Logistics Small-Arms Gunnery: Reaching the Band of Excellence

Logistic assets remain the most vulnerable platforms on the battlefield. A great amount of effort has gone into combat logistics patrol readiness in the form of precombat checks (PCCs) and pre-combat inspections (PCIs); however, not enough effort has gone into setting conditions for these logistics formations to move in and out of contact with authority, hit enemy targets, mark and bypass obstacles, and report what transpires along routes. Recently, III Corps leaders echoed across the corps that these capabilities are essential for our formations, and although U. S. Field Manual (FM 4-01.45), Multi-Service Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures for Tactical Convoy Operations scratches the surface in this area, it does not dictate the means or ends that establish the baseline for weapons engagement while on the move or stationary.1 Combat logistics convoys (CLCs) that traverse main and alternate supply routes (MSR/ASR) in the brigade combat team’s battlespace, conducting sustainment replenishment operations (SRO) and combat replenishment operations (CRO), often engage in missions that ultimately result in movement to contact. Actions on contact decide the difference between life and death, as well as mission success or failure. Conditions for success must be set long before logistics soldiers and platforms traverse the battlespace. The key to success is logistics smallarms gunnery, which is often the necessity of two evils, as standards in training commission (STRAC) allocation for ammunition has not kept pace with combat service support and combat support (CSS/ CS) elements in the formation. The allocations in Chapter 9, Department of the Army Pamphlet (DA Pam) 350-38, Standards in Training Commission, dictate 486 rounds per year for CSS/CS units for qualification and familiarization (see Figure 1), but fails to address requirements for CSS/CS units to execute a small-arms gunnery program, which includes a culminating convoy live fire and qualification requirements for mounted crew-served qualification from gun truck platforms.2 The leaders of 121st Brigade Support Battalion (BSB) took a holistic approach to this problem as they examined requirements to ensure all soldiers would reach the band of excellence for weapons qualification and convoy live fire. The model used was a small-arms gunnery model that included tables I through XII (see Figure 2), which culminated with amounted live fire. Tables I through IV focused on basic 49 and advanced rifle marks manship and served as the basis for continuance with the remaining tables. Unit leaders must ensure the disciplines of the first four tables are enforced and ensure they seek creative ways to reinforce using DICE, engagement skills trainer (EST) 2000, multipurpose arcade combat simulator (MACS), location of miss and hit (LOMAH) devices, and target acquisition and designation sights (TADS). Using this baseline, we crewed the battalion’s organic vehicles and ensured we had all required weapons mounts for logistics platforms such as fuelers; palletized load systems (PLS); 5-ton trucks; high, mobility, multipurpose wheeled vehicles (HMMWVs); and wreckers. This process allowed us to place soldiers in vehicle seats from within the unit. Step two of this process was to ensure we had enough combat lifesavers (CLS) for each vehicle, as well as crew-served weapons for each platform equipped with a weapons mount. This approach allowed us to place CLS-trained personnel on every platform and ensure we trained applicable personnel on crew-served weapons within the battalion. To sustain today’s expeditionary Army, logisticians must possess the ability to control resources that were unimaginable 10 years ago. On today’s battlefield, soldiers (in some cases at the sergeant level) are controlling air weapons teams and close air support (CAS); using full-motion video; receiving unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) feeds; and participating in counter-IED work groups for route-clearance assets. Convoy live-fire exercises, executed for our logistics soldiers, must provide realistic venues for soldiers to use assets as they would in battle. To address this issue, the 121st BSB partnered with 5th Brigade, 1st Army, to run a quality counter-IED and convoy lane training with realistic scenarios, forcing junior leaders to make split-second decisions, which could mean the difference between life and death. The training days included 2 days for counter-IED and 3 days for lanes training, with two iterations of each, that encompassed a dry run and alive run. The trainers took the most recent tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP) from theater, as well as the Center for Army Lessons Learned, and incorporated them into our training deck. This allowed crews to become familiar with the most up-to-date TTP during counter-IED and convoy operations. The joint training allowed the battalion to proofread its 121st BSB tactical convoy commander’s guide, which was developed to assist small-unit leaders in planning, preparing, and executing secure movement of sustainment platforms from one location to the next. The guide also laid out the tempo for command and control, administrative logistics, medical evacuation, and convoy operations, as well as actions on contact, which included overpass drill, consolidation, and reorganization. This took the guesswork out M16/M4 Qualifi cation (FM 3-22.9)

AC RC Event Type

4 2 Iron Sight Zero Ball 18 2 1 Iron Sight Practice Record Ball 40 2 1 Iron Sight Record Ball 40 2 1 Subtotal 196 98 NBC Practice Ball or EST 20 2 1 NBC Record Ball or EST 20 2 1 Unassisted Night Practice Ball/Tracer or EST 20 2 1 Unassisted Night Record Ball/Tracer or EST 20 2 1 Subtotal 160 80 Squad/Platoon LFX Ball 130 1 0 Total 486 178 Figure 1. M16/M4 Qualifi cation3 Convoy Table Task

DA List date completed II Zeroing and Grouping 101 List date completed

Qualifi cation 102 List date completed IV NBC/Night/Buddy Team LFX/Refl exive 101, 102 Working use of RG 101, 102, 122, 310, 307, 311 V Blank engagement from stationary vehicle HV VI Live Engagement from Stationary Vehicle Ring Mounts/Ammo/Ranges

Dry and Blank from Single Moving Vehicle HV List date completed

Live Fire from Single Moving Vehicle Ring Mounts/Ammo/Ranges IX Convoy Operations on a Blank Table DA

List date completed X Convoy Operations on a Live Table Ring Mounts/Ammo/Range XI Platoon Convoy Operations on a Blank Table DA

List date completed

Platoon Convoy Operations on a Live Table Ring Mounts/Ammo/Range Availability Figure 2. Logistics Small-Arms Gunnery Model 50 of planning and preparing for an operation and even provided leaders with sample PCCs, backward planning, and mission brief. The culmination of training at home station enabled the battalion to adjust its tactical convoy commander’s guide and scope our sergeant’s time training to shore up weak areas identified during home station collective training. We continued to work through certain issues prior to mission rehearsal exercise (MRE), which included mounted crew-served weapons gunnery as a confidence builder for soldiers firing from tops of vehicles, as well as firing on the move. The battalion quickly prepared newly arrived soldiers for small-arms gunnery by scheduling a preliminary marksmanship instruction (PMI) as part of unit inprocessing, followed up by the EST 2000, to gauge the success of the PMI prior to soldiers going to gunnery. Whenever possible, we ensured every soldier went to the range with a sergeant or a battle-rostered squad, which ensured the applicable coaching required for substandard performance would be readily available for soldiers requiring assistance. The command sergeant major and battalion commander assembled a group of former drill sergeants, which were skilled in teaching basic rifle marksmanship to trainees, to assist soldiers in reaching the band of excellence during training. Bringing together this group was necessary as we lacked school-trained small-arms master marksmen and a battalion small-arms master gunner. This core group had an immediate impact on the performance of our logistics soldiers during small-arms gunnery and enabled our units to attain high qualification standards, which resulted in expert firers improving scores by 20 percent and sharpshooters by 35 percent. These results enabled us to realize that the goal in weapons qualification should not be about passing the test — it should be about mastering the weapon. We instantly understood that if soldiers are properly trained, techniques become muscle memory, along with reinforcing events, which are nested in the small-arms gunnery tables used by the Iron Hammer battalion. The training methodology goes beyond qualification, it motivates noncommissioned officers to become subject-matter experts and coaches to our soldiers, which encourages soldiers to become marksmen and master their weapons. This is extremely important as our marksmanship training becomes more combat focused to address today’s battlefield. A program that includes target discrimination, close quarters marksmanship, reflexive fire, and mounted and dismounted crew-served weapons firing sets the conditions for logistics warriors to be prepared for any situation they may encounter along a route while executing operations in support of maneuver forces. Notes 1Headquarters (HQ), Department of the Army (DA), U. S. Army Field Manual (FM) 4-01.45, Multi-Service Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures for Tactical Convoy Operations, January 2009. 2HQ, DA Pamphlet 350-38, Standards in Training Commission, 13 May 2009. 3Ibid., Table 9-2. Lieutenant Colonel David Wilson is currently serving as commander, 121st Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, TX, and Iraq. He received a B. S. from The Citadel and an M. S. from Central Michigan University. His military education includes Field Artillery Officer Basic Course, Ordnance Officer Transition Course, Combined Logistics Captain Career Course, and U. S. Army Command and General Staff College. He has served in various command and staff positions, to include assignments officer, U. S. Army Human Resources Command, Alexandria, VA; deputy chief of staff, G4, 1st Armored Division, Wiesbaden, Germany; executive officer, 501st Forward Support Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division, Friedberg, Germany; and executive officer, 1st Armored Division, Division Support Command, Baghdad, Iraq, and Wiesbaden, Germany. “To sustain today’s expeditionary Army, logisticians must possess the ability to control resources that were unimaginable 10 years ago. On today’s battlefield, soldiers (in some cases at the sergeant level) are controlling air weapons teams and close air support (CAS); using full-motion video; receiving unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) feeds; and participating in counter-IED work groups for route-clearance assets. Convoy live-fire exercises, executed for our logistics soldiers, must provide realistic venues for soldiers to use assets as they would in battle.”