Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Donald Reeves | U.S. Army Pfc.'s Jacob A.Wheat, of Rome, Ga., Richie M. Jimenez of Waterford, Mich.,...... read more read more
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LOGAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – On the valley floor of the Baraki Barak Valley a patrol base has been established. U.S Army Soldiers stand watch on the Squad Automatic Weapons scanning the distance dotted by herds of sheep and goats. Soldiers not on watch have given up finding any shade, made dramatically scarce by the midday sun beating down on them.
At the southern end of the patrol base, U.S. Army Pfc. Jacob A. Wheat, of Rome, Ga., says, "Let's run through it again."
Pfc.'s Richie M. Jimenez and Adam F. Zach enter new numbers into a handheld computer, plot new points and run through fire drills on the mortar cannon that they have lugged into the desert.
As part of a three-man mortar team deployed to the Logar province of Afghanistan with Anvil Troop, 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, the privates take their job as Indirect Fire Infantrymen seriously. They push each other to train on all aspects of the job.
"Every single one of us has to learn each other's job in case one of us goes down," said Zach of Agenda, Kan. "We all have to know each other's job."
A mortar can launch high explosive projectiles in close support of troops. Mortar teams open up more options to commanders of units in contact with enemy forces because the HE rounds have a wide kill zone and can reach places otherwise difficult to target due to their high trajectory.
"It's a bad boy," said Jimenez. "It'll push out a lot of rounds in a short amount of time too. If our guys got in a tic, we could suppress the enemy real quick," said Jimenez, using the common acronym for 'troops in contact.'
It takes a lot of skill to fire the mortar accurately.
"There's a lot of stuff that could go wrong," Wheat said.
"We have the LHMBC, the light handheld computer, that you put all the information in," said Jimenez. "If it goes down we have to break out the plotting board."
"That's why we always carry a plotting board. It basically does the same thing, it just takes a little bit longer," said Jimenez, of Waterford, Mich.
According to Jimenez a well-trained team should be able to adjust fire and launch a new round within 30 seconds to a minute.
Zach explained some of the other skills needed. "Another thing you have to be proficient at is map reading. You've got to be good at math and map reading. You also have got to know how to plot points," said Zach.
Zach said that map reading is something his Afghan national army counterparts, who they train with, excel at.
"They're real good at finding points on the map," said Zach.
"Whenever I'm plotting my targets out, the ANA sergeant will come over, and he'll do some of it himself too," said Jimenez.
"They come out, and we have them hang rounds," said Jimenez. "They do gun drills with us," he said.
The team thought they would get to put their skills to the test recently. A patrol heard an explosion and reported contact to over the radio.
"I yelled contact and instantly started grabbing for stuff," said Jimenez. "We had the LHMBC, I started grabbing the rounds out, popped the top off of the mortar and got the mortar ready to fire."
"Everything we do, we have to do it quickly, proficiently, calm, cool and collectively," said Wheat.
Zach agreed. "The main point about it is you've got to stay calm. If you get too excited everything could go wrong," he said.
The complete mortar can weigh in excess of 40 pounds. The rounds, depending on the type, can weigh as much as 15 pounds apiece. Getting to fire the mortar is what makes it worth carrying the extra weight out into the field.
"That's the exciting part of our job, when we get to shoot," Jimenez said.
"When we actually get to fire HE it's a lot of fun," said Zach. "It's one hell of an adrenaline rush."
"It sucks carrying it around because it's a lot of weight on your shoulders, but once you finally get it set up you feel content because you can do your job well," Zach said.
"And being three PFCs out here as part of white platoon, it makes you feel pretty good to know that your sergeants can trust you," Zach continued.
The mortar team attributes that confidence to their intensive training. "Ever since we got to Anvil Troop 1/91 It's been practicing, practicing, practicing. That's how we're out here today," said Zach.
"One more time," said Wheat and the team started the drill again.
| Date Taken: | 04.25.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 04.25.2010 10:41 |
| Story ID: | 48666 |
| Location: | LOGAR PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 513 |
| Downloads: | 300 |
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