Photo By Scott Sturkol | Completed berm work is shown Sept. 13, 2021, at Range 102 on South Post at Fort McCoy,...... read more read more
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Workers were wrapping up construction work for berms in mid-September at Range 102 on Fort McCoy’s South Post that gives the range better capabilities, said Range Officer Rey Vellido with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security.
Work on the range began in July when an Army engineer unit on Fort McCoy for annual training took down old berms that were original to the live-fire range, Vellido said.
“They got about 75 percent of the work completed when they were here,” Vellido said. “They did a great job on it. … After that we had our Range Maintenance employees continue the work.
Old dirt berms were taken down, and then they were moved back further on the range.
“We had a berm that was at 25 meters, and it was moved back to 100 meters,” Vellido said. “Now people can zero their weapons on that range as far back as 100 meters. That’s a big change.”
Since Range 102 is one of the busiest ranges on the installation, Vellido said he was glad to see the changes take place.
“Lots of units like to use that range because of its ease of accessibility as well as its capabilities,”
Going into 2021, a long list of troop projects needed to be completed at Fort McCoy, said Troop Project Coordinator Larry Morrow with the Directorate of Public Works (DPW). Many were successfully completed, too, Morrow said.
One of the biggest projects finished was the line-of-communications bridge project just south of the Combined Arms Collective Training Facility on South Post at Fort McCoy. But many others were just as important.
“Comparable projects completed this year also included moving the berm at Range 102, and the creation of the new borrow pit and DPW operations area near the cantonment area on North Post,” Morrow said.
Vellido said the Range 102 project has made the area safer for use, and the work done there will show that. “I’m glad it’s done,” he said.
Range 102 is one of many live-fire ranges. According to the 2021 Fort McCoy Guide Overview, Fort McCoy has 31 live-fire ranges, 17 of which are automated or instrumented; 21 artillery firing points; 12 mortar firing points; and an 8,000-acre impact area. Ranges supporting collective live-fire training include two multipurpose training ranges, a convoy live-fire range, an infantry platoon and squad battle course, three multipurpose machine-gun ranges, two live-fire shoot houses, and a live-fire breach facility.
Individual qualification ranges like Range 102 include facilities for modified record-fire, automated record-fire, and rifle zero range for open and optic sights, as well as a qualification training facility with modified record-fire and combat pistol/military police qualification-course capability.
Additionally, troop projects are a regular part of planned improvements at Fort McCoy each year, and the completion of those projects have continued to make a difference in improving installation operations, Morrow said.
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.”
Also, located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin. The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.” Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base.
| Date Taken: | 09.23.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 09.23.2021 17:04 |
| Story ID: | 405925 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 109 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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