V CORPS 'ROCKETEERS' BLAST THROUGH LIVE-FIRE EXERCISE IN BAGHDAD
V Corps Release
Release Date: 03/15/2004
By Staff Sgt. Mark Bell 372nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Butler Range here had several loud visitors last week as some of 1st Armored Division's field artillery Soldiers conducted a three-day live-fire exercise.
The division's 1st Battalion, 94th Field Artillery Regiment rolled out its inventory of Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) launchers to the massive firing range north of the city to finalize their months of training.
The battalion has been operating as a maneuver battalion here, patrolling several neighborhoods in southern Baghdad's Al Rashid district. The battalion has been deployed since April 2003 and is scheduled to return to Strasburg Barracks in Idar-Oberstein, Germany, later this spring.
The battalion's Butler Range mission was simple: to practice crew skills needed to fire several dozen high-velocity training rockets, hit targets accurately and safely, and officially qualify the unit's Soldiers as "rocketeers."
Simple, that is, until a sandstorm complicated things. With high winds creating powerful mini-storms, the rocketeers of the "Deep Steel" battalion got more extreme desert conditions than they bargained for.
As walls of sand slowly moved through the training area, clear radio communications became paramount as the carrier and launcher vehicles received data and instructions from a fire direction center team also blinded by flying sand. But with a combination of experienced forward observers and high-tech computers delivering accurate firing data to the launchers, the adverse weather conditions were only a small thought on the rocketeers' minds.
"Fire at my command," a voice squawked from the tactical radios linking the launchers with FDC more than a kilometer away.
"Roger. Fire at your command. Over," responded the crew chief from a Bravo Battery rocket launcher.
Moments after a command to fire was given, a rocket was launched and tracked as it accelerated into the desert sky.
"By the time the enemy hears the rocket launching, it's too late," said Sgt. 1st Class Jay Vanderford, battalion operations sergeant. "When they hear it launching from the distance, they already have the rocket on top of them."
Vanderford said there were many hours of behind-the-scenes planning and training prior to arriving at the range, where it all comes together in a show of the MLRS crews' skills.
"Putting rockets on the target when called upon is why we are in the business we are in," Vanderford said. "Getting that confidence is what the live-fire (exercise) is for, and they can carry that confidence to the battlefield."
With the ability to blanket an entire 1,000-square-meter map grid square, the MLRS delivers an enormous punch, and annual section-level live-fire qualifications give his rocketeers the edge over the enemy, said Lt. Col. Shawn Malone, the 1/94th commander.
"This MLRS battalion brings an awesome firepower to the division commander which allows him to readily reach out and touch targets deep in the battlespace," Malone said.
Within minutes after each rocket streaked across the range, a new fire mission was downloaded to computers inside the MLRS vehicles. Crew chiefs checked around their launch vehicles for safety hazards as gunners and drivers quickly made final adjustments before rotating the rocket platform and making corrections to the rockets' elevations. Crews and rockets were ready for the next mission. In all, 72 rockets were fired for the day- and nighttime missions.
"It's a lot of fun," said Spc. Thomas Graham, who has spent four years firing the MLRS. "The launcher shakes a little bit like a roller coaster, but it's best seeing another launcher firing."
Spc. Jonathan Darm, on the other hand, watched his first rocket burn down Butler Range. He said the experience was well worth the wait.
"A lot of people said it's loud and violently shakes during the launch," Darm said. But, he added, "There's nothing much to it. There was a little shaking when the rocket fired and a little smell from the exhaust. It was a great experience."
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