FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- Artillerymen with A Battery, 3rd Battalion, 6th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (LI) teamed up with members of 2 Royal Canadian Horse Artillery Regiment to conduct Operation Rolling Thunder, Oct. 26-30, at Fort Drum.
Rolling Thunder was a training exercise designed to trade knowledge and strengthen participating forces as a team and to build cohesion between the units.
"Our mission overall is to shoot some artillery, get everyone comfortable with our piece and to get people who have not been on a M777 howitzer comfortable as well," said U.S. Army Sgt. Adam Lestina, an artilleryman with A Battery, 3-6 FA. "It's all about working together and trying to find out how we work together best so if we ever deploy together we will be very fluent and have no hiccups."
Rolling Thunder was a two-phase exercise; the first phase consisted of A Battery, 3-6 FA Soldiers going out to the field and conducting table VI fire, which is a section-level live-fire qualification. Phase two kicked off after the qualification and consisted of artillerymen with E Battery, 2 Royal Canadian Horse Artillery Regiment arriving in the United States to conduct joint artillery live-fire training.
"It's a great experience; it's different working with the American (Soldiers) and learning how they do their drills, seeing how they operate as a team and on the guns," said Canadian Gunner Kevin Poirier, an artilleryman with 2 RCHA out of Petawawa, Ontario. "When I'm on the gun line and actually operating on the gun, you see the way they call things out, and the motions are quite similar."
Despite unfavorable weather during the training, morale was high and both armies took advantage of the time they had to strengthen bonds.
"The partnership is going great," Lestina said. "We have a lot in common, both being artillery, so we both love to shoot a lot. With all the rain and the wind we've been a lot more motivated than you would think we would be. We've been staying pretty positive, knowing we were out here to fire our guns."
Forward observers throughout the Warrior Brigade also had an opportunity to conduct joint training on the capabilities they bring to the table for the field artillery units.
"We had a team from 1-32 (Infantry), a team from 3-71 (Cavalry), and a team from 2-22 (Infantry) who all did some joint training with the Canadian forward observers to learn about their call-for-fire procedures, so there's been a lot of cross training on equipment, procedures and techniques," said U.S. Army Maj. Jonathan Holm, officer in charge of Team Centaur, 3-6 FA.
The participating forward observers also received cross training. U.S. Army forward observers practiced calling for fire from the Canadian battery, and the Canadian forward observers called for fire from the U.S. Army battery.
"Operating in a coalition environment, we see this as a scenario that could definitely happen while deployed," Holm said. "If we have an American element moving through Canadian battlespace, or vice versa, and (it) needs fire support from the nearest artillery battery, that's something that could definitely happen."
One of the main goals of Operation Rolling Thunder was for participating personnel to become more proficient working as a joint team and to develop tactics, techniques and procedures between both forces.
"I feel like we've done that," Holm said. "We've had to work through their call for fire and our call for fire, which have some significant differences, and I feel like we're starting to develop the capability to convert their call for fire into fire commands that our howitzers will be able to execute."
Even though both forces have their own unique way of conducting business, their end states were the same.
"There's also a common focus on providing accurate fire support and maneuver," Holm said. "This is the first time we've really done anything with 2 RCHA, but there's already that baseline of understanding and common focus, so that's made the integration of our two units very seamless."
When the training came to a close, everyone packed up their equipment, secured their wea-pons and moved out of the training area to reset and prepare themselves for future training events.
"The guys in 3-6 feel like they are a part of something special," Holm said. "I think a lot of them feel kind of privileged to have an opportunity to develop a more nuanced understanding of how to employ artillery to support the maneuver and potentially developing some (tactics, techniques and procedures) that will make us more capable of supporting 1st Brigade in the future."
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