FORT HOOD, Texas - Ironhorse troopers conducted final gunnery ranges at Sugar Loaf Multi-Use Range here recently in preparation for an upcoming deployment to the Korean Peninsula.
For Soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, conducting Gunnery Table VI qualifications was their final opportunity to make a big bang before departure overseas.
"It is vital that the crews get some trigger time before Korea," said Capt. Timothy Shepherd, commander, Company D, 2-12 Cavalry Regiment. "It builds their confidence and validates them as a crew."
Table VI is a crew qualification with stationary and moving targets, making use of all weapons systems in offensive and defensive postures.
Fresh from an October rotation at the Army's National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tank crews and Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle crews from five battalions throughout the brigade took time to hone their skills at gunneries Nov. 19-20 and Dec. 2-6.
"I think this training will help prepare us for Korea and improve our readiness, if anything should happen while we are there," said 2nd Lt. Tyler Laufer, a first-time tank commander with Co. D, 2-12 Cavalry Regiment.
The Table II and Table VI gunneries were a successful cooperative training event between brigade combat teams from the First Team, with 3rd ABCT overseeing the gunnery tables and 2nd ABCT providing the tactical vehicles used by crews of the 1st ABCT.
For Gunnery Table VI, Laufer said each tank crew had to achieve 700 points out of a possible 1000 to qualify. Each target is worth 100 points, and those points are divided up into two range times - a six-target daytime gunnery and a four-target night gunnery.
During the day, Abrams crews started early in the morning, with safety and operational briefings and ammunition draws before heading out to complete the Table VI gunnery.
After completing the day qualifications, crews returned to complete night qualifications, repeating the steps they had just performed that morning.
Soldiers balanced the hectic training with safety, Shepherd said.
"I told my guys this morning two things, 'You want to be aggressive on the range, and be safe,'" said Shepherd.
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