Courtesy Photo | Staff Sgt. Matthew Morrison, an Orange County, Calif. native, Staff Sgt. Anthony...... read more read more
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FORT HOOD, Texas – Three noncommissioned officers from 6th ‘Saber’ Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Advise and Assist Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division graduated from Master Gunner
School at Fort Benning, Ga., Oct. 7, after four intense months of training.
Staff Sgt. Matthew Morrison, an Orange County, Calif., native, Staff Sgt. Anthony Markham, an Abilene, Texas native, and Sgt. Nicholas Ferzacca, a Long Beach, Calif., native, will return to Fort Hood to be the Master Gunners for their respective units and start to develop gunnery training plans ready for the rest of ‘Saber’ Squadrons return from Iraq.
“A Master Gunner is the subject matter expert for everything having to do with weapons. The school focuses on operating and maintaining the weapons on a Bradley, but Master Gunners
are responsible for knowing everything about all weapons.” said Staff Sgt. Jason Jesperson, 6th Sqdn., 9th Cav. Regt. Master Gunner.
The three NCOs were handpicked by their commanders, first sergeants, and the two current Squadron Master Gunners, Sgt. 1st Class Brandon Gold and Jesperson, based on their
extensive knowledge and leadership abilities.
Being a Master Gunner means fulfilling the typical leadership duties of an NCO, with the added responsibility of planning and executing weapons training for the unit. These NCOs were selected because they were identified as reliable, competent, and knowledgeable which enables them to handle the extra work load.
Markham and Ferzacca, were released from deployment to go to this school, but before they left, they had to go through a “Pre-Master Gunner class” that was created by Gold and
Jesperson to help them prepare.
Master Gunner School is known for its rigorous academic requirements and ‘Saber’ Sqdn., set their soldiers up for success.
The school consists of two phases, gunnery and maintenance spread out over a 16-week period. Each student is required to memorize the function of every part of the M242 Bushmaster
Chain Gun, broken down to its smallest component. Master Gunners are expected to recite verbatim the function of all 46 major assemblies within the Bushmaster, including over 300
individual parts. The school also requires students to memorize how to maintain each part.
Once the Squadron returns to Fort Hood and resets into a garrison setting, training will become a top priority. Master Gunners design the training for the whole Squadron. All the
Master Gunners will coordinate with each other to create a training plan that the ‘Saber’ soldiers will execute. Training will begin with re-qualifying on individual and crew served weapons and will then facilitate training to qualify with all weapon systems on the M3A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
“Master Gunners have a lot of responsibility because the Squadron relies on them for our readiness. So we do not entrust this responsibility to everyone, and these NCOs clearly proved
themselves by coming through this extremely challenging course successfully,” said Sgt. Maj. Van Prier, Operations Sgt. Maj., for ‘Saber’ Sqdn., and a New Orleans native.
| Date Taken: | 10.07.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 10.25.2011 09:31 |
| Story ID: | 78969 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 181 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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