Photo By Scott Sturkol | Students in the 89B Advanced Leader Course (ALC) conduct ammunition inspection...... read more read more
Subscribe
Students in the 89B Advanced Leader Course (ALC) participated in munitions inspection training Feb. 3 at the Fort McCoy Ammunition Supply Point (ASP) as part of the course at Fort McCoy.
It was only the third iteration of this kind of training since 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic started. The ALC is taught by instructors with the Regional Training Site-Maintenance at Fort McCoy.
An ALC is a branch-specific course that provides Soldiers selected for promotion to staff sergeant an opportunity to enhance leadership, technical skill, tactical expertise and experience needed to lead squad-size units, according to the Enlisted Personnel Management Directorate of Army Human Resources Command.
For the munitions inspection training, ASP Accountable Officer Jasen Alexander showed students and their instructors how to properly inspect and document munitions that the 89B Soldiers will likely have to inspect in the future.
“This is especially important for them to know when they go to the field,” Alexander said. “Here they are learning about the serviceability of items and how to document that serviceability.”
The eight hours of training covered inspection forms and various types of ammunition, including 81 mm and 105 mm munitions.
“We’ve been partnering with (89B) instructors to provide this training here for many years,” Alexander said. “We’re proud to be able to support the training and help prepare these Soldiers for this work.”
An ALC consists of both a 90-day highly facilitated web-based common core program and a branch-specific resident phase. For the 89B ammunition specialist military occupation specialty, its ALC at Fort McCoy is four weeks (two two-week phases).
89B ALC instructor Sgt. 1st Class Lindsay J. Etherton said the ammunition inspection training is a valuable part of the overall ALC.
“The ability to accurately determine the reliability and serviceability of all ammunition types in the Army arsenal is an essential component of 89B quality assurance and quality control for ALC graduates to know,” Etherton said. “The responsibility from the E-5 to E-6 in the ammunition specialist field is drastic and comes with immense responsibility. Conducting the hands-on portion of ammunition inspection is vitally important for students as they transition to fulfill their quality assurance/quality control role.”
Staff Sgt. Jordan Keck, an ALC student and 89B NCO with the 148th Brigade Support Battalion with the Georgia Army National Guard, said getting the training at the storage point helped fulfill the overall training experience.
“The Ammunition Storage Point (training) was a good practical exercise to put the inspections we were learning about into action,” Keck said.
According to the Army job description for a senior ammunition supply specialist, these NCOs supervise the receipt, storage, issue, and preparation of ammunition, ammunition components, and explosives for transportation and storage.
They also supervise ammunition stock control and accounting procedures for surveillance inputs, conduct ammunition inspections and tests, and perform inspections of containers and vehicles transporting ammunition. And the munitions inspection training also was a full day of hands-on training in inspections for all the ALC students.
Staff Sgt. Alexander Suess, an 89B ALC student with the 5th Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) of the Colorado Army National Guard, said that kind of training made the course worth attending.
“The hands-on portion was by far the best part of the training,” Suess said about the ALC.
Alexander said the Fort McCoy ASP will continue to support the training now more regularly.
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” 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 the Defense Visual Information Distribution System at https://www.dvidshub.net/fmpao, 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: | 03.10.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 03.10.2022 12:21 |
| Story ID: | 416196 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 268 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 89B ALC students complete ammo inspection training at Fort McCoy’s Ammunition Supply Point, by Scott Sturkol, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
