Photo By Jason Ragucci | Range Operations helped make the Engineer Symposium a success. The 27th Engineer...... read more read more
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FORT LIBERTY, N.C. – Range Operations helped make the Engineer Symposium a success. The 27th Engineer Battalion Commander recognized four Range Operators for their efforts and support during the exercise held on December 11, 2023.
The Engineer Symposium included the Sandhills Breaching Project, which began the Army’s initiative to modernize and autonomize its combat breaching systems. Lt. Col. French Pope awarded Robert Havens, Jim Horiski, Darin Burns, and Bryan Reed Army Civilian Service Achievement Medals for scheduling and assisting the symposium at Maurey Drop Zone.
“We greatly appreciated the early planning and scheduling from Lt. Col. Pope and his team to make the Engineer Symposium a success,” said Fort Liberty Range Officer Mark Murray. “Our Range Operations employees took great pride in working with the Engineers to ensure they had the best Facility, Air Space, and Training Areas.
Robert Havens, Deputy Director of Range Operations, provided top-level oversight and organizational energy needed to approve the concept. He worked directly with the planner to find the right way to execute live rockets and integration, making the entire experiment successful. Havens provided the muscle behind any needed exception to policy and ensured that the 20th Engineer Brigade could execute a safe and effective experiment.
James Horiski, Chief Scheduler, ensured changing requirements emerged and adequately resourced for land and time. He helped lock in and work co-use ranges and training areas to ensure the proper training environment. Without Horiski’s help, they would not have gotten the suitable land at the right time to execute the experiment and prepare actions for the exercise.
Darin Burns, Integrated Terrain Analysis Program/Environmental specialist, was constantly on the phone with planners and Company Commanders working to find a way to say “yes” for various digging and obstacle emplacement exercises. He ensured the operation's intent didn’t violate safety or environmental considerations.
Bryan Reed, Range 74 Range Manager, was critical in ensuring that the urban breaching portion of operations was executed. He worked with person-to-person deconfliction, an exception to the range modifications policy, and a generous allotment of time and space to store equipment leading into and coming out of the experiment.
The Sandhills autonomous breaching project was an XVIII Airborne Corps initiative executed by the 20th Engineer Brigade. At the direction of Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue, the 20th Engineer Brigade will explore available autonomous and semiautonomous breaching capabilities. The state of Large-Scale Combat Operations suggests a need for robotic and autonomous breaching that keeps Soldiers out of the point of breach. The 20th Engineer Brigade, alongside government and industry partners, hosted an experiment to test the capabilities of current autonomous and robotic systems.
“Our team conducted many non-standard operations, requiring several exceptions to policy in order to deliver the needed conditions for a good experiment,” said Murray. “At every step, the Range Operations team provided reinforcing fires, ensuring that we worked to ‘yes’, safely.”
| Date Taken: | 02.01.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 02.05.2024 13:21 |
| Story ID: | 463207 |
| Location: | FORT LIBERTY, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Hometown: | FAYETTEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 71 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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