3/11 Mike Battery lights up Niland
Hailing from the harsh and barren terrain of the Combat Center, Mike Battery, 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, composed of roughly 100 Marines, trekked to a similarly desolate and unwelcoming desert of southern California to participate in the four-week Weapons and Tactics Instructors course March 24 to April 21.
http://www.op29online.com/articles/2006/04/29/news/news03.txt
Lance Cpl. Michael S. Cifuentes
Combat Correspondent
The battery of artillerymen and logistical servicemen brought with them, along with their convoy, five M777 Lightweight Howitzers, crew served weapons and their infantry skills to Niland, Calif., neighboring the Salton Sea.
Their mission was to provide artillery support to Marine pilots who are going through WTI, which is basically a Marine aviation schoolhouse, said Capt. Kevin M. Stout, commanding officer of Mike Battery.
Squadrons throughout the Marine Corps send pilots to WTI for training on close-fire combat and call-for-fire missions. The pilot's mission after the four-week evolution is to return to their unit and teach the latest on weapons and tactics to other pilots in their squadron, added Stout, a Martinsville, Ind., native.
“Also from the squadrons were forward observers riding along in the cockpit with the pilots,” said Stout. “Those FOs have been trained on how to call for fire. A lot of our missions were run by them. We'd mark their targets with artillery rounds, and they'd come through air and drop ordnance on them.”
Mike Battery's mission was to provide artillery support when students needed it, said Stout. The battery fired rounds nine days in support of WTI out of the 29 days they were there.
“With only nine training days out of the 29-day evolution, you have to come up with your own things to do,” said Stout.
The battery also trained for firing missions not in support of WTI, as well as sharpened their infantry skills.
“We did three separate emergency fire mission shoots,” said Stout. “There were times when the battery convoyed down a road and the XO [executive officer] of the battery would give a fire for effect call. We'd just basically pull over to the side of the road, about 10 to 15 meters out, set up the [weapon systems] and get ready to shoot. In the final emergency fire mission, we had rounds out of the gun 14 minutes after the mission was called. It went really well considering we haven't done this before.
“From there we rolled into a hand grenade throw,” said Stout. “Each Marine of the battery received one live hand grenade and two blue bodies [practice grenades]. We spent half of the day on grenade exercises and then moved on to a 50 caliber [heavy machine gun] shoot. Every Marine in the battery fired 100 rounds of 50 caliber ammunition. We used a brand new sport utility vehicle for a target, which our Marines lit on fire after shooting the gas tank.”
The battery then transitioned into a three-day training period for squad leaders. The battery broke down into squads and trained for live-fire and maneuvering drills. They executed the drill successfully under horrible, windy weather conditions, said Stout.
“Our purpose in the field as artillerymen is to try to make timely and accurate impacts on targets, and to make targets for air support,” said Sgt. Michael E. Gilliland, a 23-year-old artilleryman with Mike Battery, from Chula Vista, Calif. “We are also trained to do infantry work. When we are not firing rounds downrange from our guns, we must be prepared as grunts [infantrymen]. We're always up for any call.”
During Operation Iraqi Freedom I, Mike Battery deployed to Iraq as an artillery unit, during OIF II, they deployed as a convoy security unit, and during OIF III, their mission was detainee operations.
“We can do most infantry tasks,” said Gilliland, “but, not anyone can be a cannoneer and do our job.”
This training evolution was very important to the battery, said Stout.
“We have a lot of time to train basically how we want to train,” said Stout. “WTI in itself is a pretty undemanding shoot for us as far as ‘need.' We shot about as many rounds for WTI that we normally would do in a two- or three-day training exercise back in Twentynine Palms. The best part about coming out here was the opportunity to train the Marines in areas we felt we needed to work on - one of them being squad live-firings.
“It's easy to say every Marine is a rifleman, but unless you practice it, that's usually not the case,” continued Stout. “With all the provisional missions artillery has been tasked with, such as convoy security, detainee operations and being a provisional rifle company, there needs to be some level of expertise in the battery to take the fight to the enemy. That's the biggest training I believe we got out of this.
“We became pretty proficient at the squad level before we went to Iraq this past year,” added Stout. “But it can be easily forgotten if you don't train. They [Mike Battery] certainly have a hard job. Infantry skills is one of the things that the Marine Corps says every Marine can do. But in reality, if you don't train for it then you won't be able to execute it well.”