FORT IRWN, Calif. -- In the Army, there are many ways to be a Soldier, but on the battlefield a Soldier without a weapon is ineffective. Weapon familiarity and maintenance can be the deciding factor for a Soldier's survival.
In preparation for an upcoming engagement with 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division during the Decisive Action Rotation, Soldiers from C Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment performed a systems check and boresighted their Opposing Force Surrogate Vehicle with the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System at the National Training Center, March 13.
Boresighting with MILES allows for the cannon's point of aim to align with the gunner's primary sight. When properly aligned, the cannon and sights will match despite being on different levels of the tank.
"It's a good feeling, trust me," said 1st Lt. Mark Vaughan, platoon leader for 3rd Platoon, Charlie Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. "Yesterday, we killed six Abrams and one Bradley with one tank and they never knew where we were. We basically destroyed an entire company with one vehicle and they never found us."
MILES adds realism to the training by reinforcing the requirement for individuals, and units to adhere to the weapons systems operational doctrine. MILES accurately replicates both the actual firing capabilities and effects of weapons during training, while detecting hits from enemy lasers, and performs damage and casualty assessments on targets.
What makes the 1st Squadron, so good at what they do is the attention to detail the crew invests in its operation, and no one procedure is more critical to the tank's lethality than is boresighting. There are any number of reasons why a gunner might miss the target. Improper range evaluation, improper ammunition, poor target tracking, improper recital lay on the target, radical changes in atmospheric conditions will all affect the tanks ability to fire properly, but none will have such a systemic effect on target destruction as boresighting.
The mission was to simulate an enemy conventional force taking a defensive postion and defend it against the 3rd Infantry Division's force of eight M1A1 tanks, four BFVs and engineer, medics, mechanics or company sized element, said Vaughan.
The Decisive Action Training Environment differs from the Counterinsurgency Environment because it features a hybrid threat of guerrilla fighters, insurgents, criminal elements and conventional forces. The DA Rotation allows Brigade Combat Teams size elements to fully exercise their Mission Essential Task List in order to prepare for the potential conflicts of the future.
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