Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Zane Craig | Approximately 200 family members joined nearly 250 U.S. Soldiers with 1st Battalion,...... read more read more
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FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. -- Approximately 200 family members joined nearly 250 U.S. Soldiers with the 1st Battalion 109th Field Artillery Regiment, 55th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, 28th Infantry Division for a family day event during the unit's annual training here July 20, 2024.
This year’s event was the third annual family day of families joining their Soldiers in the field at the Gap, with interest growing each year.
“We take them out to the firing points to see their Soldiers in action,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Charles Boyer. “It’s a little bit different when you’re talking at home, trying to explain what you do, but now they get to see it, so I think the family will then have a greater appreciation of what’s going on, and some pride too.”
The family members went in two iterations on buses arranged through Fort Indiantown Gap Training Site, first to the firing point, where they saw a volley of rounds fired downrange, then to the observation point on a ridge approximately three miles away where they saw rounds hit the impact zone in the distance.
“We’re very excited and honored that everybody made it,” said Lt. Col. Scott Brunnenmeyer, 1-109th FA commander, to the crowd of families. "I can’t thank you enough for making the trip. Hopefully you’ll get to see something out in the field today that you’ve maybe never seen before but only heard about from your Soldier in a conversation at the dinner table."
U.S. Army Sgt. Sebastian Benavides-Martin, a wheeled vehicle mechanic assigned to 1-109th FA, was joined by his wife, Samantha, and their one-year-old son, Elijah, for the event.
“It’s nice that we get to see the Soldiers in the middle of them being away for so long,” said Samantha. "I know it’s only two weeks, but I like having him at home."
In his civilian life, Benavides-Martin works as a lead technician for controls at Amazon, while Samantha is a registered nurse.
“We got to shoot a lot of guns this AT, I like that, and some of our Soldiers got to go in the Chinook,” said Benavides-Martin, who has been in the Pennsylvania National Guard for 10 years and has lived in the Scranton area since moving to the U.S. from Colombia as a child. “I see it as a second family.”
U.S. Army Spc. Zachary Murphy, a cannon crew member from Hanover Township, always wanted to join the Army, but didn’t plan to join the 1-109th FA until his father, who was a unit member from 1987-2011, passed away in 2022.
“I realized the camaraderie the unit had and the history it had,” said Murphy, who enlisted in January 2023, three months after his father passed away. “That’s what really inspired me to join up.”
Murphy, 20, is currently preparing to take the written exam to become a state police officer. He said his experience in the unit and in the Guard overall has been amazing, with great leadership and good preparation for his future career, learning accountability, discipline.
“I think the 109th with its deep heritage and its sense of pride is a very family-based organization,” said Boyer. “To bring the families in is very important, for them to see what their Soldiers are doing, because they’re a part of the team also.”
For more information on the 1-109th FA’s training during 2024 AT:
M109 Paladin live fire mission
1-109th Field Artillery fire direction center
| Date Taken: | 07.31.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 07.31.2024 15:53 |
| Story ID: | 477480 |
| Location: | FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Hometown: | HANOVER TOWNSHIP, LUZERNE, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Hometown: | SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 47 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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Fort Indiantown Gap
