NOWA DEBA, Poland (July 16, 2015) -- Soldiers, assigned to P Troop, 4th Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, participated in mounted gunnery training at the Nowa Deba Training Area in Poland, July 15.
Despite having a rough start while training earlier in the week, the Soldiers of "Palehorse" Troop ended the training victoriously.
"Today went a lot better than one of our previous runs," said Spc. Gunner Franks, a gunner with P Troop. "On the previous run we scored pretty low, but after today we were able to get better visual on the targets, see our rounds better and actually identify the targets a lot easier."
For P Troop stationed out of Vilsek, Germany, qualifying on a Table 4 gunnery range includes shooting live M2 .50-caliber machine gun rounds, practicing different types of engagements and shooting while wearing a protective mask.
However, success requires more than shooting the targets. During Stryker gunnery, there are three key roles: the vehicle commander, the gunner, and the driver. Success requires all three to work together cohesively to not only accurately shoot targets, but make their way to the objectives.
"As the gunner and I are both looking for targets, if I see it I can call it out first and have him identify," said 1st Lt. Nicholas Romano, the fire support officer and a tank commander with P Troop. "So, we're going out scanning the range, looking for those targets and knowing the proper fire commands in the proper sequence."
For Romano and his crew, working in Poland not only allows the group to experience a new environment, it gives them the opportunity to train more often.
"It's a lot less rigid," Romano said. "So, because of the flexibility, we can do Table 4 more times if necessary. If the weather is not very good in Vilseck, it's too bad because we lost those days, but here we have all this time we can go out, and go back to the range and do it again."
However, what truly makes P Troop stand out is, despite their varying military backgrounds, the Soldiers are still able to accomplish the mission.
Within many of the Stryker crews, it is not uncommon for the crew members to have different military occupational specialties.
"I think it's because everyone has a common Army background. Everyone is still a Soldier in the Army," Romano said. "Based on that commonality we just combine our specialties...for the combined arms fight."
The Soldiers are participating in Operation Atlantic Resolve, an ongoing multinational partnership focused on joint training and security cooperation between NATO allies. Aimed at ensuring stability across Europe, the training is designed to improve joint operational capability in a range of missions.
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