In order to help improve the security of Morocco, 20 members of the 15th Royal Artillery Group recently purchased about 60 M109A5 howitzers through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program.
At the request of the Royal Moroccan Field Artillery Training Center, an artillery tactics military-to-military exercise was executed in the cities of Fes and Guercie, March 4-10, to help provide the Moroccan soldiers with training on the maintenance, safety and firing of the M109A5 system.
Two soldiers from 1st Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment, out of Fort Sill, Okla. volunteered to observe and provide subject matter expert guidance on the artillery training.
First Sgt. Kurt Douglas, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, and non-commissioned officer in charge of the exercise, said the mission was split between lectures on various topics regarding the M109A5 and live fire exercises at the Royal Moroccan Field Artillery Training Center. The fire exercises included forward observer procedures, fire direction center procedures and gun line crew drills.
Douglas, a Mattoon, Ill. native, said the soldiers of the 15th RAG performed like consummate professionals, making it seem like they have been firing the M109A1, A2 and A3 systems for decades.
"They fully understand all gunnery concepts and developed effective techniques that ensures they achieve accuracy, thus demonstrating the mastery of gunnery concepts and techniques, but they are not able to execute some key tasks due to lack of associated equipment," Douglas said.
Maj. Tyrone Martin, executive officer, 1st Bn., 17th FAR, and the officer in charge of the mission, said despite the 15th RAG
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