Dagger Soldiers put Weapons on display

Photo By Staff Sgt. Brian Tierce | An M1A1 Abrams tank from the 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 63rd Armor Regiment fires a round down range during target practice at Camp Buehring, Kuwait. Prior to moving the tanks into combat they must be screened to ensure they are functioning properly.  

CAMP BUEHRING, KUWAIT

10.28.2008

Story by Staff Sgt. Brian Tierce 

2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division Public Affairs

By Sgt. Brian Tierce
2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs Office

CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait - Going to the range to qualify with a weapons system is nothing new for Soldiers, but a range recently conducted by the 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 63rd Amor Regiment took going to the range to the extreme.

"Today we brought all of our weapons systems out here to make sure they still fired properly," said Staff Sgt. Michael Tucker, HHC 1-63 CAB, of Trinidad, Colo., "We shot Bradley's, 240 bravo machine guns, .50 caliber machine guns, shotguns, M203 grenade launchers, 249 squad automatic weapons, and the MK19 grenade launcher, they are also firing the M1A1 Abrams Tank right now."

The one of a kind range was held far out on the ranges of Camp Buehring, Kuwait and although there seemed to be an endless supply of shots being fired, the training served a purpose.

"A lot of the Soldiers we received right before we deployed did not have experience on certain weapons," said Tucker, "So we brought them out here to shoot the weapons and that was the best part of the training."

Across a berm from the small arms firing line 1-63 CAB Soldiers also test fired their M1A1 Abrams battle tanks. "Whenever we bring tanks into country, or we are going to fire a new type of ammo we've got to screen to make sure the tanks are fit to fire that ammo," said Sgt. Casey Mobley, Co. C. 1-63 CAB of Mount Pleasant, Texas. "It was a bit slow at first but everything picked up and went pretty well."

Along with the opportunity to ensure their tanks were firing properly came the rare opportunity to fire rare rounds at even more rare targets.

"Today we didn't just fire training rounds we were firing service rounds which actually pack explosives and a little bit bigger boom," said Mobley, " and the best part of the training was shooting the truck that was on the range."

At the end of the day when the dust had settled and all the ammunition was fired and brass picked up the Soldiers of 1-63 CAB knew they had accomplished their mission of becoming familiar with the weapons they will take into combat.

"The Soldiers most beneficial part of the training was easily getting to see all the different types of weapons systems get fired," said Tucker.

• Date Taken: 10.28.2008
• Date Posted: 10.28.2008 04:22
• Story ID: 25623
• Location: CAMP BUEHRING, KW