Subscribe
FORT STEWART, Ga. — Armored vehicles move into position at Staff Sgt. Stevon A. Booker Range as 3rd Infantry Division (3rd ID) Soldiers prepare to put their training to the test through maneuver live-fire training.
The range provides Soldiers with an environment to conduct mounted-platform gunnery and live-fire training at the platoon level, strengthening the skills, readiness and lethality needed to fight and win.
“This range is now the ‘premier’ training facility on Fort Stewart,” said John P. Wheatley, a Fort Stewart range control supervisor. “The capability that this facility will now provide is going to allow units to conduct live-fire gunnery tasks up to the platoon level.”
Booker Range’s expanded capabilities are the result of continued efforts by Fort Stewart leaders to develop training areas that meet current and future Army requirements. Since 2019, installation leaders have emphasized the importance of the project to Army leadership, resulting in expanded training capabilities for Fort Stewart and its tenant units.
For Capt. Emily Denhard, a company commander assigned to 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd ID with gunnery experience at Fort Bliss, Fort Benning and Rodriguez Live-fire Range in South Korea, realistic training is essential to preparing Soldiers for combat.
“Improvements to training areas provide the physical space and integrated technology to train for complex operations safely and realistically,” Denhard said.
Booker Range gives 3rd ID units another venue to prepare crews and formations for Combat Training Center rotations, deployments and Immediate Response Force missions. The range also gives commanders greater flexibility to build training around the tasks their formations need to accomplish.
“It can accommodate ‘Commander’s Intent’ events that none of our other live-fire ranges can provide,” Wheatley said.
For armored formations, live-fire training combines the technical skills of operating combat platforms with the demands of working as a formation. Crews must communicate, identify and engage targets while maneuvering and responding to changing conditions on the battlefield. That realism directly contributes to the division’s ability to build combat power from tough training on ranges like Booker. With this tough training comes credit from the upgrades of 3rd ID's ranges.
“Upgraded ranges are absolutely crucial to 3rd ID’s readiness and lethality,” Denhard said. “State-of-the-art training facilities provide realistic, high-fidelity training environments for M1A2 tanks, M2 Bradleys, and any future platforms.”
Training at Booker Range is part of the 3rd ID’s broader effort to remain ready to execute the Army’s warfighting mission. By providing Soldiers opportunities to train with their equipment, refine battle drills and operate as cohesive formations, the range helps turn individual and crew proficiency into collective combat capability. As the Army prepares formations to operate in increasingly complex environments, realistic training remains essential to building ready and lethal forces. For 3rd ID Soldiers, Booker Range is another place where training becomes readiness, readiness becomes lethality, and lethality prepares the division to fight and win.
| Date Taken: | 08.25.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 08.25.2026 16:04 |
| Story ID: | 573208 |
| Location: | FORT STEWART, GEORGIA, US |
| Web Views: | 21 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Booker Range: Fort Stewart’s premier maneuver live-fire training facility, by SPC Clevon Wright, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
