Photo By Master Sgt. Douglas Roles | CAMP BEUHRING, Kuwait – Soldiers with Bravo Battery, 3rd Battalion, 116th Field...... read more read more
By Capt. Joshua Page
Bravo Battery, 3rd Battalion, 116th Field Artillery
CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait – The M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System is a precision tool, capable of striking targets up to 300 kilometers away with pinpoint accuracy. The HIMARS can operate day or night and in any weather and is considered by many to be the Army’s premiere field artillery weapon. But what really makes this weapon so special is the highly‐trained Florida Soldier inside it. And for these Army National Guard red legs it’s a great day to be the king.
It was a momentous day in late 2016 when members of Bravo Battery, 3rd Battalion, 116th Field Artillery got the word. For the first time since World War II, a Florida National Guard field artillery battery would be deployed overseas to conduct field artillery missions in combat. Although this would be the second, third, or even fourth deployment for many Bravo Soldiers, nothing could dim the electricity that night at Florida’s Camp Blanding Joint
Training Center when news of this historic mission was delivered.
Mobilized in early January 2018, the Soldiers would spend their first month of the deployment at Fort Bliss, Texas. There, Bravo would build upon the already‐extensive list of pre‐mobilization training started the year, training that covered subjects such as countering improvised explosive devices (C‐IED), first‐aid, weapons and cultural awareness. Those Texas nights in January may have been long and bitterly cold, but each Soldier knew that the key to returning home safely in the future was rigorous training in the present.
Now entering its seventh month overseas, the battery’s operational footprint extends to multiple countries throughout southwest Asia. Of course, maintaining such a large presence takes work to remain effective, but this is when the varied backgrounds and experiences of National Guardsmen truly flourish.
On any given day during the deployment, a Bravo captain in Iraq may be speaking with an Air Force technical sergeant regarding an incoming pallet of supplies from Kuwait. Their positive working relationship was established when the officer from Florida was able to repair the technical sergeant’s computer thanks to skills gained from his civilian job in Plant City.
In an undisclosed location last week, a Bravo specialist was able to repair a broken generator because he runs his own electrical contracting company in Polk County. Tonight, in Kuwait, a Bravo sergeant will conduct training missions using the latest in night vision devices. She loves serving in the Florida Guard and is looking forward to using her GI Bill to attend college when she returns home to Arcadia.
Last month the three served alongside not only each other but also their counterparts in the Kuwaiti Land Forces (KLF), as the two units collaborated for a joint communication exercise.
Bravo Soldiers are, at this moment, actively serving on the front lines both of Operation Spartan Shield and Operation Inherent Resolve. They are mechanics and network administrators. They hail from the likes of Miami, Jacksonville, and Auburndale. They are public school guidance counselors, network administrators, and project managers. They are, like the rest of the Florida National Guard, simply the best of what makes Florida so great, all wrapped up in a lethal package that stands ready to answer the call to duty, and they’re serving tonight in support of their state and their country. Bravo proud!
| Date Taken: | 09.08.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 09.20.2018 14:32 |
| Story ID: | 293749 |
| Location: | KW |
| Web Views: | 612 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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