 Military News
Soldiers from Pennsylvania's storied 28th Infantry Division have experienced rapid change as the division's 56th Brigade Combat Team converted into a Stryker brigade, the only one in the Army National Guard. Their new capabilities will soon be put to the test as the brigade, along with their field artillery unit, prepares to deploy to Iraq later this year, along with their newest weapons system, the ‘Triple 7.' The Triple 7 has been in the Army's inventory since 2006 and although they've seen combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan, only a few Army units have them, none of which are Guard units. The 108th Field Artillery is the first! The 108th Field Artillery, along with the rest of their brigade, have been spending the summer preparing for their upcoming deployment at Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, Miss., not far from where the M777A2 is assembled by BAE, the United Kingdom-based maker of the M777. The days are long and hot in Mississippi, but that has not stifled the exuberant enthusiasm of a team whose motto is "Not Self, But Country". Chest bumps and high fives are a common occurrence among the officers and men of the 108th, especially when it comes to the Triple 7. The long awaited fielding of these new guns began more than six months ago for the command but for most of the Soldiers here, the work started when they got to Camp Shelby. Their 10-day training program and hand-off started with an orientation to the new weapon and ended with a validation firing of nine rounds through each gun. In the last days before the validation firing, the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Corey Lake and his staff ran the battalion through their paces to get ready. There were rehearsals followed by after-action-reviews followed by more rehearsals. Every step was planned and practiced to make sure the first firing would go off without a hitch. Caleb Battery, commanded by Capt. Bryan Hanisko, was first to fire. The other batteries, also reportedly named for biblical figures by a previous battalion chaplain, would follow. Apocalypse Battery was next, followed finally by Barak Battery. Lake is a bear of a man whose normally ever-present smile and encouraging demeanor takes on an altogether different persona when he's concerned about safety. During the final preparation meeting before the next day's live fire, Lake reviewed his observations from that day and ended with a strongly worded warning to the commanders and staff, "We better get this right and do it safe! I don't want to see any stupidity out there tomorrow. Got it?" Although the howitzer can be fired in a 360-degree pattern once emplaced, the battalion operations officer, Capt. Samuel Fenice, reviewed the details for how each weapon would be placed when they arrived at the firing point the next morning. "Plan to pull in the guns heads to tales," said Fenice. "What about Alpha Zulu?" asked one staff officer. "They both mean the same thing," said another officer, referring to the method of emplacing the weapon. The staff had picked up the Marine Corps term from Marine Corps Master Gunnery Sgt. Shaun Coletta. Master Guns Coletta, as he introduces himself, is the non-commissioned officer in charge of the New Equipment Training team for the M777. Working alongside the contracted civilian NET team members, Coletta serves as a liaison between the receiving units and BAE for the validation of each gun and crew. The Triple 7 fires standard shells as well as guided and extended range munitions. "What really makes this weapon stand out is its outstanding accuracy," said Coletta. The M777A2 can fire its 155mm shell roughly 30 kilometers and is accurate to within 10 meters when employing the M982 Excalibur GPS-guided projectile. In fact, during the first day of firing the new guns, Sgt. Maj. Robert Lighty, the operations sergeant for the battalion, was impressed with the remarkable accuracy even using standard shells. "All day long, and with all these guns, the rounds have been hitting within 300 meters of each other," he said. "That's impressive!" Others, like Staff Sgt. John Oros, the section chief of the first gun to fire, reported that their favorite feature of the new weapon was its light weight. "This gun is dramatically different from the M198. It is so much easier to work with," he said. The M777A2 was jointly developed for the Army and Marine Corps as a lightweight, air-mobile artillery piece that is perfect for Marine ship-to-shore operations and fast moving Army operations in challenging terrain. Weighing in at less than 10,000 pounds, the M777A2 is about half the weight of its predecessor, the M198 howitzer. The gun can be delivered by the Army's medium and heavy lift helicopters, the Marine Corps' MV-22 tilt-rotor Osprey or air dropped from an Air Force C-130 Hercules. Some, like the battalion's command sergeant major, Command Sgt. Maj. Stephen Klunk, felt the best feature of the M777 was the ability to emplace the weapon in less than two minutes. "There's no need for manual laying anymore. It's all done by the computer and it is so much faster and more accurate." Klunk, who has spent all but five of his 37 military years in the battalion, is thrilled to be able to deploy with the 108th. "I thought I had a snowball's chance to go and feel very lucky to be able to finish my career with the same great unit that I started out with." Klunk, like many who join the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, has spent his entire career there. He initially signed up as a cavalry scout in the 104th Armored Cavalry Regiment. The unit later became the 108th Field Artillery so he cross-trained as an artilleryman to stay with his unit. He admits his surprise but obvious pleasure to get the chance to deploy with a unit he has been associated with for so long. The NET team chief, Everett Baumgartel, also on hand at the validation firing, had spent more than six months preparing for this day but was quick to point out that this would probably be the last time anyone from the battalion would ever see him and his team. "Once the weapons are turned over to the units, the fielding team moves on to the next unit to receive them," he said. The current fielding plan calls for approximately 800 new guns to be fielded throughout the Army and Marine Corps over the next several years so Baumgartel will have his work cut out for him. A BAE field service representative with a decidedly Irish accent, Andy Stewart, was also on hand and promised that his colleagues will help support the guns after fielding. "Right now, there's one FSR in Iraq and one in Afghanistan supporting this system. Lately, the man in Iraq has not been nearly as busy as the one in Afghanistan though," he reported, "where the guns there have seen tens of thousands of rounds go through their tubes in support of operations there." Finally, the long-awaited moment arrived. The guns were ready and the order, "Fire Mission!" was given. The battalion watched as the first round was checked by the section chief and then loaded into the Triple 7. When the lanyard was pulled the 98-pound projectile roared through the tube followed by a tremendous cheer as the entire 108th celebrated yet another first for the 28th ID and the 56th Stryker Brigade. The Soldiers of the 108th suspect they may not be manning these new guns full time in Iraq. Many, including Sgt. Maj. Lighty, expect they may be called upon to do infantry work instead. In spite of this, their pride at being artillerymen is evident. While watching from the forward observation point as the last volley of rounds hit right on target, Lighty, leading his men in cheers shouted to the rest of the forward observers, "Hey, better tell those infantry guys they need to sign up and go with a winning team!" ADDITIONAL PHOTO:
|
