Photo By Sgt. Jon Heinrich | Soldiers from 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, set off on their 20 km...... read more read more
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FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - The Fire Support Team soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, completed their certification on Oct. 21 after finishing a series of events within the past couple weeks.
FiSTers are forward observers who observe artillery impacts, control close combat attacks and combat air support, said Staff Sgt. Robert L. Horner, a fire support sergeant with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st BCT.
“The FiST Cert. is to certify the forward observers in the brigade and make sure they are up-to-date on skill levels for their rank and make sure they know their job,” said Horner.
The FiST Cert. began Oct. 10 with observers from every battalion within the brigade participating and is held every 6 months.
According to Horner, some of the various testing areas included skill level written exam, land navigation, radio management, crater analysis, mission simulation and a 20 km ruck march followed by the M4 carbine qualification.
Spc. David B. Smith, a fire support specialist with HHC, 1st BCT, said that since he’s only been a FiSTer for 9 months, the hardest event for him was the ruck march as it was his first 20 km, while he prepared himself for every other task.
“I knew what we were going to be certifying on, so I asked for some hands-on training on the equipment before I was actually tested on it,” said Smith. “So I consider myself to have been fairly well prepared.”
Smith described the Call for Fire trainer as being one of the easiest tasks to certify on.
“The whole purpose of it was to demonstrate that we could effectively locate targets using a map and binoculars and adjust rounds onto the target using proper radio procedure,” said Smith.
To Smith, completing the FiST Certification means being qualified to do his job and proving to himself that he is capable in his skill level.
“Study the [Field Manuel].30. It’s all in there. It’s pretty much our whole job is the .30. It’s the manual we go by.”
| Date Taken: | 10.21.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 11.02.2011 15:53 |
| Story ID: | 79450 |
| Location: | FORT CAMPBELL, KY, US |
| Web Views: | 146 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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