FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- People living in the North Country are aware of the military training that takes place on Fort Drum. However, many may not know that hidden deep in the woods of Jefferson County lies one of the military's largest ranges on the East Coast. The tri-county marker for Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence serves as the gateway to one of Fort Drum's northern-most ranges -- Range 48.
The training area, labeled Adirondack Joint Range (Fort Drum R-48), is concealed by trees and looks like a post-apocalyptic battlefield -- a graveyard for outdated military equipment that have been repurposed to serve as training targets.
Range 48 is the largest live-fire range on Fort Drum, allowing service members to train on everything from small arms to artillery to allowing military pilots to practice firing weapons systems.
The training area also is the only place on post where small arms like the M-16 semi-automatic rifle and M-60 and M-240 machine guns can be fired in any direction, adding realism to the mission, according to Lt. Col. Alfred Tomaselli, who serves as the New York Air National Guard's 174th Fighter Wing detachment commander at Range 48. The NYANG runs the remote range.
In most training areas, troops can shoot only in one direction, Tomaselli said.
"In this location here, we're trying to develop the area and get a village objective where (Soldiers) can defend or attack," he explained, adding that most Fort Drum units conduct predeployment training at the range.
"(Fort Drum) is extremely unique," he said. "This is the only new air-to-ground range (built) since the 1970s. Building it into the impact area here allows for this 360-degree (training). Most ranges are lined up to train for the enemy being in only one direction."
The range was constructed roughly 10 years ago, and the layout has worked out perfectly for units here, Tomaselli added.
"(Range 48 was built) not knowing the kind of war we were going to get in to where you don't know where the front line is," he said. "(This is) the only place where (the military) maintains a high-explosive bombing target area … on the East Coast north of Florida. You have to go out (west) to find another range to do what we do here."
On today's battlefield, troops don't always know where the enemy is hiding; the larger training area allows them to train more realistically, Tomaselli added.
Because Range 48 is so unique, it is used for joint training on a regular basis. Active and reserve units on the East Coast have a local training area where they can work together in a realistic environment, Tomaselli explained. Units also save money when they can train locally, rather than going to ranges thousands of miles away.
"We've had the Army out here shooting artillery or mortars into that target area, while simultaneously calling in (Air Force) A-10s and F-16s," he said. "They just don't get that opportunity in very many places without spending a lot of dollars to send teams. Here, we try to match all the different units' training needs because we need joint training at this level."
"There's a lot of opportunity here because it's so easy to integrate with (other branches of the military)," Tomaselli continued.
In many cases, groups are left on the range to provide their own observer / controllers, but Tom-aselli's team serves as an extra measure.
"We have the radar feed from over at the airfield, and we have a lot of tools in the tower that we're watching and listening to everything happening," he said. "That adds that extra layer of safety that helps with risk management, because no one wants a training accident."
Just last week, airmen from Maryland and Nevada trained on the remote range. A-10 pilots from the Maryland Air National Guard's 175th Wing practiced firing rockets and dropping 500-pound Mark 82 bombs while joint terminal attack controller instructors and students from Nellis Air Force Base's 6th Combat Training Squadron helped control the "battlefield" from the ground.
Staff Sgt. Sergio Meneses, JTAC instructor, brought students who recently completed their academic and simulation training before making the trek from Nevada to the North Country to practice communicating with live pilots dropping real bombs.
"Each range is unique to its own environment," he said, adding this is the second time he's trained at Fort Drum. "This one is probably one of the better ones -- it's pretty large, it's rich in targets and the fact that we have air crews dropping live munitions helps a lot."
JTACs deploy with Army units for the sole purpose of calling in close-air support. For the students, the training builds confidence because it may possibly be the first time they've talked to a pilot or seen live bombs drop, Meneses explained.
"In a real situation, these guys … are going to have aircraft (on call) in case of a situation where they're being overrun or the ground commander needs a bigger punch," he said. "When we're working in a company-sized element, there are about 100 people that we need to (account for) before (calling in air support)."
JTACs provide ground commanders with the capability to call in bombs in close proximity, usually between 500 and 2,000 meters of the "friendlies."
"These men are going to be right up front fighting the good fight," Meneses explained. "Our training and what they learn after they leave the schoolhouse when they hone their abilities -- they are doing this to keep ground personnel safe."
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