engage targets properly with the proper technique to do it – a good baseline for engagements,” Sherlock said. “… You get what you put into it. It’s like any other training.”
| Date Taken: | 03.29.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 03.29.2017 12:39 |
| Story ID: | 228455 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 98 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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