Photo By Sgt. SeoWon Lee | M88 Recovery Vehicles and a Platoon Leader truck from maintenance platoon with Company...... read more read more
CAMP CASEY, South Korea – Soldiers with Company E, 302nd Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division conducted a convoy live-fire exercise at Rodriguez Live Fire Range, South Korea, Dec. 17 to familiarize themselves with weaponry and maintain readiness.
Company E directly supports the 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry (Mechanized), 1st ABCT, 2nd Infantry Division and participated in the live-fire convoy at the end of the 2-9th Infantry Gunnery.
Each platoon conducted a convoy onto Digital Multi-Purpose Range Complex. They engaged four targets, and their job was to link up with a broken vehicle and to recover the vehicle. Finally, they assessed a casualty on the vehicle site.
“Today we are doing a convoy security live fire,” said 1st Lt. Benjamin E. Nygaard, operations assistant plans officer with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2-9th Infantry. “Very often in the Army, the distribution platoon or the maintenance platoon, they have to conduct convoys. They have to move as a group along routes, highways or dirt roads.”
Twenty-four personnel between the two platoons participated in the training. Each platoon was made up of five vehicles. The distribution platoon had four light medium tactical vehicles and a platoon leader truck, and the maintenance platoon had four M88s and a PL truck. It was the first time for 2-9th Infantry to do the convoy exercise.
Soldiers started with dry and blank runs. After having two blank runs, the maintenance platoon conducted the exercise live for the first time.
“Compared to dry runs and blank runs, we improved a lot,” said Spc. Andor C. Cudjoe, a recover vehicle operator from Company E. “Communication is a lot better and scanner is a lot better now, too.”
The convoy training is crucial because it shows “overall readiness of recovery team” according to Cudjoe.
“It [the exercise] shows that we are able to go out there and recover a vehicle on time,” he said. “If we do engage with fire coming at us, we can engage to shoot enemy as quick as possible, and get that vehicle down to recover. Then we move back out.”
Cudjoe said in order to secure a broken vehicle, it could be inevitable to face enemies.
“While in the convoy, they have to have certain level of security,” said Nygaard, “So they can identify enemy targets, enemy threats and potential hazards. They do this so they can move throughout two objectives in a safe manner either to deliver supplies or conduct recovery operations.”
The weather was harsh for Soldiers at the range. The ground was covered with ice and the temperature had dropped down to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. For the Soldiers, this was a good opportunity to experience natural hazards they could face in the future.
“It [weather condition] definitely increases hazards of the training, but it also increases proficiency of the crews and allows them to overcome these kinds of natural hazards,” said Nygaard. “It increases their combat effectiveness.”
He said Soldiers’ hard work and dedication throughout the training was truly amazing. The training had lasted for nearly 48 hours with about six hours of rest cycle in between.
“They have gone above and beyond,” Nygaard said. “They’ve been really high performers throughout this entire exercise.”
| Date Taken: | 12.17.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 12.22.2014 08:00 |
| Story ID: | 150895 |
| Location: | CAMP CASEY, 41, KR |
| Web Views: | 99 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Soldiers conduct convoy exercise, by SGT SeoWon Lee, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT