BRAVO BATTERY’S CANNON COCKERS

A SURGE OF TROOPS AND FIREPOWER

With additional firepower brought to the field during the U.S. forces’ surge that began last year, artillery units are firing off more rounds than ever during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Recently, soldiers of Bravo Battery, 2nd Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment (1-9 FA), 3nd Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 3rd Infantry Division (ID), topped the 10,000 mark in regard to rounds sent down range during their most recent tour, which began in May 2007. At the current pace, Bravo Battery will have fired more than 11,000 rounds during its tour. The unit’s predecessor, 2-15 FA, 2nd BCT, 10th Mountain Division, was honored for firing just under 2,500 rounds.

Bravo Battery, with two M109A6 Paladin self-propelled artillery systems, is based in FOB Mahmudiyah, supporting 3rd ID and 101st Airborne Division units operating south of Baghdad. The unit’s most memorable fire mission included the new Excalibur satellite-guided artillery round.

OFF WITH THE HEAD OF AL QAEDA IN IRAQ!!

Arab Jabour, Iraq, 14 July 2007. Shortly before noon, a call came into the tactical operations center (TOC) supporting 1-30 Infantry, 2nd BCT, 3rd ID, headquartered at Patrol Base Murray in Arab Jabour. On a cell phone, provided by the unit to one of several local Iraqis called “bird dogs,” the call detailed a high-level meeting involving more than a dozen known Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) members, including AQI’s top man south of Baghdad, Abu Jurah.

Within minutes of the original cell phone call, a chain of authorization and guidance resulted in the call for fire—a mission that would literally chop off the head of Al Qaeda in Iraq south of Baghdad and pave the way for this region’s population to begin turning its eyes, ears, and guns toward the terrorists.

More than 20 miles away at FOB Mahmudiyah, the soldiers of 2-9 FA were doing everything they could to avoid the oppressive Iraqi summer heat. The crews had just changed shifts at noon and the fresh faces were busy cleaning up and preparing for the day’s work, which lately had been a lot.

Two of the unit’s M109A6 Paladin artillery systems, B Battery, had been operating from this FOB since May in support of 3rd ID troops operating east and north of the city, including the Sunni stronghold of Arab Jabour. The Paladins are continuously at idle, next order to fire. Twenty yards behind the guns, the battery has set its command tent, where the on-duty crews sits, waits and reacts to calls for artillery support. Much of the time is spent sitting around, watching DVDs, and playing video games.

_GUN 2, THIS IS TWO ZERO…_

In an instant, a call is coming over the radio, “Gun 2, this is two zero…” The call sends the soldiers scrambling toward their positions as crew leader Sgt. James Bragg responds, “Go ahead. This is Gun 2.”

“How many Excals do you have on your gun?” crackled the voice. “I have one, why?” responded Bragg.

“Go get three more; a mission is coming down.”

This is something this battery had only trained for. They’d been training with the Excalibur for months, but had yet to use it in combat. In fact, the first time Excalibur was used during Operation Iraqi Freedom came just two months earlier. On 5 May, 2007, members of 1st Battalion, 82^nd Field Artillery successfully used Excalibur against an insurgent safe house on Baghdad’s northern outskirts.

Now it’s Bravo Battery’s turn. Once again the rounds are going to be used and Bravo Battery knows the target must be a high priority.

The crew giddily fetches three more Excalibur rounds and waits for further orders.

“What’s the target?” asks Sgt. Bragg.

“I don’t know, but they’re wanting to shoot four.”

“We’ve got the four rounds ready,” says Bragg.

“Stand by... mission coming down.”

A FIERY MISSION ON A SCALDING DAY

Like on any other July day in Iraq, the heat was unbearable, made even worse sitting in the Paladin waiting for the order to fire. With sweat pouring down their faces, the soldiers kept busy running drills, so when the order came, they would execute it with perfection.

After what seemed an eternity of tense anticipation and preparation, the radio awakened again, ordering the crew to prepare to fire just two Excalibur rounds. As soon as Bragg read the mission back to the fire direction center (FDC), the mission popped up on the screen in front of him.

“Beep, beep, beep...”

Now the crew is ready... the anticipation painful as they await the order from Bragg to fire. Bragg reads the mission information back to ensure accuracy.

“Roger, everything looks good. They’re clearing the airspace right now. As soon as air is clear, we’ll fire two rounds.”

Again Bragg asks, “What’s the target?”

“Don’t worry about it; we’ll talk later. Just shoot when I tell you to shoot.”

Seconds turn into minutes as the airspace up to 30,000 feet is cleared for the shot.

The radio was silent; just the ever-present rumble of the Paladin’s engine. Now the crew was getting anxious.

“What’s the holdup, Sgt. Bragg?”

The fear is that the mission is going to be canceled at the last minute. It’s something that happens frequently.

_SET THE FUSE, GOBIN!!_

Suddenly, the words Bragg and his crew have been waiting for:

“Gun 2, this is two zero; you’re cleared to fire one Excalibur round when ready.”

The crew quickly springs into action.

“Set the fuse, Gobin!” yells Bragg.

“Fuse set!” PFC Ben Gobin yells back.

Bragg types into the screen in front of him and it comes back: “Fuse set.”

Bragg verifies the command with his gunner, Cpl. Sean White, and then turns to Gobin, who has already loaded the massive round into the ramming tray.  “RAM!” yells Bragg. Gobin throws the round into the tube and rams it. At the same time Cpl. White is preparing the propellant charge. Gobin drops the tray down and calls for the charge. Bragg looks down and touches the charge. “Verified.”

White puts the charge into the tube and slams the breech shut. Once verified again, Gobin takes a primer from his belt and looks up at Bragg. “Permission to prime?” he yells.

“PRIME!” Bragg yells back.

FIRE!! TWO ZERO, DIRECT HIT!

The heavy barrel begins its climb to nearly maximum elevation. Bragg watches the numbers climb on his screen. Once the numbers match up, he turns to Cpl. White and reads out the numbers. “Verified,” says White, slapping Bragg on the shoulder.

By then, the moment was surreal. Sgt. Bragg is wondering to himself if he would make the Army proud. Or would his name be dragged through the mud? Everything was racing through his head—the gun drills, the target, the anticipation of the order to fire.

Over the deafening roar of the Paladin’s engine, Bragg turned to Gobin, raised his arm and quickly dropped it down. “FIRE!”

Gobin pulled the lanyard, sending the round down range. A few long moments elapsed as the shot’s accuracy was verified.

“Gun 2, this is two zero, direct hit! Fire the last round when ready.”

At 1:12 p.m., the tide of battle for South Baghdad abruptly shifted to the advantage of the Americans for good. As the cannon recoiled and flame erupted seemingly ten feet from its muzzle, a fine layer of dust all around the Paladin was raised an inch or two off the ground. The thunderous report of the gun shook the FOB, forcing those unaccustomed to the sound to instinctively jerk, not knowing if it was incoming or outgoing.

Before anything settled, one could hear the clang of the weapon’s breech opening as the gunner prepared another round. The breech slammed shut just before a mechanical hum signaled that the weapon was once again going to fire. Again the 155mm howitzer cut loose. Standing just 10 yards away, the sound was deafening and the concussion intense.

BLINDING DUST AND SMOKE

Several thousand feet above the target, an unmanned aerial drone was sending a live picture back to Patrol Base Murray and to 2nd BCT’s headquarters at Camp Victory. Both GPS-guided rounds landed exactly where they were targeted, leveling the house and sending a plume of dust and smoke high into the air. For several moments no movement was detected; then a car was seen pulling up to the wreckage of the building and taking on what appeared to be injured men. Suddenly, a group of three men was also seen running through adjacent fields and into a nearby house. As the car loaded with the injured worked to get away, a tailing AH-64 Apache gunship attacked and destroyed the car. An Air Force F-16 hit the house concealing the three men seen leaving the original attack site with two 500-pound bombs and also destroyed it.

 EXCALIBUR CHANGES THE BATTLEFIELD

The successful use of the XM982 Excalibur round on the battlefield ushers in a new chapter in artillery warfare. The round is effective against soft targets, armor and reinforced bunkers. Use of the Excalibur in a Paladin artillery  system increases that system’s range more than 30 percent, to more than 28 km. The round also increases accuracy by reducing dispersion to just 10 meters, compared to 370 meters for conventional artillery rounds. When fully  deployed, the Excalibur is expected to reduce the amount of firepower sent down range by as much as 80 percent, reducing supply times and ultimately increasing readiness. The GPS-guided round can also be used in the M777 lightweight howitzer employed by both the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps. Excalibur, considered an “artillery-fired JDAM” (Joint Direct Attack Munition), is a joint project between Raytheon (U.S.) and BAE Systems (Sweden).

David Tate is a freelance contributor to Soldier of Fortune. More of David’s work can be found at http://www.battlefieldtourist.com/