Photo By Sgt. Carson Gramley | U.S. Marine Cpl. Whyte, a missileman with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Task...... read more read more
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AL ASAD, Iraq - U.S. Marines from Task Force Al Asad, employed the combined firepower of guided missiles, machine guns and riflemen to engage and destroy simulated enemy armored targets on a range aboard Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, March 28, 2015.
The Marines commenced the assault with machine gun fire until conditions were set to fire BGM-71 Tube-launched Optically-tracked Wire-guided missiles and FGM-148 Javelin missiles before sending in the maneuver force.
“The TOW gunners, anti-tank missilemen, and the machine gunners combined skills to create an anti-armor maneuver element to attack the enemy,” said Sgt. Alfredo Torres, Task Force Al Asad.
The time spent at the range gave the two companies an opportunity to use the scarcely-employed weapon systems and see how those systems could be used to supplement other fire elements.
“[We focused on] building that habitual relationship between the machine gunners and missilemen [by] fully integrating those different weapon systems and then synchronizing the planning across the different section leaders to ultimately make us more combat effective,” said Capt. Phil Flambert, company commander, Task Force Al Asad.
Due to the cost of the missiles, it’s rare that infantry companies get to experience training on the live ordnance, and even more so in a deployed environment.
“There’s missilemen that go their entire careers without ever firing a Javelin missile, and we were able to fire one in Iraq,” said Flambert.
Torres said that despite their limited live-fire experience with the complicated weapon systems, he was pleased with how his Marines performed while operating and firing the missiles.
“I was impressed by their confidence,” said Torres. “The two Marines who fired the missiles are on their first deployment and they went out there and briefed all the staff and officers on how to operate the systems. Not only do they know how to do their job, but they can brief it with confidence.”
The Marines hit their mark with each missile they fired. The leadership agreed they couldn’t ask for anything better than that.
“My expectations were exactly as the Marines executed,” said Flambert. “I wanted great effects on target and they exceeded my expectations.”
| Date Taken: | 03.28.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 04.17.2015 02:38 |
| Story ID: | 160305 |
| Location: | AL ASAD AIRBASE, IQ |
| Web Views: | 197 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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