“Strike Fear” conduct missile live-fire

Courtesy Photo | Soldiers with the 2nd Battalion, 44th Air Defense Artillery Battalion, 101st Sustainment Brigade, conduct Stinger live fire missile exercises at Camp LeJeune, N.C.  

CAMP LEJEUNE, NC, UNITED STATES

07.24.2012

Courtesy Story

101st Division Sustainment Brigade Public Affairs

by Capt. Ebony J. Malloy
108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade Public Affairs Officer

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. – Soldiers with the The 2nd Battalion, 44th Air Defense Artillery Battalion, 101st Sustainment Brigade, continued getting back the basics of their military occupational specialties.

Since returning from Afghanistan this past year in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, the “Strike Fear” soldiers have been brushing up on their tactical MOS skills. This particular training took them to Camp LeJeune, N.C. in June, where they conducted a missile live-fire on Onslow Beach.

Battalion commander, Lt. Col. Jared Galazin said the exercise’s purpose was to assess the unit’s combat readiness for short range air defense. “We’re conducting crew validation readiness on systems that have been out of use for a couple of years due to nonstandard missions,” he said.

The battalion’s objective was to meet annual training requirements for a Short Range Air Defense battalion to demonstrate their ability to engage aerial tracks with the Stinger missile using both the Avenger and Man-Portable Air Defense System configurations.

“It was a lengthy process to get everything planned and ready to go, but when the day for load-up and departure came we executed in a smooth and timely manner that enabled us to get everything that we needed down to Camp Lejeune on time,” said Capt Richard G. Lewis, battalion assistant operations and training officer.

Battalion operations noncommissioned officer in charge Sgt. Maj. Heather Smith said the Camp LeJeune exercise had been planned for several months. “We put the live-fire on our longer-range training calendar last September and we initiated our pre-planning process in January to identify what location we wanted to conduct the Stinger live-fire, whether it was Fort Bragg or Camp Lejeune,” she said.

The battalion coordinated with its brigade headquarters (108th ADA), Camp Lejeune Operations, Camp Lejeune Range Control, a Naval gun ship, Camp Lejeune Environmental Control Office, the Coast Guard, and an air sweep crew. Coordination was also made through two separate agencies to ensure the battalion had clear airspace to fire missile throughout live-fire exercise.
There were 35 Avenger and two Sentinel crews that took part in battalion’s live-fire. While Avenger crews were conducting their live-fire operations other crews was conducting live fire exercises.

Units also conducted low probability of detection training operations in the local area and practiced emplacement drills at a nearby training area allowing units to dig and utilize fortification and barrier materials.

Lewis said many of the battalion’s soldiers did not have the opportunity to participate in the firing of live Stinger missiles, and said this was an excellent chance for them to finally do so.
Seeing the excitement on the soldiers' faces as they successfully engaged track after track made the hard work of putting the range together well worth it,” he said.

“Hopefully, this event will have provided many of our soldiers further personal and professional motivation to continue in their current military occupational specialty and to really take ownership of their skill set so that everyone has the desire to be a subject matter expert with these systems,” Lewis said.

• Date Taken: 07.24.2012
• Date Posted: 07.24.2012 13:06
• Story ID: 92073
• Location: CAMP LEJEUNE, NC, US