MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. - A Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement comes to a screeching halt, letting the dust and sand slide off of it. Seven Marines quickly file out of the truck and assume their roles on the M777A2 155 mm medium towed Howitzer.
After unhooking the Howitzer from the truck, the Marines took less than four minutes to position the howitzer and were ready to send rounds down range.
Marines with the 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division participated in both a fire exercise and combined arms, live-fire training in support of Exercise Desert Scimitar 15 aboard Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California, April 1 through April 17. Exercise Desert Scimitar is a division-scale exercise encompassing major elements of the 1st Marine Division, which is the ground combat element of I Marine Expeditionary Force.
"Desert Fire Exercise 15 was broken into a battery phase, battalion phase and then a regimental phase in order to get ready for Exercise Desert Scimitar, which was the division phase," said 1st Lt. Patrick J. O'Brien, the executive officer for Battery A, 1st Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.
The Marines rarely get the opportunity to participate in field exercises as a regiment, said Cpl. Osmar S. Gorish, a gun section chief for Battery A. It encompasses new parameters that the Marines don't get the chance to in battery or battalion-sized field operations.
The process of firing the rounds on target involves not only the gun line but foremost requires support from the Fire Direction Control center or FDC.
The FDC uses the information gathered by the forward observers, Marines positioned close enough to the target to relay a description of the target, to not only position the howitzers accordingly, but give the azimuth, deflection, and elevation to fire the round on target to the FDC, said Cpl. Shane J. Duckworth, a field artillery fire control man with Battery A.
"The FDC lets us know the exact adjustments we need to make to place the round where it needs to be," said Gorish. "They are the brains of the operation while the gun line is the brawn."
Along with the gun line and the FDC Marines, artillery mechanics served as an essential part of the mission. If any problems arose with howitzers, ammunition or the fuses an artillery mechanic was able to quickly respond.
Not only were the artillery mechanics able to keep the howitzers fire capable, but they also assisted on the gun line, Gorish said.
"Not only am I a safety officer and battery mechanic, but I am a part of this gun line," said Cpl. Brandon M. Louder, a towed artillery systems maintenance technician for Battery A. "I maintain all the batteries howitzers, but that doesn't mean I can't help out the Marines on the gun line."
Being the most senior battery in the regiment, Battery A had little to nothing to adjust while conducting live-fire missions. The efficiency and camaraderie of the Marines attracted the attention from the entire division.
The efficiency and effectiveness of these Marines makes me proud to watch them work, said Sgt. Maj. David L. Jobe, the division sergeant major.
After conducting Desert Fire Exercise 15, the 11th Marine Regiment began Exercise Desert Scimitar 15 with a 48-hour operation, where they displayed their combat readiness in combined arms operations along with other units of 1st Marine Division.
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