{"id":328,"date":"2023-06-07T00:39:27","date_gmt":"2023-06-07T00:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/?p=328"},"modified":"2023-06-07T00:39:28","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T00:39:28","slug":"iowa-national-guard-trains-in-wyomings-higher-elevation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/?p=328","title":{"rendered":"Iowa National Guard Trains in Wyoming\u2019s Higher Elevation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CAMP GUERNSEY, Wyo. \u2013 Iowa National Guard infantry and aviation units traveled west by ground convoy and air to conduct annual training at the Camp Guernsey Joint Training Center in Wyoming at the end of May.<\/p>\n

Wyoming\u2019s elevation and expansive landscape offered a different training environment for the Midwest Soldiers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re spoiled in Iowa,\u201d said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Ryan Hill, a training officer and UH-60 Black Hawk pilot with Company C, 2nd Battalion, 147th Assault Helicopter Battalion. The state sits about 1,100 feet above sea level. \u201cWe have power for days. Whereas [in Wyoming], you\u2019re starting at about 5,000 feet, which is going to change aircraft performance. That\u2019ll be good training for aircrew members when they go to high altitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several aircraft crew chiefs qualified on door gunnery skills, shooting an M240 machine gun out of the window of a Black Hawk as it flew over targets.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite part was definitely going up high and then seeing the tracers hit the little buildings and all the humvees,\u201d said Spc. Julia Adkins, a Black Hawk mechanic with the 2-147th AHB. \u201cIt was a great experience because I\u2019m brand new to flying.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry Regiment (\u201cLethal Battalion\u201d), took advantage of the expansive weapon qualification ranges and rugged terrain to practice squad-level maneuvers. Soldiers spent several days in tents in the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a massive training area,\u201d said Capt. Jeremy White, executive officer with the 1-168th Infantry. \u201cYou can drive it for hours one side to the other. If you think you can put all your gear on and run around conducting operations like normal, you\u2019re wrong. You can\u2019t dodge higher elevation and this is a completely different terrain.\u201d<\/p>\n

White described it as collective training to test how well Soldiers move as a team toward objectives using communication and hand signals. Companies took turns rotating through physically taxing live-fire exercises, moving swiftly up and down steep slopes through tall grass and dodging environmental obstacles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe grow as a team as we\u2019re out there,\u201d said Spc. Valery Gonzalez, with the 1-168th Infantry. \u201cWe obviously have to trust each other so nobody gets hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to completing unit-level tasks, the two infantry and aviation elements joined together to conduct realistic operational training. Ground force commanders with the 1-168th Infantry sent up orders to the 2-147th AHB, imitating what would happen if infantry Soldiers needed aircraft assistance in a real-world scenario \u2013 whether they needed people, supplies or equipment transported.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the big takeaways for us is that we\u2019re a customer-based service,\u201d said Hill. \u201cWe have a lot of young aviators who have been focused on getting good at flying the aircraft. Now, they\u2019re going to be able to execute planning processes, and they\u2019ll have passengers that need things with real-life factors playing into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The training is also valuable for Soldiers in the 1-168th Infantry. White said many Soldiers in the Iowa Guard train with real aircraft only a few times in their careers. The 2-147th AHB offered familiarization with aircraft safety procedures, air assault movements, supply drops and sling load operations.<\/p>\n

The 1-168th Infantry trained on their new M3A1 Carl Gustaf Multi-roll, Anti-Armor, Anti-Personnel Weapons System (MAAWS). The recoilless rifle is capable of firing numerous types of rounds suited for targets that range from humvees to armored tanks. It can also illuminate the battlefield and provide smokescreens.<\/p>\n

Staff Sgt. Chris Nieman, an infantryman assigned to Company A, said the weapon\u2019s improved optics system eliminates much of the guesswork in aiming at targets.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really enjoy being in the field and training Soldiers,\u201d said Nieman. \u201cIt\u2019s loud, it blows up. Soldiers enjoy that. On a tactical level, it just increases our lethality. It\u2019s a force multiplier on its own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Members of the 1-168th Infantry also broke in some new M110 A1 squad-designated marksman rifles with scopes, ambidextrous controls and suppressors. Even with all the new features, it wasn\u2019t much heavier than the traditional M4 carbine rifle most Army Soldiers use.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a dream to shoot,\u201d said Staff Sgt. Gabriel Morey, an infantryman with Company C. \u201cI\u2019ve seen nothing but smiles coming off of our range here at Camp Guernsey, so we have pretty positive rave reviews so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

By SSG Tawny Kruse, Joint Force Headquarters \u2013 Iowa National Guard<\/em><\/p>\n

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CAMP GUERNSEY, Wyo. \u2013 Iowa National Guard infantry and aviation units traveled west by ground convoy and air to conduct annual training at the Camp Guernsey Joint Training Center in Wyoming at the end of May. Wyoming\u2019s elevation and expansive landscape offered a different training environment for the Midwest Soldiers. \u201cWe\u2019re spoiled in Iowa,\u201d said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-328","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-army"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=328"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":330,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions\/330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}