Photo By Cpl. Justin Humphreys | Master Sgt. Russell Jones, the assistant operations noncommissioned officer of the 1st...... read more read more
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HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 204th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, Mississippi Army National Guard, conducted M3P .50-caliber machine gun qualifications July 11, 2017, at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, during their annual training.
The M3P is meant to shoot down aircraft or to protect a Soldier from ground troops, said Master Sgt. Russell Jones, assistant operations noncommissioned officer of the 1/204.
The M3P .50-caliber machine gun is the secondary air defense weapon, with the Stinger missile being the primary.
“The M3P is our secondary weapon system that is mounted on the Avenger weapon system,” said Sgt. First Class Jon Mason, the battalion master gunner of the 1/204. “It will allow us to engage aircraft and ground targets, if necessary.”
The M3P was developed during World War II for aircraft, but has long served as a dependable weapon platform for various purposes. It is able to fire up to 1,000 rounds of ammunition per minute with a maximum range of over 1,800 meters.
The past couple of months have been busy for the Soldiers of the 1/204. They went to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, for a month to support the 155th Armored Brigade Combat Team and now they are at Camp Shelby. Soon, they’ll go to Fort Polk, Louisiana, for more training.
“We had a group of Soldiers that just returned from NTC that was out there supporting the brigade during their rotation,” said Mason. “We’ve got a group of Soldiers that will be proceeding to JRTC at Fort Polk, Louisiana, and the rest of us are here at Camp Shelby performing our annual training.”
JRTC is the Joint Readiness Training Center, and Soldiers from the 1/204 will be supporting other units during their annual training.
As the only air defense unit in the Mississippi Army National Guard, they play a crucial role in the state’s overall mission; and their annual training allows them to enhance their skills.
“We don’t get to do the things at home station that we’re able to do at AT,” said Mason. “We’re doing our crew gunnery during this AT and that definitely helps the gunners with their skills. We do things at Camp Shelby that we cannot perform at home station.”
| Date Taken: | 07.11.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 07.17.2017 05:22 |
| Story ID: | 241201 |
| Location: | CAMP SHELBY, MS, US |
| Hometown: | GRENADA, MS, US |
| Web Views: | 69 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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