Operation Workhorse Stampede: 127th ASB practices 360 security

Photo By Winifred Brown | Sgt. Kody Presswood, assigned to Company C, 127th Aviation Support Battalion, Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Armored Division, carries 762 mm rounds for an M240B machine gun during Operation Workhorse Stampede at McGregor Range, N.M., June 14, 2018.  

NM, UNITED STATES

06.21.2018

Story by Winifred Brown  

Fort Bliss Public Affairs Office

By Wendy Brown
Fort Bliss Garrison Public Affairs

MCGREGOR RANGE, N.M. – Leaders of the 127th Aviation Support Battalion, Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Armored Division, purposely designed their base-defense live-fire exercise here to be uncomfortable, unpredictable and demanding.
“We could be called upon to go anywhere at any time, and we’re a support battalion, so we have to be able to shoot and move and communicate all at one time,” said Lt. Col. John Wingeart, commander, 127th ASB, CAB, 1st AD, explaining the importance of the nearly weeklong exercise that ended Saturday.
Operation Workhorse Stampede took place at remote locations near Range 40, and Soldiers had to jump to new locations and then repel base perimeter attacks and gas attacks from Soldiers playing opposing forces. The exercise also included an Apache helicopter live-fire as well as a live-fire range for M4 carbines, the M240B machine gun, the M249 light machine gun and the M2 50-caliber machine gun. In addition, Soldiers practiced medevac operations.
Spc. Jonathan Muniz, a water treatment specialist assigned to Company A, 127th ASB, CAB, 1st AD, said he appreciated the exercise’s challenges.
“It pumps up our survival skills because when you’re on base, you get used to the 9 to 5,” Muniz said. “Being out here sharpens our minds, toughens our body, toughens our skins, to endure all this and continue on with different things they have going on like jumping and these ranges. It really shows you how to deal with a lot of unexpected things.”
Spc. Edgardo Marin, a nodal network systems operator-maintainer assigned to Company C, 127th ASB, CAB, 1st AD, said the exercise was helpful to him as a Soldier who wants to be prepared for deployment.
“We usually do the ranges in comfortable positions. Being able to do it in the wild and having to deal with low visibility and all that, I think it’s helping us out for the real thing,” Marin said.
In all, 175 Soldiers from four companies participated, Wingeart said.
Staff Sgt. James Hill, a fueler who worked with a team of Soldiers to set up the range, said solar energy powered the range’s pop-up targets, and solar batteries allowed them to operate into the night.
“This isn’t an actual site,” Hill said. “We just made this into a firing range … It was a lot of hard work. These Soldiers really did it to make this happen.”
The range featured targets at 100, 200 and 250 meters, as well as two 800-meter and one 1,300-meter target, Hill said.
The range had 13 firing positions, and because the range was in the wild, Soldiers sometimes had to adjust their positions to see around bushes and other terrain features. Leaders stressed that those conditions are exactly what Soldiers would likely encounter in a real-world situation.
First Sgt. James Graves, first sergeant, Co. A, 127th ASB, CAB, 1st AD, said the range’s various target points also helped Soldiers learn how to judge distances.
“They need to learn how to gauge the weapon system and zero it first so they are direct hits versus missing the targets,” Graves said.Graves said the battalion practices base security on a regular basis.
“Right now if we go to war anywhere, we might go in an austere environment and we’re going to have to protect ourselves,” Graves said. “We’ll set up 360 security and the Soldiers would be our security teams out there, so they need to be proficient in using those weapon systems to defend our area.”

• Date Taken: 06.21.2018
• Date Posted: 06.21.2018 11:41
• Story ID: 281789
• Location: NM, US