Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Shane Smith | Infantrymen and Stryker crewmembers with Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 112th Infantry...... read more read more
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Fort Irwin, Calif. – Infantrymen and Stryker crewmembers with 2nd Battalion, 112th Infantry Regiment, 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division, Pennsylvania Army National Guard conducted live-fire training operations as part of their monthlong training at the National Training Center here Aug. 15.
The Soldiers rose early in the morning to prepare for their long movement from one end of “the box,” the simulated battlefield spanning more than 1,000 square miles, to the other.
“It’s been a long, exhausting day and we still have a few more objectives to take before our day is over,” said Spc. Sam Garman, an Alpha Company, 2-112th Infantry Regiment Soldier. “We’re getting run down, but just focusing on the next task at hand helps keep you going,” Garman added.
Completing their long patrol was made easier with the use of the Regiment’s primary means of transportation: Strykers, eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicles capable of traversing a multitude of terrain conditions, including the harsh desert terrain encountered at the National Training Center. The 56th Stryker Brigade is one of only two Stryker Brigade Combat Teams in the Army National Guard.
During their patrol, the Soldiers of the 2-112th Infantry Regiment were faced with a variety of obstacles they had to overcome, ranging from hostile targets to movement-impairing terrain obstacles. One such obstacle they encountered was a reinforced razor wire fence blocking their movement to the next objective. To overcome this obstacle, Soldiers of Alpha Company provided support by fire with M4 rifles, rifle-mounted M320 grenade launchers, M240s and M249 machine guns, and Stryker-mounted M2 .50 caliber machine guns, engaging distant simulated enemy targets while Charlie Company troops breached the fence to clear a path for the regiment’s Strykers to move through.
“We’re all infantrymen, so we’re trained to use all of the weapons we fired during the support by fire we provided for Charlie Company, but being National Guardsmen it’s always nice to get hands-on training time with these weapons, especially during a live-fire training exercise like this,” said Spc. Joshua Decker, an Alpha Company, 2-112th Infantry Regiment Soldier, “myself and a few others also got to fire live AT4 rounds, which is always fun and gave us a nice morale boost.”
The AT4 is an unguided, portable, single-shot, light anti-tank weapon used by infantry units to destroy or disable armoured vehicles and fortifications.
The 2-112th Infantry Regiment Soldiers concluded their training for the day by dismounting their Strykers to clear an urban town of hostile forces, honing their squad tactics and movements. Afterwards they returned to their forward operating base for the night, ending their long day of training from sun up to sun down.
| Date Taken: | 08.15.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 08.17.2018 21:23 |
| Story ID: | 289141 |
| Location: | FORT IRWIN, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 535 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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