Photo By Scott Sturkol | Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry Regiment of the Illinois National...... read more read more
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Hundreds of Soldiers at Fort McCoy for the Exportable Combat Training Capability (XCTC) Exercise completed gunnery training with vehicle-mounted weapons at Fort McCoy’s Range 26 as part of exercise operations.
The training includes Soldiers with the 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team and Joint Forces Headquarters-Illinois of the Illinois National Guard — the units coordinating the XCTC Exercise. XCTC is the Army National Guard's program to provide participants with an experience similar to an Army combat training center at home station or a regional training center, such as Fort McCoy, according to the National Guard Bureau.
The gunnery training within the XCTC Exercise helps build platoon-level proficiency for brigade combat teams prior to entering a combat training center as well as company-level proficiency for units prior to entering the Army's available force pool in the Army Force Generation Cycle.
Capt. Brandon Hunsaker, commander of D Company, 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry Regiment of the Illinois National Guard said the Range 26 action was part of his unit’s participation in Table VI of Army gunnery.
There are 12 gunnery tables in all. Table VI features crew qualification, which is designed to evaluate gunnery crews on engaging moving and stationary targets using all vehicle weapon systems while in offensive or defensive postures, according to the Army definition for the table.
“Gunnery is a highly structured set of training,” Hunsaker said. “It begins with basic Soldier skills and goes all the way up to platoon-directed training. At Range 26, we (were) training at the crew level. Doing this allows us to evaluate Soldiers.
“This also is continuous training,” Hunsaker said. “We’ll keep doing it until we get up to that platoon level.”
First Sgt. Kevin Driscoll, also with 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry Regiment, said Fort McCoy served as an ideal place to complete the gunnery training. “Here (at Fort McCoy) we get to move in large open spaces and get good group training,” Driscoll said.
Hunsaker said the XCTC training, overall, also is great for all units in the exercise.
“The XCTC (Exercise) is a great thing for us because we have our First Army counterpart that is up here to train alongside us,” Hunsaker said, referring to the more than 500 Soldiers with the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment of Fort Campbell, Ky., who are supporting the Illinois National Guard with the exercise. “They can help evaluate us as a platoon and help us go out and do those platoon-level tasks. This also is a great opportunity for the Illinois Guard to get out and get involved in this realistic training. This is something we don’t have very often. The last time we did an XCTC rotation was 2012, so it’s something that doesn’t come along every year.”
Illinois National Guard Public Affairs Director Lt. Col. Brad Leighton said approximately 4,000 Soldiers are participating in the exercise, including 3,200 Illinois Soldiers and about 800 active-duty service members. This includes an infantry battalion from the Puerto Rico National Guard in the Illinois numbers.
The 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team includes six battalions with companies from the southern tip of Illinois all the way up to Woodstock near the northern border that will be a part of this training, Leighton said.
The exercise also featured a variety of scenarios and training environments designed to test Soldiers and exercise venues, in addition to Range 26, were located throughout the Fort McCoy range complex.
Fort McCoy has supported America’s armed forces since 1909. The installation’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” The post’s varied terrain, state-of-the-art ranges, new as well as renovated facilities, and extensive support infrastructure, combine to provide military personnel with an environment in which to develop and sustain the skills necessary for mission success.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at www.mccoy.army.mil, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
| Date Taken: | 06.16.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 06.16.2017 13:54 |
| Story ID: | 238224 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 435 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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