Btry. B, 2-3 FA trains in the heat

Photo By Winifred Brown | Spc. Don Cardoza, assigned to Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Armored Division Artillery, carries a round to a howitzer during live-fire training with M777 howitzers at Doña Ana Range, N.M., July 21. The rounds weigh about 95 pounds each. (Photo by Wendy Brown, Fort Bliss Bugle)  

EL PASO, TX, UNITED STATES

08.25.2016

Story by Winifred Brown  

Fort Bliss Public Affairs Office

By Wendy Brown
Fort Bliss Bugle Editor

DOÑA ANA RANGE, N.M. – Soldiers of Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Armored Division Artillery, took another step toward completing the unit’s annual gunnery tables as they completed Tables VI through XII here July 18 through 21.
Capt. Emmanuel Burks, commander, Btry. B, 2nd Bn., 3rd FA Regt., DIVARTY, said this was his third year completing the gunnery tables with the unit, and this year’s tables have been have been especially realistic.
For example, the Table XII training tested the unit’s ability to shoot rounds with different amounts of propellant and culminated in a test of the unit’s ability to shoot in an emergency situation, Burks said.
“That’s our biggest focus, to be able to shoot, move and communicate in a platoon-sized element,” Burks said.
There are 18 tables the unit must finish for leaders to certify the team ready for combat, and further training at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, and the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, Burks said.
While there, the unit will provide indirect fires for 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st AD, continuing the unit’s ongoing mutual support relationship with the brigade, Burks said.
The training will also help prepare the artillerymen for the Division Artillery Readiness Test, or DART, during the last two weeks of August, Burks said.
Col. Andrew Rendon, commander, DIVARTY, and the DIVARTY organization in general, have provided the batteries of 2nd Bn., 3rd FA Regt., superior guidance on training and helped Soldiers improve their skills, Burks said.
“Col. Rendon has had a great impact on the officer corps, showing us how a DIVARTY is trained and led,” Burks said. “Combine that senior leadership with our battalion commander Lt. Col. (John) Sandor – a former observer coach trainer at the National Training Center – and you get a pretty lethal formation.”
Soldiers who participated in the training said they enjoyed the experience, despite temperatures often higher than 100 degrees.
“Anytime an artilleryman can come out and do his actual job, it keeps Soldiers motivated,” said Sgt. 1st Class Charles Dougherty. The battery fired about 225 rounds out of M777 howitzers throughout the four days.
Pvt. David Tyler said this year’s table certification is his first in the Army and he learned a lot.
“I learned that being a 13B (cannon crewmember) can be fun,” Tyler said. “It can be hard work, but it’s all worth it after we fire the weapon.”
Staff Sgt. Robert Bryant said the training is especially beneficial because the unit has several new Soldiers, but it also keeps those who have been in the unit awhile current.
In addition, it gives Soldiers a chance to meld as a team, Bryant said.
“I love the camaraderie in artillery,” Bryant said. “I think it’s because you become a family and you really have to work as a team and it’s a lot of hard work.”
In terms of the battalion, First Lt. Joshua Downes, assigned to 2nd Bn., 3rd FA Regt., DIVARTY, said the battalion contains three batteries, all supported by Company F, 501st Brigade Support Battalion, 1st BCT, 1st AD.
Battery C completed the tables through Table XII the week of July 11 through 14, and Battery A is working on the same certification Monday through today, Downes said.
The batteries began their certification process in June with a written test and an Artillery Skills Proficiency Test, which evaluates individual skill, Downes said.
Then, earlier this month, the batteries began preparing for section-level certification, which culminated in Table V, a dry-fire version of Table VI, Downes said.
Once all the batteries have certified through Table XII, the battalion will begin the process of battalion-level certification, which culminates in Table XVIII, Downes said.

• Date Taken: 08.25.2016
• Date Posted: 08.25.2016 16:43
• Story ID: 208212
• Location: EL PASO, TX, US