FORT SILL, Okla. -- Soldiers of B Battery, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Field Artillery had an opportunity to get hands-on experience by working with the U.S. Air Force earlier this month.
The 301st Airlift Squadron, 349th Air Mobility Wing from Travis Air Force base sent a C-17 Globemaster III transport along with a crew of nine airmen to train with Soldiers of the "Big Deuce" about what it takes to airlift their M119A2 105mm digital howitzers and vehicles anywhere around the world.
"We're loading two howitzer sections and one fire direction center," said Capt. Jared Cox, B/2-2nd FA commander. "That consists of two M119A2 digital howitzers, two Humvees, one fire direction center Humvee and one trailer for power. It's a real good opportunity for us to train."
The plan for the training mission was to load the equipment and Soldiers on the plane, fly around for two hours and then land back at Henry Post Army Air Field on Fort Sill to simulate an airlift to another country. The units would then drive out to East Range to execute indirect artillery fires. But, before that could happen, the loadmasters from Travis had to train the FA Soldiers in the fine art of developing a load plan and getting their equipment safely loaded.
Tech. Sgt. Brandon Williams, a loadmaster with the 301st Airlift Squadron directed the preparations for loading.
"We're inspecting the Army equipment, making sure there's going to be sufficient tie-down points to load them on the plane. We're checking it structurally, so we're not wrapping chains around fuel or electrical lines," he said.
Williams has been in the Air Force for 17 years, but on this mission, Senior Master Sgt. J.D. Willoughby was evaluating him on his ability to handle airlifts. Each step of the process has to be done right to avoid accidents.
"I've loaded munitions on-board before, but I've never loaded any field artillery pieces. It's definitely good for us to work with the folks here at Fort Sill, to see what they have and what we need to do to handle it," Williams added.
Williams worked with Tech. Sgt. David Nguyen, a load planner and Senior Airman James Trevino, hazards inspector, to get each piece of equipment ready. Nguyen weighed each axle using a digital scale. He then measured the length, width and height of vehicles and howitzers, and recorded the data on the load plan so the aircraft crew would know how much weight was being loaded and also what the center of balance was for each piece.
"Getting the weight right is part of the loadmaster's check list. He will weigh every vehicle or piece of equipment that goes on the aircraft. It's part of their calculations for taking off," said 1st Lt. William Pitre, B/2-2nd FA executive officer. "It's more of a hands-on process so our guys understand the steps and these guys got a chance to see that. Most of our Soldiers have not deployed yet, so this training is something you pick up, and it becomes second nature once you've done it. It's definitely important because it gives them orientation for what to do when they are in theater."
While Nguyen filled out the load plan, Trevino worked with Spc. Tristrem Meadows and Spc. Louie Lau of the "Big Deuce" to secure any loose items or things that might come off of their equipment.
"We found the exhaust ducts for the auxiliary power trailer were not secured properly, so we moved them to the back and tied them down," Meadows said. "The loadmasters don't want stuff falling out and moving around."
Maj. Troy Ogle, aircraft commander, saw great value in the training for his crew as well as the Soldiers.
"Since the digital howitzer is new, especially to us, we brought more than the normal amount of loadmasters. We wanted our people trained on these pieces, because that's their job, to get it on the airplane," Ogle said. "I can get the airplane from here to there, but our loadmaster is in charge of everything inside. If we take off and everything is within weight and balance then we have a good flight."
Once the aircrew approved the load plan, it was time to start loading the plane.
"This training shows our Soldiers what they have to do. When they face unexpected problems when deploying this equipment, they have to improvise, adapt to overcome those problems as rapidly as possible," Cox said. "When they're downrange they will likely be under fire and won't have time to sit around and figure out how to solve a problem. They have to know what to do immediately, and that is why we train for situations like this with the Air Force."
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