Photo By Lt. Col. Randy Ready | A M1 Assault Breacher Vehicle from the 10th Engineer Battalion fires an inert mine...... read more read more
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There was a lot of noise coming from Fort Stewart over the Super Bowl weekend, but those roars weren’t from any Super Bowl party, they came from the Soldiers of Company B, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment shooting their Combined Arms Live-Fire Exercise Feb. 4-5.
The CALFEX integrated all of the combat power an Armor Brigade Combat Team brings to a fight, to include artillery and engineer support, while forcing the company to mass those effects on an enemy at the right time and place.
Capt. Andrew Ferrara, the commander for Co. B, 2nd Bn., 7th In. Rgmt., said the CALFEX tested the company’s new leaders and their ability to function as a unit.
“My objective was to develop a cohesive bond within the team and figure out how everyone works together,” said Ferrara. “I think with every iteration it has gotten better and better. The guys were cruising through and everyone understood the plan and the plan of those around them.”
Staff Sgt. Justin Crews, an acting platoon sergeant with Co. B, 2nd Bn., 7th In. Rgmt., was one of many new leaders taking over a different role within the past few months.
“As acting platoon sergeant I’m moving the whole platoon, making sure that when the platoon leader is on the ground I’m getting the information to the company commander so he has the big picture of everything that’s happening,” said Crews.
The company built up to the CALFEX through their gunnery progression with Tables III-XII, starting at individual crew-level qualifications all the way up to platoon qualifications.
Crews said it was good for his Soldiers to see all of the platoons maneuver together.
“This is how a company-sized element moves,” said Crews. “Everybody is able to see the big picture when you go downrange as a company.”
One of the biggest challenges of a CALFEX is integrating enablers from outside the company or battalion.
For this CALFEX, an engineer platoon from the 10th Engineer Battalion was attached to the company to breach an obstacle and a battery from 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery Regiment provided artillery support.
“That was the biggest point of friction we’ve found,” said Ferrara. “Getting our enablers integrated the day before, so we only did one day of [Troop Leading Procedures] with our enablers. Our Fire Support Officer helped integrate the fires, but we are still working out how to best integrate those enablers and refine the processes.”
With the CALFEX complete, Ferrara said the company will go back to train all the new Soldiers they have received on the basic fundamentals and work their way back up to collective-level training.
“Even out here we integrated our new guys into the maneuvers, but they were not shooting live rounds,” said Ferrara. “We have to go back and really build those building blocks from the beginning. They have seen the end state, now we can work our way through and rebuild that piece of it and do it all over again in a couple of months.”
| Date Taken: | 02.04.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 02.06.2017 17:20 |
| Story ID: | 222674 |
| Location: | FORT STEWART, GA, US |
| Web Views: | 42 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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