Chosen Soldier - Dick Couch [109]
7.62mm NATO
Germany
FN FAL
7.62 × 51mm
Belgium
AK-47/AKM
7.62 × 39mm
Russia
AK-74
5.45 × 39mm
Russia
Steyre AUG
5.56 × 45mm
Austria
SHOTGUN
Winchester M1300
12-gauge
United States
MACHINE GUNS
Kalashnikov PKM
7.62 × 54mm
Russia
M240B (FN MAG)
7.62 × 51mm
United States (Belgium)
M249 (FN Minimi)
5.56 × 45mm
United States (Belgium)
M60
7.62 × 51mm
United States
MG-3
7.62 × 51mm
Germany
Browning M2HB
12.7 × 99mm (.50 cal)
United States
DShK M38/46
12.7 × 109mm
Russia
Mk44 (mini-gun)
7.62 × 51mm
United States
GRENADE/ROCKET LAUNCHERS
M79
40mm (40 × 45)
United States
M203
40mm (40 × 46)
United States
Mk19
40mm × 53mm HV
United States
Mk47
40mm × 53mm HV
United States
AGS-17
30mm × 28mm
Russia
AT4
84mm
Sweden
Carl Gustaf M2
84mm
Sweden
RPG-7
40mm launcher
Russia
MORTARS
M29A1
81mm
United States
M224
60mm
United States
Podnos 2B14
82mm
Russia
A portion of the classroom time is devoted to simulators, including the call-for-fire simulator. The modern call-for-fire simulator is a room-sized video game. One whole wall of the simulator is a visual presentation of terrain. The candidates are arrayed in raised tiers before the huge projection screen with maps, protractor, an observed-fire reference card, and a call-for-fire guide. Their reference is that of a ground observer on a mountain looking into a valley. Each student makes a call for fire using proper radio call signs, procedures, and target descriptions, and with reference to the position of nearby friendly forces. The simulator projects the targets and the fall of shot onscreen—in this case, the splashes of 105mm artillery. It even has sound effects with the whistling of incoming shells and the KRUMP of explosions. Calls for fire are made using grid coordinates or polar plot coordinates, adjusting from a known reference point. The lessons learned in adjusting artillery fire are helpful when the class begins working on the range with mortars.
“I love mortars,” Private First Class Tim Baker tells me after he came off the mortar range. “You can do a lot with a mortar, and you can teach the use of mortars to others. It’s a simple weapons system and a basic defensive weapon, but there’s a lot to know about it. We qualify in three qualification positions. First you have to crew the mortar. You have to set up and lay in the tube, shoot a few rounds to set in the baseplate, and get your aiming stakes calibrated. Then you elevate and traverse the tube as the spotter walks the rounds onto the target. You can’t see the target, you just make the adjustments and drop the rounds in the tube.
“The second position is the spotter and probably the most fun job. You spot the fall of shot and adjust it onto the target. In the spotter’s position, you are in contact with the plotter; you give him the corrections, and he passes them on to the mortar crew. The plotter probably has the hardest job. He has to take the corrections from the observer and convert those heights and distances to issue the proper orders for the mortar crew. The plotter has to know where the mortar tube is and where the observer is. There’s procedures for all this, but you have to understand the relationship between the guys on the tube, the observer, and the target. The next time I do this, there could be a gang of bad guys moving on a friendly position, and I’ll have to be able to get those mortar rounds on target quickly.”
Back at the Bravo training area, the candidates spend a day with the gun trucks—Humvees that are modified for Special Forces application. They’re sometimes called general military vehicles.
“You guys need to listen up,” Sergeant First Class Don Adams tells the prospective Bravos as he stands atop one of the two gun trucks, “because you’re going to spend a great deal of your time in these vehicles on deployment.” The gun trucks have only a passing resemblance to the standard Humvee; both have undergone extensive modification. “And when you’re in one