Stand by ...fire!

[thedrifter]

Stand by ...fire!
Submitted by: MCLB Barstow
Story Identification Number: 20031124132955
Story by Lance Cpl. Andy J. Hurt



MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, Calif.(Nov. 24, 2003) -- Though some may find it hard to believe, some Marines at MCLB Barstow are actually getting experience with operational forces.

Civilian Marines, that is.

An assessment team of Civilian Marines from Maintenance Center Barstow's Cost Work Center 729, small arms and artillery shop, recently traveled to Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Training Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif., taking with them several high-tech electronic gadgets, gizmos and a computer to monitor the recoil units currently functioning on the M198 155mm Howitzer cannon.

CWC 729 is responsible for providing depot-level maintenance and repairs on the M198s, as well as various small arms, keeping the weapons fully mission capable for Marines forward deployed in combat zones, as well as training in every corner of the globe.

The shop is also responsible for ensuring the weapons function according to standard specifications, said Doug Van Dyke, artillery and small arms repair supervisor at CWC 729.

And weapons function is what brought CWC 729 to work up the Marines of Kilo Battery, Third Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, for a weapons shoot deep in the arid hills of 29 Palms recently.

The day started on a brisk morning at the Enhanced Equipment Allowance Pool (EEAP) gun park where Marines from Kilo Battery had 12 M198s staged for the day's abuse.

Typical Marine Corps conversations were overheard ("How is that disrespect if he called you by your rank?").

The order for troops to inspect the weapons for transport, including checking the travel locks and tow pins, came at around 7:30 a.m.

Without warning, a small fleet of Marine Corps 7-ton trucks arrived.

With sergeants barking orders passed down from a handful of staff non-commissioned officers, the troops quickly turned to, and within a moments notice, the "kings of battle" were on their way to the field.

Earlier this year, Van Dyke pointed out the wear and tear equipment burdens in field transit.

"These cannons are being pulled by 7-ton trucks. The drivers don't even feel them bouncing around," said Van Dyke. He leveled his palm to his waist and exclaimed, "I've seen (M198 Howitzers) bounce this high!"

Van Dyke noted that the only shock absorbers the cannons have in transport is the tires, oftentimes leading to cracked support brackets and broken welds.

From the gun park, the six-vehicle convoy, which included two Humvees and four 7-ton trucks, snaked its way into a desolate high desert valley.

The valley, said Staff Sgt. Ron Prescott, section chief with Kilo Battery, was a constant impact area for field training such as combined arms exercises (CAXs), as he pointed out several live munitions half buried in the dirt marked with little flags to indicate the possible danger.

The imminence of danger in possible live munitions spawned a "snakes and duds" briefing (Don't pick them up!) to one young lance corporal in the field that day.

But the firing proceeded as planned, as two test rounds of M107 high-explosive rounds were sent into a hillside in a direct-fire manner, followed by four M203A1 "super eight" rocket-assisted rounds, the maximum charges fired from the M198s, which shook the earth and knocked the wind out of the observing by-standers.

"We're putting the weapons to the extreme," said Prescott.

After the first cannon was fired, a minor setback in the days schedule was brought on by a "check fire" call, when flight hours being logged by two CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters and two CH-53s flew directly through the sight crosshairs, manned by the gunner and assistant gunner on the gun crew, setting the schedule back a few hours, allowing Marines to call in for MREs, trade peanut butter for cheese spread and charms for M&Ms, before the range was once again declared "hot."

The Marines of Kilo Battery snapped into action, prepping the remaining guns for live-fire, with civilians from CWC 729 mounting sensitive electronic equipment to each gun before firing.

The same six rounds were fired from each weapon, as data was being collected in a remote computer attached to the "war wagon," a Humvee-towed trailer rigged to occupy the on-board electronics, measuring the distance traveled, cycle timing and poundage of the recoil units per shot fired, said Van Dyke.

"It's the same as taking a tank out on the test track," he said. The purpose is to monitor the recoil to prevent breaking the carriages and welds, also preventing excessive wear on the weapons, he added.

One by one, rounds were fired into the tired hills of 29 Palms, pock-marked with impact craters from the constant fire of M198s.

"We've shot these hills up for a number of years, said Van Dyke.

Just then, another "fire" command was given, with Marines plugging their already plugged ears and jumping back a few steps.

Van Dyke, a retired gunnery sergeant, stood perfectly still, arms crossed and eyes trained on the pluming smoke and super-sonic blast of the Howitzer.

"Good recoil," he said quietly.




Doug Van Dyke, small arms and artillery repair supervisor at CWC 729, mounts sensitive data-collecting channel cells atop the recoil unit of an M198 155mm Howitzer during a weapons evalution exercise with Kilo Battery, 3/11 at MCAGCC Twentynine Palms, Calif. Photo by: Lance Cpl. Andy Hurt

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn20...C?opendocument


Sempers,

Roger