Photo By Sgt. Joseph Guenther | Field artillerymen of Battery B, 1st Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery...... read more read more
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FORT BRAGG, N.C. – The colors across Fort Bragg rose to the sound of “Reveille”; soldiers and paratroopers raised their arms in salute to the flag of the United States of America, and the sun barely peaked through the treetops near Pike Field. After the silence, the men and women of the armed forces are hard at work.
Many soldiers begin their day with physical readiness training, others with a physical fitness test. In the early morning hours of May 8, 2012, 3rd Brigade Combat Team’s airborne artillerymen began their day with some of the greatest physical and mental challenges a soldier can endure: howitzer section certification.
The paratroopers of Battery B, 1st Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment began their day with their certification. Sections begin with a strict, by the numbers, preventive maintenance checks and services (PMCS) for their Humvees and M-119 howitzers within 45 minutes, said Sgt. Justin Graves, a section chief with Battery B.
The PMCS is just the start of several timed drills, Graves said. Other drills for certification include breaching, preparing the howitzer for a sling load for an air assault, setting up a firing position, fire missions, and what’s known as a blitz, or getting out of an area as fast as possible with all equipment accounted for.
This certification, which must occur every six months, gives artillerymen an opportunity to demonstrate their skills in nearly every task they might encounter in a combat environment, said Sgt. 1st Class Eric Pisano, a Battery B platoon sergeant, or “Smoke” as platoon sergeants are known among artillerymen.
To be 100 percent ready for certification, artillerymen need to train constantly for at least two weeks first. “Training for certification is an ongoing thing, and a lot of the guys I have here now are new,” Graves said. Those sections that are unable to complete the drills to standard must try again and again until they get it right.
“They just come down here and do it, over and over again,” said Pisano. The certification process has two parts: section certification, and individual certification.
Before certifying as a section, all the soldiers must take the gunner’s test. This allows the different members of a gun section to certify for their individual positions in accordance with skill level, said Pisano.
Each section within the battalion needs to have a current certification so they can be ready to be called upon as the U.S. Army’s Global Response Force, Pisano said. Everyone in the section needs to know their job, from the section chief all the way down to the lowest cannoneer.
“Everybody’s motivated. If you want it, you’ll come out and get it,” Graves said.
| Date Taken: | 05.09.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 05.09.2012 15:52 |
| Story ID: | 88168 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 132 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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