U.S. Army Europe
May 10, 2015
Target in sight, firing
By Sgt. Brandon Anderson
CAMP KONOTOP, Poland: In the cramped confines of the U.S. Army’s M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tank, the crew must be able to communicate effectively and react quickly in order send their lethal rounds toward the enemy. This kind of precision only comes through many hours of training and hard work between the crew.
To accomplish this level of excellence, the Soldiers of Company D, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, participated in a gunnery qualification range at the Camp Konotop, Poland, Range Complex May 8, 2015, in preparation for Puma 15, an upcoming joint training exercise between the U.S. and their NATO allies.
Capt. Erik Hamilton, the commander of Company D, said the crews have been going through daytime and nighttime scenarios designed to test their ability to work as a team under less-than-perfect conditions to help identify the crew’s strengths and weaknesses.
The tank crew, consisting of a tank commander, the tank driver, gunner and loader, must work in unison in order to qualify and prove their effectiveness.
“The crews are put through scenarios such as their hydraulic power to the tank being unresponsive and their electronic sighting mechanism not working in order to ensure they’re still able to engage the enemy,” said Hamilton. “In a peacetime environment, if we have a tank malfunction, we can stop what we’re doing and fix it, but during a wartime situation, that luxury isn’t always available.”
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“Over the next week or so we’ll be working to prepare ourselves for the combined arms live-fire excises taking place during Puma 15,” said Hamilton. “We’ll be working with a French tank company as well as a Polish mechanized infantry battalion with armored attachments.”
Company D will remain in the field for a few more days in order to go through some more advanced training where they’ll perform a tank platoon live fire, with multiple tanks working in unison to accomplish their mission.
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