Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Luisito Brooks | Col. Michael Getchell, the commander of 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry...... read more read more
Subscribe
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – In combat, it’s the responsibility of the forward observer to direct artillery fire and close air support, but getting soldiers certified to be able to do so is not always an easy task.
Twenty soldiers assigned to the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division “Raiders,” were given the opportunity to participate in a joint forward observer course June 5 to 17, here.
“It was really important that we get some of our guys certified,” said Sgt. 1st Class Robert Lee, the brigade fires support non-commissioned officer in charge, who was responsible for the coordination of the training. “It took two months to plan this whole thing out, and it wasn’t exactly easy.”
The objective of the class was to train and certify Soldiers to provide timely and accurate targeting information to a qualified joint terminal attack controller for Type 2 and 3 close air support, terminal attack controls, and perform autonomous terminal guidance operations.
Additionally, the course provided exercises on engaging targets with an AC-130 gunship, close combat attack, naval surface fires and indirect surface fires.
When requesting these deadly munitions, identifying the enemy and communicating the precise details of their location is key, and the slightest mistake could very well mean life or death.
“It is important for the guys going to Afghanistan to be certified,” said Staff Sgt. Jerame Burns, an forward observer non-commissioned officer assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment. “We have to ensure that our soldiers are able to communicate information as accurately as possible.”
Already certified, but there in support of his soldier, Burns added that if someone is not very accurate when they are call for fire, they can potentially drop a bomb on innocent bystanders and not the bad guys.
For Soldiers like Sgt. Alvaro Barrientos, a fire support non-commissioned officer assigned to 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, the chance to get certified was great opportunity, but being able to have the training so close to home was an added bonus.
“When I heard that the training was going to be here, I was happy,” he said. “This course is really hard and it makes it just a little better that I am so close to home.”
He explained that the JFO course is normally held at Fort Sill, Okla., but occasionally the school sends small teams of instructors out to various military installations to provide the same certification.
New soldiers used this opportunity to gain insight and knowledge from the instructors and from experienced soldiers who are already certified.
“I am very excited to be here in this class because, and I know I will learn a lot,” said Pvt. James Pendleton, a fires support specialist, who has been in the Army less than a year. “I do know that the certification will make me a better soldier.”
He added that this course is not the end-all-be-all course when it comes to FO training.
“Every six months, there is a semi-annual test that we need to take,” he said. “We just take all of the techniques we learned and do it again.”
The course mentally pushed soldiers, and for some, the hardest portion of the course was the detailed testing on the simulators.
“I wasn’t proud of how I did during the simulations, but I will use what I learned to get better,” said Sgt. Bryan Silver, an FO NCO assigned to the Raider brigade.
He explained that he must stay more focused next time.
The demanding course graduated only 8 of the 20 Soldiers that signed up, but that was to be expected.
“We had 8 guys graduate and that’s fairly common for this course,” said Lee. “This course is hard because our [job] requires us to make no mistakes.”
| Date Taken: | 07.07.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 07.07.2011 17:06 |
| Story ID: | 73394 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, US |
| Web Views: | 367 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Soldiers receive joint forward observer cert on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, by SFC Luisito Brooks, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT