Photo By Sgt. Ryan Pulliam | U.S. Army soldiers with Bravo Battery, 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery...... read more read more
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MARINE CORPS AIR STATION FUTENMA, OKINAWA, Japan – Soldiers with Bravo Battery, 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, conducted a Gunnery Table VII evaluation Sept. 23.
Responsible for the Patriot missile defense system on Okinawa, 1/1 ADA protects critical U.S. military assets from adversary air threats such as ballistic missiles or aircraft.
“We are conducting drills with Bravo Battery to go through and demonstrate our capabilities and meet gunnery and training requirements to be able to pick up and emplace a Patriot battery from one location to another location,” said Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Nicholas Pape, a Patriot system tactician with Bravo Battery, 1/1 ADA. “It’s also one of our biennial requirements to conduct these certifications and train up our crews and personnel to be able to maintain our readiness at the heightened stance we need to be.”
Pape, a native of Longmont, Colorado, oversaw many of the crews in how they performed in completing their certifications.
“Once we do these gunnery certifications, the crews are then qualified for up to two years. We do have advanced gunnery certifications after this that will go into extending those certifications longer.” Pape said.
At the start of the certification, multiple crews of soldiers started with disengaging and prepping every piece of equipment at their staged location for transport. From there, each piece of equipment, which are attached to multiple Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks, convoy out and await for a minesweeping and chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives team to clear and layout the new location. Once cleared, the convoy has 45 minutes from the moment the first vehicle stops to be capable to launch two Patriot missiles airborne.
“The soldiers did a great job bridging the gap between new arrivals and experienced crew members,” said Army Capt. Karac Lindsey, battery commander for Bravo Battery, 1/1 ADA. “They successfully built a foundation that ensures we maintain ready and certified crews while getting hands on with equipment we don’t get to use as often.”
Lindsey, a native of Kansas City, Missouri, had the role of ensuring the soldiers of Bravo Battery had the time and resources to accomplish their training while at the same time, working with his evaluators to measure the soldiers’ successes compared to their goals.
“At the end of the training,” Lindsey said, “our soldiers are more capable and confident in being able to assume mission not just on Futenma, but wherever we are directed to provide air defense coverage.”
| Date Taken: | 09.23.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 09.29.2021 20:57 |
| Story ID: | 406369 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS AIR STATION FUTENMA, OKINAWA, JP |
| Web Views: | 217 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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