Getting on war footing

Photo By Sgt. Brian Johnson | Soldiers from the Southern Ohio based 216th Engineer Battalion fire the M2 Machine Gun, Oct. 22, at Camp Atterbury, Ind. The soldiers were taking part in a yearly qualification to test their weapons proficiency. The M2 machine gun has the ability to reach targets over a mile away.  

CAMP ATTERBURY, IN, UNITED STATES

10.22.2011

Story by Spc. Brian Johnson 

216th Engineer Battalion

CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. – Soldiers from the Central and Southern Ohio based 216th Engineer Battalion recently traveled to the firing ranges of this Central Indiana Army base to hone their weapons skills on their regular October drill weekend.

Engineer soldiers’ from Tarlton, Portsmouth, and Wooster, Chillicothe and Woodlawn participated in a two day weapons qualification event Oct. 21 and 22.

The troops conducted weapons qualification on the M-249 machine gun, the M2 .50-caliber machine gun, the M203 grenade launcher and the MK-19 belt fed grenade launcher. The M2 and he MK-19 are crew-served weapons and require a team of two or three soldiers to fire them correctly.

During the drill weekend, soldiers who are assigned these weapons conducted their annual qualifications and other unit members, some who had never before fired the weapons, received familiarization training.

When soldiers qualify with these types of weapons, they are required to fire at targets ranging from 150 meters to over three quarters of a mile.

Sgt. 1st Class Andy Miller from Cincinnati, Assistant Battalion training sergeant for the 216th, explained that the range fire helps meet Army requirements.

“Each unit is required to fire crew served weapons annually,” said Miller. “Units are required to qualify a set minimum amount of soldiers on each weapon’s system.

Spc. Erica Hickman from Chillicothe, a member of the 1194th Engineer Company said that the range fire was exhilarating.
“I like getting familiar with these types of weapons,” said Hickman. “I was nervous at first, but once I got past the first shot, I was immediately comfortable and was able to do well.

According to Miller, the real life applications for these weapons systems are important. These are some of the weapons of choice for convoy operations in the Afghanistan theatre of operations.
By the end of the weekend, a majority of the soldiers who fired their assigned weapons were able to qualify.

• Date Taken: 10.22.2011
• Date Posted: 03.10.2012 07:30
• Story ID: 85045
• Location: CAMP ATTERBURY, IN, US