Photo By Cpl. Joseph Karwick | Cpl. Michael Coogan, a field artilleryman and a chief A-gunner with 3rd Battalion,...... read more read more
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FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. - In the hills of Pennsylvania, a loud and thunderous blast is heard with only the dragon’s breath of the M777A2 Lightweight Howitzer seen through the trees after India and Golf Batteries with 3rd Battalion, 14th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, unleash the accurate and continuous fury that is field artillery.
The M777 Lightweight Howitzer is the Marine Corps’ only means of indirect fire support in any weather condition, and the cannoneers of 3rd Bn., 14th Marines are masters of their craft, honing their skills during exercise Twisted Sister.
“Artillery is of extreme importance on the battlefield,” said Lt. Col. Christopher Davis, the commanding officer of 3rd Bn., 14th Marines. “When our maneuver elements and infantry have already engaged with the enemy, regardless of the time of day or weather conditions, the artillery is there to bring indirect fire support to their aid. We have the ability to reach out 18 miles with 24 cannons and 800 Marines that bring an awesome amount of fire power that enables the maneuver elements to engage the enemy with combined arms.”
It is essential in Marine Corps combined arms tactics to have the capability of moving at a moment’s notice. However, artillery once was laborious to move and emplace. That couldn’t be further from the truth for modern day field artillery.
“The three words associated with artillery throughout the artillery community are shoot, move and communicate,” said Maj. Jeff Stewert, the operations officer for 3rd Bn., 14th Marines. “You have to do all three and they all rely on each other.
The M777A2 Howitzer is designed to be more rapidly mobile than previous howitzers. Batteries are able to displace and emplace in different locations within in a matter of minutes, as well as hasty emplacements on the move if they need to. Rapidity and mobility are key to our survivability as an artillery battery.”
Training during a battalion-sized fire exercise is centrally focused on the battalion’s ability to command and control its battery elements in the field and honing their support maneuver warfare tactics.
“Support maneuver isn’t simply dropping artillery rounds into a designated area,” said Davis. “There is a difference between shooting artillery and conducting fire support. Shooting artillery is the process of simply putting a large round down range into an impact area. Fire support is when a maneuver element commander presents us with an issue that he believes coordinating his troops and our indirect fire through fire and maneuver and timing will enable him to engage the enemy and seize the objective. That requires coordination between live-fire support, the maneuver commander down range and the process of shooting artillery to bring all of that together in a safe and effective way.”
The gun batteries on the firing line are presented with a number of scenarios to better understand the different conditions and possibilities that could result when conducting support maneuver tactics.
“Since we have received shooting authorization, these Marines have put more than 100 rounds effectively down range in various different call-for-fire scenarios, meeting time hacks coordinated by battalion is probably one of the hardest, because you never know exactly what could be going on at the battle field,” said 1st Lt. Terence Foley, platoon commander Btry. I, 3rd Bn., 14th Marines. “Say we are coordinating a combined arms attack. We either have to get our shots in either before or after the plane has passed and when the ground guys are clear. The slightest miscalculation could be devastating for our own guys, so training to better ourselves in those aspects makes sure we are at the top of our game.”
Training in support maneuver warfare comes with its own logistical challenges given the sheer scale, size and distance between each unit, along with the battalions training capabilities to only bring the unit together in force twice a year.
“We have had some challenges; it’s difficult to coordinate all the units coming in from different locations,” said Stewart. “Artillery has a very heavy footprint and moving a couple hundred miles, in some cases, takes coordination. We have worked through and progressed into executing a sound tactical scenario to achieve all of our missions and essential task list. We are going to finish strong and conclude a successful operation.”
Exercise Twisted Sister allowed 3rd Bn., 14th Marines to bring it all together for their fire exercise, practicing command and control of their batteries and elevating their support maneuver warfare tactics.
“One of the things we take seriously is our mission to support maneuver,” said Davis. “These exercises are really important for us to hone our skills so that when we are put in front of our counterparts, whether reserve or active, we have the skills necessary to support them so that they understand that we take our mission of providing fire support seriously.”
| Date Taken: | 10.25.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 10.29.2014 12:26 |
| Story ID: | 146463 |
| Location: | FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, PA, US |
| Web Views: | 535 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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