Photo By Frances Seybold | The Basic School provided support to the Infantry Officer's Course by firing live...... read more read more
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After several weeks of planning, a new artillery gun position went active Feb. 7 on the west side of Marine Corps Base Quantico along Interstate 95, in order to provide The Basic School (TBS) and the Infantry Officer’s Course (IOC) indirect fire and fire and maneuver training.
For decades, Marines aboard Quantico have undergone indirect fire training and fire and maneuver training at TBS and IOC, however, the specific layout of the ranges and training areas did not allow for maneuver with both mortar and artillery support collectively.
Because of its vast expanse and particular range layouts, IOC travels to 29 Palms, California four times a year to get this experience for the first time. It is the culminating event in their Program of Instruction (POI).
Operating off of a request from the TBS commanding officer for an additional artillery gun position that would be safer to employ in support of maneuvering troops, the officers at TBS and IOC coordinated and planned with Range Management Branch (RMB/Range Control) to find an alternate location.
The site that was found to have the most pros and no cons was Drop Zone (DZ) Redwing, adjacent to MCB Route 645.
Therefore, the new gun position would be identified as GP-45.
This location would allow for Marines to conduct live-fire maneuver on an adjacent range (Range 15A) while observing and adjusting indirect artillery and mortar fire into the Range 15 impact area.
According to James Woodfin, range control officer, this is nothing new and the base is simply reactivating an asset which has not been utilized in some time.
“This used to be done in this specific impact area with mortars and 105s from a different gun position, but since the 155s have come along, the range layout was not ideal for the bigger system, leaving artillery out of the picture when it comes to maneuver,” Woodfin said.
In the weeks leading up to the exercise, an artillery survey team was dispatched from 10th Marine Regiment, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina to come and survey the new gun position and several other points in the training areas.
After several map studies and range walks, additional hardened steel Explosive Ordnance Demolition Technology (EODT) targets were emplaced in the impact area by the range control project manager.
Because the targets were part of a previous range project, but could be fired upon from the new gun position, the cost of establishing GP-45 was almost zero.
All target and target box GPS coordinates were then confirmed by the range control Geographic Information System (GIS) specialist, the IOC staff and the TBS artillery officer and surface danger zones(SDZs) were then established.
The IOC staff coordinated the schemes of maneuver while the Range Control safety section plugged the events into the Range Facility Management Support System (RFMSS) for planning and scheduling.
TBS Artillery Battery Commander Capt. Andrew Rudd took a look at how to better assist IOC by getting students much closer to fire, impacts and planning and in turn watching the whole thing come together.
When Rudd’s Marines manning the Howitzers fired for the first time on Feb. 6 for calibration, they were able to hit within a few yards of the EODT targets and scored direct hits on a connex box aerial target.
The next day, the Marine students and instructors from IOC observed the 103 pound artillery shells fired from GP-45 into Range 15 allowing them to conduct live fire and maneuver training with M777 Howitzers.
“It is about showing the Marines how they can use fires to maneuver their unit to the last 100 meters,” Maj. Evan Bradley, director, IOC said.
(This article was written with contribution from TBS, IOC and RMB.)
| Date Taken: | 03.08.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 03.09.2018 15:02 |
| Story ID: | 268851 |
| Location: | QUANTICO, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 192 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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