Photo By Sgt. Brian Johnson | Soldiers from the Chillicothe-based 1194th Engineer Company practice firing the M2...... read more read more
FORT KNOX, Ky. - Soldiers from the Chillicothe-based 1194th Engineer Company recently traveled to the firing ranges of this southwestern Kentucky Army base to hone some of their warfighting skills.
The troops conducted demolitions training as well as weapons training on the M249 machine gun, the M2 .50-caliber machine gun and the MK19 belt-fed grenade launcher. The M2 and MK19 are crew-served weapons and require a team of two to three Soldiers to operate them properly. On this 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 on these types of weapons, they are required to fire at targets ranging from 150 meters to more than three-quarters of a mile. When working with demolition materials, they must stand back a safe distance from the explosion, in this case, nearly one mile from the blast.
"Training on crew-served weapons and demolitions are important skills for engineers," said Capt. Todd Winn, the unit commander. "Putting rounds downrange and working with demolitions helps us to maintain and improve our skill levels. I was impressed with the professionalism and motivation that the Soldiers displayed while operating these ranges."
Sgt. Tim Allen, of Circleville, helped run the M2 range. He said any of the troops who wanted to learn the weapons were offered the opportunity.
"It was great that all of the personnel were able to fire the weaponry who wanted to," he said. "We had gunners, assistant gunners and auxiliary personnel who were all able to fire and qualify with the weaponry. These were very decent, well-run ranges."
Spc. Jason Ebanks, of Findlay, said the demolition range in particular was fun. "Having come from the Coast Guard, where we don't train this with the intensity that the Army does, I really enjoyed this. It is an adjustment to go from the Coast Guard way of life to the Army way of life. I would have loved to have had longer than a drill weekend to spend even more time training with this."
| Date Taken: | 09.15.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 04.16.2015 20:25 |
| Story ID: | 160282 |
| Location: | FORT KNOX, KY, US |
| Web Views: | 30 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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