JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii - Soldiers assigned to Company C, 3rd Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, from Schofield Barracks, cold-loaded howitzers aboard a C-17 Globemaster III, Nov. 24.
The M777 155-mm howitzers were loaded, along with their prime movers and ammunition trucks, as part of a Contingency Response Force (CRF) exercise under 3rd Battalion, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd BCT, 25th ID.
1st Lt. Michael Polan, platoon leader, 1st Platoon, Co. C, 3-7th FA, led the artillery Soldiers during the cold load.
"We're out here to validate our Contingency Response Force package to provide direct support for the 3-4th Cav. maneuver force," Polan said. "We're here to put our 155 mm howitzers on the aircraft to validate that we can load them, take off and fly away in a 48-hour period."
It was no easy task as the drivers had to squeeze the large howitzers and vehicles inside the C-17 as they were ground-guided by loadmasters from the 535th Airlift Squadron based here.
"Typically, the Contingency Response Force through the 25th Infantry Division is a lighter package with the M119 105 mm howitzer," he said. "We had to really put a lot more thought into this to be able to actually coordinate and execute to put these howitzers in the aircraft."
The training was uncommon for both the Army and Air Force as the M777 isn't a piece of equipment normally brought down and loaded aboard a C-17.
"With howitzers, it's not very often, and mostly because we usually concentrate on Humvees or trucks or command post equipment when it comes down here," said Capt. Steven Hojnicki, ground liaison officer, 15th Wing.
Hojnicki emphasized the benefits that both services receive in loading equipment in a joint environment.
"The Air Force loadmasters get some hands-on training on equipment that they don't see every day, and it prepares them in case there was an emergency that we had to send this equipment out anywhere in the world," he said.
Lt. Col. Daniel Mark, commander, 3-4th Cav. Regt., found the experience working with his Air Force counterparts in preparation for the CRF mission enlightening.
"We don't work a lot with the Air Force," Mark said. "It is a great opportunity and unique for us to be able to exercise with our Airmen, here, 12 miles away from Schofield."
He further stressed that the 3-7th FA was part of a wider CRF package as a ready and trained force, ready to deploy anywhere in the Pacific region to respond to a variety of contingencies.
The cold load training went off without a hitch for the cannoneers with the loading, tying down and offloaded within a three-hour time period.
"It's good to know that with the minimal amount of guidance everyone from Pvt. Mark to Lt. Col. Mark is fully engaged and all professional," he said. "They all have common mission focus that at the end of the day the mission got done."
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