Rethinking Mobile Gun System Training

Tankers are responsible for their treatment as the redheaded stepchildren of light-infantry units because we don’t conduct the right training and we don’t successfully integrate our Mobile Gun System platoons into light-infantry companies. This article discusses the situation and makes recommendations to correct it. The biggest concern of tankers in a Stryker brigade MGS platoon is not functioning to their full capability. At home station, MGS platoons rarely see members of their chain of command watching them shoot Table VIII on the gunnery range. Company commanders include MGS platoons in live-fire plans only as an afterthought. During deployment, MGS platoons serve as forward-operating-base security or escort convoys instead of in their role as infantry-support platforms on other missions. How do we fix this? Different mentality MGS is not a tank. Successful integration within a light-infantry company takes a different mentality. You must think of yourself as a 19B or 11K. In a Stryker brigade, it’s all about the infantry. The brigade’s focus is the nine-man infantry squad. Everything else in the brigade exists solely to support our dismounted brethren on the ground. MGS’ principle function is to provide rapid direct fires to support assaulting infantry. Therefore, MGS commanders may receive guidance from infantry-squad leaders holding lower rank. Employing MGS requires trust and respect between infantry platoons and MGS platoons. Stryker company leadership, beginning with squad leaders, generally comes from a light-infantry background. Many infantry platoon leaders lack direct experience working with tanks. Thus, they see tankers as short, overweight individuals who can’t pass the Army Physical Fitness Test. Participating in the infantry’s training is the best way to overcome this perception and build trust. Battle drills: training with infantry Current field manuals covering the Stryker Brigade Combat Team rifle squad through company are well written; however, they don’t go in depth in incorporating the MGS platoon into the battle drills. It’s up to the leadership to decide how to have an MGS platoon assist a rifle squad (team, platoon or company) on any given mission. As an example, before every infantry-oriented training event, my company commander asked me for the training plan for my platoon. As the MGS platoon sergeant/platoon leader, I insisted Rethinking the Mobile Gun System Platoon’s Training Rethinking the Mobile Gun System Platoon’s Training by SFC Branden Syverson that we train with the company instead of remaining in garrison to conduct “tanker training.” I divided my platoon into three teams and attached them to the infantry platoons. I challenged the infantry to use them as independent fire teams or within the squads as dismounts. As a platoon sergeant, I also participated as part of a fire team, learning Battle Drills One and Six. My platoon also conducted foot marches with the infantry platoons. Training with infantry platoons answered the question: how can you hope to support a platoon conducting an assault on a building if you’ve never done it before? We proved we could accomplish the same tasks as the infantry platoons. We also showed the infantry that tankers are highly capable and adaptable soldiers rather than oxygen-thieving slugs who ride around all day. As a result, we built invaluable camaraderie and trust between MGS crews and infantry. Integrating infantry into MGS training The next step is integrating the infantry into MGS training. At this point, the MGS platoon is successfully integrated into the infantry’s training; how do you get the infantry integrated into yours? They take one look at that long 105mm cannon and don’t want it anywhere near them. Yet you must integrate them into your training, as one primary MGS mission is to conduct a wall breach in support of an infantry assault. There are no established tactics, techniques and procedures in conducting a wall breach supporting an infantry assault. The current MGS platoon manual (FM 3-20.151) describes in detail how to breach a wall, but it doesn’t describe how to coordinate with the infantry. Added to the difficulty are the infantry platoon’s normal procedures. Usually infantry platoons will have a trained master breacher, since the light fighter prefers to have someone breach a wall with C4 and detonation cord rather than watch an MGS platoon do it. You must make an effort to integrate your vehicles into the infantry training at every level. The current gunnery engagement for conducting a wall breach is to shoot a pop-up wall at 300 to 500 meters from a short halt and then engage a sniper. However, my experience in operational environments with conducting wall breaches shows that coordinating the breach location with the assault element is the most difficult part. For example, the assaulting element’s squad leader must designate the breach point. Once the assault element is set, the squad leader signals the MGS platoon to conduct the breach. If the gunner can’t identify the breach point with his optics, the vehicle commander may have to identify the breach point for him or fire the breach himself. According to standard operating procedures (if any), the VC then initiates a short count prior to firing. Should a reinforced wall require multiple rounds to breach, the MGS commander communicates with the assault element to avoid a rush after the first round. (MGS commanders and assault teams should avoid this scenario their first time in theater.) This example is a collective task completed during platoon or company live-fire training. As I said, the infantry would rather conduct a wall breach with demolition. Therefore, you’ll likely perform a support-by-fire role rather than a direct-support role during company and platoon live-fire exercises. Joint gunnery The key to getting the infantry more involved with MGS training is to conduct a joint gunnery, as opposed to the current way of doing things. The gunnery plan for most Stryker units consolidates all MGS vehicles to shoot a brigade-level gunnery. Tankers gather, run their gunnery “the right way” and have top MGS and platoon competitions. But remember, MGS is an infantry-support vehicle. Any time the infantry company is conducting any training, the MGS platoon should be involved. By training separately from the company, you lose an excellent opportunity to show your equipment and training capabilities. In a Stryker brigade, it’s all about the infantry. The brigade’s focus is the nine-man infantry squad. Everything else in the brigade exists solely to support our dismounted brethren on the ground. MGS’ principle function is to provide rapid direct fires to support assaulting infantry. 46 July-August 2011 patrol, in addition to overnight screening of a suspicious area. Security at traffic-control points or meeting places are other tasks the MGS platoon may perform. When the MGS is stationary, its position is unprotected and exposed. The vehicle may be able to move behind a low wall to be in a semi-hull-down position. Preparation for deployment to current theaters should include gunnery engagements of this type for vehicles. Scanning procedures are another important area of training. The difference in scanning procedures between a turret-down and a hull-down position is substantial. In turret-down, only the VC can scan with the commander’s panoramic viewer because the gunner’s sight is below the main gun. The gunner waits for the commander to designate him to the target and pull the driver forward. On the other hand, if the vehicle engages from a hull-down or stationary position on the course road, the gunner has the opportunity to scan his sector constantly. In scanning-procedures training, the VC needs to assign sectors to his crew and decide what target to engage when multiple targets are present. This forces crews to conduct a more aggressive scanning posture when stationary and trains VCs to quickly assess targets and engage the biggest threat first. New gunnery manual Also, when designating from the command-post vehicle, the gunner is only laid on in deflection. Elevation then doesn’t line up and the gunner can lose time acquiring the target. In the future MGS gunnery manual, commanders can choose the posture for the vehicles for each engagement. Effectively training crews to react correctly requires fighting at least four engagements from a stationary position. Training with the infantry can be demanding and frustrating. There are times the “us/them” mentality will take intensive effort to overcome. Maintaining positive crosstalk with the chain of command and developing relationships with the infantry platoon will go far in fixing this problem. The new gunnery manual touches on these issues. The tanker is the linchpin in the process of integrating MGS into the infantry platoon. Commanders at all levels should work toward fully integrating their units. Our design is to be a mutually supportive, integrated, combat-ready fighting force! SFC Branden Syverson serves as a special-projects noncommissioned officer with the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Capability Manager-Striker Brigade Combat Team, Maneuver Center of Excellence, Fort Benning, GA. Previous assignments include various leadership and staff positions, including MGS platoon sergeant for Company B, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry, in Afghanistan and at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA; Abrams master-gunner instructor, 3rd Squadron, 16th Cavalry, Fort Knox, KY; and battalion master gunner and tank commander, Company C, 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor, in Iraq and at Fort Hood, TX. His military education includes M1A1 and M1A2-SEP master-gunner courses and Senior Leader’s Course. I recommend rethinking the wall-breach engagement during gunnery to correct this issue. Every infantry platoon should include an MGS platoon when it conducts live-fire training to provide direct-fire support as well as a wall breach. A company can establish and practice its SOP for wall breaches using MGS. Also, the infantry sees and knows the MGS is accurate and “nearby” their main gun. In addition, the MGS platoon and most of the squads conduct live-fire exercises together. The result is a MGS platoon assuming a more active role with the infantry platoons during a future deployment. Like the MGS, the company’s Strykers must qualify during gunnery every six months. In an ideal situation, the MGS platoon would conduct its gunnery on the same range and at the same time as the company. In the new MGS gunnery manual, it’s possible to establish a range allowing an MGS and infantry-carrier vehicle with either a MK19 or .50 caliber to engage the same targets. For example, if the MGS is in the left lane, an ICV with a dismounted squad could be in the right lane next to the range safety officer. Once a crew completes gunnery and moves to platoon live-fire, a wall-breach engagement should occur. As I said, coordination is the most difficult part of a wall breach – details such as figuring out where the dismounts want the hole, the composition of the wall and when the infantry can move forward need to be addressed in the first collective-training opportunity. The wall target can be a pop-up target or a façade erected by the company. In addition, the target can have circles on it to represent optimal placement of the round(s). In the joint MGS/infantry engagement, the infantry-squad leader requests a breach, designates the target and the MGS engages. The company commander, also on the range, observes the engagement to ensure safety. If this engagement is done during every collective table, and the platoon has two or three MGS vehicles, most of the infantry squads can conduct the engagement. If the range complex used for platoon or company live-fire doesn’t allow firing the 105mm main gun, master gunners are integral players in figuring out how to overcome this obstacle. The solution may be combining the MGS as direct support with the master breacher and his demo. When the MGS and the assault element are set, admin can take a time out. During this, the master breacher can place his charge and set the fuse for a specific time. Then, the MGS and assault element can still perform their assigned roles, per the SOP, before and after the explosion takes place. Common sense The current MGS gunnery manual contains five offensive and five defensive engagements, but we must always look ahead to what could happen and train accordingly. For instance, a Stryker brigade may face off against a conventional enemy. An MGS platoon may face an enemy tank platoon and fight from a defensive (reverse slope) position. The proper techniques for conducting a defensive engagement are frangible tasks and require regular practice. However, we need not practice all five defensive engagements. I recommend that only two engagements be conducted from an improved defensive position per table due to common-sense reasons. For example, the only digging asset the Engineer company in a Stryker brigade has is shovels, making a doctrinally correct three-tiered fighting position out of the question in normal Stryker operations. Most of the MGS engagements we conduct during deployment today are in the open from a stationary position. The MGS platoon may conduct bounding while overwatching a dismounted FM – field manual ICV – infantry-carrier vehicle MGS – mobile gun system SOP – standard operating procedures VC – vehicle commander July-August 2011 47 Acronym Quick-Scan