Courtesy Photo | A U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter carries an M119 howitzer during an air assault...... read more read more
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KHOWST PROVINCE, Afghanistan – It’s not often that a battalion with a long history experiences a first.
That’s exactly what happened, however, when 1st Platoon, Battery A, 1st Battalion, 6th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Task Force Duke, successfully completed the first air assault mission in the battalion’s long and decorated history in Spera District, Khowst province, Afghanistan, May 13-19.
On May 13, two M119 howitzers, the main artillery piece used by the battalion, were strapped to the bottoms of CH-47 Chinooks, and air lifted individually to a mountain outpost in Spera.
The soldiers of Battery A were flown along with their artillery to begin preparations for the mission that lay before them.
The mission objective was to provide necessary artillery support for 3rd BCT, 1st Inf. Div., TF Duke soldiers from the 6th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regt., and the 1st Bn, 26th Inf. Regt., as they located and cleared enemy forces in the area. However, Battery A’s 1st Plt. accepted the challenge knowing their role would be crucial if those forward troops encountered strong resistance.
“The entire platoon felt honored to be a part of this event, and to be selected to do it out of all the platoons in the battery,” said U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Benjamin Sasaki, a Fayetteville, N.C., native and leader of 1st Plt.
Once the excitement of being tasked with the mission wore off, it was time for the platoon to execute their plan of providing artillery support. Unfortunately, challenges arose from the beginning.
“We suffered a non-combat related injury immediately after stepping off the [helicopter], which left us a man short right from the get go. But everyone picked up the slack with no complaints,” said Sasaki.
The soldiers did what they were trained and expected to do, and quickly adapted to the new constraints.
Besides being ready to provide artillery support at a moment’s notice and working on position improvement for their howitzers, they also pulled regular guard shifts on the outpost.
“We fired 15 high explosive rounds and 18 illumination rounds,” said Sasaki.
“Although we didn’t get to fire as much as we would like, we were always ready to provide artillery support for anyone in the area of operations that called, and I believe that constitutes mission success,” he added.
U.S. Army Capt. Joseph Mroszczyk, Company A’s commander and a Syracuse, N.Y., native, said there were many good things to come from the mission.
“The platoon did an outstanding job working through austere conditions at an extremely high elevation. I’ m proud of their contribution to the fight,” he said.
“The soldiers performed extraordinarily, and morale was high for the entire mission. The platoon sergeant and I are extremely proud of all of them,” said Sasaki.
| Date Taken: | 05.13.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 05.31.2011 05:21 |
| Story ID: | 71352 |
| Location: | KHOWST PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 257 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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