FATC High-Tech Training

“TECHNOLOGY + INNOVATION = MEETING TODAY’S WARFIGHTER NEEDS.”

During a summer visit to the U.S. Army Field Artillery Training Center at Fort Sill, Okla., MT2 Correspondent Scott Gourley observed how today’s trainers are employing technology and innovation to meet the needs of today’s warfighters.

The United States Army Field Artillery Training Center (FATC), located at Fort Sill, Okla., is a busy place, with the training brigade conducting both Basic Combat Training and “13 Bravo” (field artillery cannoneer) One Station Unit Tng (OSUT) through four subordinate training battalions: 1–19th Field Artillery; 1–22nd Field Artillery; 1–40th Field Artillery; and 1–79th Field Artillery.

In addition, the FATC maintains close working relationships with Fort Sill’s 30th Regiment, which is responsible for conducting the Officer Education System (OES), Warrant Officer Education System (WOES) and Field Artillery Advanced Individual Training (AIT). FATC’s relationship with the AIT battalion—1–78th Field Artillery—is especially close since both organizations train enlisted soldiers.

Colonel Mary A. Baker, recently assumed brigade command for FATC, with many marking the command as a milestone; claiming her role to be very close to the “first female combat arms brigade commander in the U.S. Army” (Colonel Ann Horner previously commanded at the garrison at West Point).

“We’re not technically a tactical unit,” Baker said. “We’re a training institution. But what we do train here is Basic Combat Training and One Station Unit Training for ‘13 Bravo’ cannoneers.”

While recognizing the significance of her new role, Baker is very quick to keep it in perspective.

“I recognize it but I’m just a colonel commanding,” she said. I understand that, being a female, there are people out there cheering for me. And they’re wonderful in that. But I don’t let it consume me. It’s about being a leader and every day focusing on whether I’m doing the right thing; taking care of the soldiers. It’s NOT a question of whether I’m doing the right thing as a woman commanding. It’s about getting the job done.”

BASIC COMBAT TRAINING—TECHNOLOGY

Driving out to observe “the job” getting done on Fort Sill’s east range, Baker explained that much of BCT reflects the recent introduction of “Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills.” Also known as “39 and 9” the list includes a set list of new tasks and drills developed as a result of lessons learned during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

“The idea was that we had a POI [program of instruction] that we had been using [in Basic Combat Training] for 50 years. So the recognition by around 2002 was that we had to transform the training base. As a result, they developed the 39 Warrior Tasks and 9 Battle Drills—and those are the standards. Some are just familiarization while others—like qualifying with the M16—mandate complete proficiency,” Baker said.

Developed by U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), the “39 and 9” list includes: 16 shooting tasks, four communication tasks, three joint urban operations tasks, four movement tasks, 12 fighting tasks and nine battle drills.

Under a recent expansion and application of simulation technology, two of the 16 “shoot tasks”—“Engage targets with a Mk19 Machine Gun” and “Engage targets with an M2 Cal. 50 Machine Gun—are now taught at Fort Sill in a new Engagement Skills Trainer (EST 2000) dedicated for use by the FATC students.

“Because part of the Warrior’s Tasks is to train soldiers on the loading, firing, unloading and misfire procedures on the MK19 40 mm and .50 caliber machine gun,” explained Sergeant First Class Herb Estes, NCOIC of EST 2000 heavy weapons training at the FATC facility. “Now, we don’t really have the resources to do it as live fire, and we also don’t have the time available. So what we’re doing is using the simulator to give them as much training as we can—in support of the Warrior’s Tasks.”

Under current program plans, OSUT units follow the simulator familiarization with live firing a few weeks later, while BCT soldiers do not receive follow-on live fire experience during their nine weeks at Fort Sill.

Inside a nearby simulator building, nine Mk19 grenade machine guns await the young warfighters in formation outside.

“The unit that’s outside right now will receive a briefing once they get everybody on the ground,” Estes said. “They’ll teach them the basics about how to load the weapons and then they will bring them inside here where we will set up firing familiarization tables. And they will get the opportunity to engage single, multiple, stationary and moving targets. And the best thing about the system is that on a live fire range sometimes you only get up to 28 rounds. But when you fire [Mk 19] on ‘burst,’ you got to be able to adjust the burst on target.”

Estes then ran through a series of screen projections, beginning with a “zero target” at a simulated 400 meter range.

“They will fire four rounds to find out where they have to make adjustments to adjust the rounds onto the target,” he said. “And once the first target is engaged, from that point forward they will engage subsequent targets with 3–5 round bursts with the MK 19 or 6–9 round bursts with the .50 caliber.”

Estes demonstrated how the program was set up to allow the young warfighters’ sufficient time to engage the targets properly, with one relatively slow-moving target to engage with the indirect fire weapon.

“Right now these targets appear and a few seconds later the next target pops up,” he said. “And from this point on it’s a 3–5 round burst; meaning that you fire the burst and on the screen you can actually see the rounds going down range. And once they see where the impact is they can make the necessary adjustments and re-engage.”

“Here’s the first experience they will have in actually pushing the trigger down and feeling the recoil. Granted, it’s a reduced recoil. However, it runs 125 PSI,” he added, pointing to the special bolting that secured the firing platforms as well as the heavy-duty cargo straps used to secure the weapons to the platforms.

“This is an automatic weapon,” Estes continued in well-practiced cadence. “And once you learn how to adjust bursts on target, with any automatic weapon, you’ll be able to use the same technique on anything else. So once they come in here for the Mk19 or .50 caliber, and they learn how to adjust the bursts onto target, they will be able to pick up an M240 [7.62mm machine gun], M249 [5.56mm Squad Automatic Weapon], M60 [7.62mm]—any automatic weapon—and be able to use the same engagement techniques.”

Following an opportunity for MT2 to sample the simulator exercise, Colonel Baker reiterated the value of the simulator and the critical contributions of the individuals responsible for that training.

“Sergeant Estes and his team have been absolutely pivotal in setting this up,” she said. “And from what I understand, a lot of this labor they did themselves. They basically went out and worked with our PEO STRI FSR [Field Service Representative], Mr. Dave Tippett, who has been absolutely fantastic, to find those things so that we could get this up and functioning. And we are the only [Army] Training Center in TRADOC that has its heavy weapons training being done inside the EST 2000.”

While the EST 2000 addresses two of the tasks on the current “39 and 9” list, Army trainers are also awaiting the approval and release of a “revised” skills and tasks lists, with subsequent reassessments anticipated on six-month intervals to make sure that the list remains relevant in a rapidly changing combat environment.

One area that will definitely be expanded involves first aid training, which will grow to include combat lifesaver training for every soldier. Although expanded the training will fall short of full “combat lifesaver certification”—it is believed that intravenous needle insertion will not be included—it will represent a significant expansion of every soldier’s battlefield lifesaving skills. The current goal is to implement the new medical training by October of this year.

“We have also received a warning order that the new list may include skills or tasks on ‘escalation of force’ and ‘Counter- IED training,” Baker noted. “And those are absolutely the right things to incorporate. But what we just don’t know right now is what will get modified. Because you have a finite amount of time to train these soldiers. So we are waiting for the TRADOC Commander’s decision.”

It also remains to be seen how bright military minds will apply available training technologies changing warfighter needs.

ADVANCED INDIVIDUAL TRAINING—INNOVATION

In the meantime, some of the Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills have also been identified for reinforcement during followon Advanced Individual Training (AIT). In Fort Sill’s case, this training is facilitated through the innovative application of new “training aid” complexes designed to provide warfighters with the most applicable skills that they will need to apply in current operational settings.

MT2 went out to Fort Sill’s two new “Liberty City” training complexes to observe some of those follow-on AIT activities conducted by “13 Foxtrot”—field artillery forward observers—from the 30th Regiment’s AIT battalion.

Designated as Liberty Cities I and II, the two training complexes feature multi-story “shipping container” structures equipped with internal and external stairways and arranged to present students with a wide range of realistic tactical scenarios (Fort Sill’s original Liberty City shipping container training complex still exists in its original location but has been renamed “Freedom Town”).

According to Lieutenant Colonel Jim Ekvall, 1–78th Battalion Commander, FATC built Liberty City I in April 2005 out of mission funds while the 30th Regiment did the same when they subsequently built Liberty City II.

“That’s because these are training aids, as far as the Army is concerned,” Ekvall said. “And if they had to they could pick the whole city up and move it, because all of these are just standard shipping containers. It might take some time to pull down the walls and pull up the posts but you could do it if you had to.”

“It really is a great training aid,” he continued. “I don’t know who came up with the original idea but this thing is really fantastic—it’s a lot of bang for a little bit of buck.”

In terms of training lessons for the AIT students who were already beginning their tactical approach on the complex, Ekvall explained, “This is all about urban fighting— especially room clearing. We use it primarily to refresh them on room clearing skills that they received when they were at Basic [Combat Training].”

Those BCT skills are called out in the three “Warrior Tasks” attributed to joint urban operations: perform movement techniques during an urban operation; engage targets during an urban operation; and enter a building during an urban operation.

“And when we bring them out to this field training exercise we spend a lot of time going over the same things that they learned in BCT,” he continued. “Because their skills dull as they go through ‘Foxtrot’ training—which is primarily classroom and specifically directed at that particular forward observation skill.”

Turning to Sergeant Major John Tidwell, Ekvall offered his belief that “Basic [Combat] Training today, I believe, is harder and better than it ever has been.”

“We’ve got smarter leaders and smarter soldiers,” Tidwell added. “Look at the young people today. The colonel and I talk about this all the time. They could have the television on. They could have the radio on. They might have a set of headphones on. They’re on the Internet. And they’re doing homework. They can do four or five things at one time and still accomplish the mission—which is great. We really need that.”

“If you think about the way that the Army is going now, especially as a field artillery soldier, you’ve got to do more than just artillery. Just to show you how versatile we are and the leadership we have, we are taking artillery soldiers— cannoneers—and make them anything from truck drivers to town mayors—doing all kinds of operations,” he said.

Expanding on the “multitasking theme,” Ekvall observed, “This ability of young soldiers to take input from five or six different things causes these soldiers to ‘look up; look down; look left; look right.’ Because they are used to multiple focus areas.”

“Basic training is better today,” he added. “It’s better than it’s ever been. We’re turning out a better product. It’s more difficult.”

“I don’t know if ‘difficult’ is the exact word that I would use,” Tidwell offered. “I would say that we are training smarter. We really are. Sometimes when we say it’s more difficult it makes it sound like we weren’t doing the right thing before. And we were doing the right thing. But I think that times have changed and we are adapting to those changes. We’re training smarter now. We’re teaching skills that are more viable when people get to their first duty station; they are more attuned to what’s going on.” ♦

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