Dozens strive to become master gunners

By Andrea Sutherland (Fort Carson)May 23, 2013

Dozens strive to become master gunners
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Staff Sgt. Geoffrey Davis, 1st Special Troops Battalion, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, and Staff Sgt. Sean Leytham, 4th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd ABCT, 4th Inf. Div., watch as a Bradley crew ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Dozens strive to become master gunners
2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Echoes from the rounds of the M242 Bushmaster and 240C machine gun ricocheted off the canyon walls on Range 145, May 15, as crews aimed for targets up to three football fields in the distance.

With each round, the acrid smell of gunpowder filled the air.

"I love that smell," said Staff Sgt. Andrew Rose, taking in a breath.

Rose watched the Bradley as it retreated to its defensive position. A moment later, when a target popped up hundreds of yards down the canyon, the 50,000-pound vehicle sprang forward, firing three-round bursts and releasing more fumes.

"They should make a candle with that scent. A 'dude' candle," said Staff Sgt. Christian Adams.

"A 'mandle,'" Rose said, laughing.

"It smells like war," said Staff Sgt. Matthew Hood.

Rose, range safety officer and member of 4th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division; Adams, noncommissioned officer in charge of the exercise, 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Inf. Div.; and Hood, master gunner with 4th Sqdn., 10th Cav., Reg.; observed as the tank backed off the platform and began its offensive operations, honing in on the pop-up targets down range.

Inside the cramped quarters of the Bradley, two 4th Inf. Div. Soldiers and master gunner hopefuls focused on the targets. From the observation tower, master training team evaluators from Fort Benning, Ga., confirmed hits and observed the crew's tactics.

For more than three months, nearly 30 "Ivy" Division Soldiers endured weeks of classroom and hands-on training in hopes of earning the "master gunner" title. In June, they'll find out if they passed.

"A master gunner is the commander's subject matter expert on everything gunnery," said Staff Sgt. Chad Hepler, master gunnery instructor, 1st Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment, 197th Infantry Brigade, Fort Benning. "They're sort of a jack-of-all-trades."

Master gunners start at the platoon level and advance to the company, battalion and brigade levels throughout their careers, helping to coordinate field trainings for their unit, Hepler said.

First, however, they must complete the rigorous 14-week Bradley Master Gunner course.

Open to sergeants, staff sergeants and sergeants first class, the master gunner course is split into two phases -- maintenance and gunnery. During the maintenance phase, Soldiers learn the ins and outs of their equipment, including the weapon and fire control systems. They study capabilities, ballistics and turret functions. In the second phase, Soldiers cover six core areas required to earn the certification, including stabilized and unstabalized platforms, collective gunnery, combined arms live-fire exercises, ammunition forecasting and training management.

Soldiers study hundreds of pages of material in hopes of passing a series of tests.

"It's very challenging," said Staff Sgt. Jeromy Taylor, 4th Sqdn., 10th Cav. Reg., 3rd ABCT. "All the material, I have to soak it up like a sponge."

In their downtime, Soldiers spread out on their cots sifting through a binder packed with information and studying their homemade flash cards and other study materials.

"This is the 'right way' to do things," Taylor said, flipping through the hundreds of pages of course documents. "The standards are the basis."

Staff Sgt. Shelton Stansbury, 1st Bn., 67th Armor Reg., 2nd ABCT, said he hopes that after completing and passing the certification, he would be able to bring more realistic scenarios to his Soldiers.

"The more realistic the training is, the more it keeps them interested," he said. "They get more into (the training) and then they get something out of it."

Stansbury said he and the other master gunner hopefuls formed study groups to learn all of the material.

"We help each other," he said. "If one of us fails, it will be like we all fail."

Barry Reynolds, a retired sergeant first class and master gunner, said he remembers how these Soldiers feel.

"It's a bunch of knowledge," said Reynolds, who completed the master gunner course in 1988. In 2004, he retired from the military and became an instructor with BAE Systems, a contracting company based at Fort Benning that helps teach new master gunners. Reynolds, along with two civilian instructors and two Soldier instructors, traveled to Fort Carson for the training.

"I like watching them learn," he said. "At times it can be overwhelming for them, but they each get it eventually."

After completing the live-fire exercises and written tests, Soldiers complete the culminating challenge of the course -- drafting and briefing a unit training plan to course evaluators.

"They have four days to do the UTP," Hepler said, adding that the Soldiers will get, on average, about two hours of sleep per night.

Hepler said in past courses, a third of Soldiers do not pass. Since the beginning of the training, three of the 29 Soldiers dropped out.

"The job is tough," Hepler said. "But it's all about training Soldiers. It's worth it."