Fort Hood Sentinel (Fort Hood, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 30, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 1, 2013 Page: 24 of 34
thirty four pages : ill.View a full description of this newspaper.
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TOP
n RIGHT,
After
gF' start-
|prj ing the
7 loading pro-
f jff-’-'-T''' cess, 1st Sec-
. tion, Battery A
receives a check
f're- The unit had
to reset the gun
Br to its original posi-
B| tion in preparation for
another fire mission,
fe INSET, Sgt. Eric Mitch-
■ ell, Battery A, turns away
as he fires a 100-pound
K high explosive round with
the M777 Howitzer, July 22.
RIGHT, Pfc. Yuri Santini, an
assistant gunner for Battery A,
writes down angles the howitzer
cannot pass to insure that later
rounds do not fall outside of the
safe zone. ■
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lop Gun.
“Winning the Top Gun compe-
tition gives troopers the sought-
after prize of bragging rights,”
said Sgt. 1st Class Rodel
Yatao, 2nd Squadron mas-
ter gunner. “Every artil-
lery section chief wants
to be able to say he and
his team are the Top
Gun.”
tests, such as a physical fitness test,
a 6-mile foot march, M4 rifles
qualification and common first aid
procedures like evaluating and treat-
ing an injury.
Points awarded through each leg
of the exercise will accrue as each
crew strives to claim the
title of the regiment’s
//
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BY PFC. ERIK WARREN
3rd Cav. Regt. Public Affairs
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Troopers assigned to Fires “Steel”
Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment
competed in the regiment’s first
Top Gun competition July 22 where
teams were tested on their knowl-
edge and performance during a crew
qualification exercise with the M777
Howitzer.
The squadron first received the
M777 Howitzer in November 2012,
which replaced the Ml98 Howit-
zer. Built mostly of titanium, the
M777 is lighter and more mobile
than its predecessor. The
*sj(
pc '^r 1
VS
V
1(7^
Center crews within its ranks.
In a firing scenario, an FDC crew
receives target coordinates from a
forward observer, computes the data,
gives the gun teams deflections (angle
of the barrel up or down) and quad-
rants (movement of the barrel left or
right).
The gun crew then takes the infor-
mation received from the FDC and
accurately adjusts the howitzer’s
point of aim on an intended target.
Once in position, the gun crew fires
the howitzer, delivering a round
accurate more than 20 miles away
and a boom audible at half that dis-
tance.
“It’s a big adrenaline rush,” said
Pfc. Yuri Santini, an assistant gunner
for 1st Section, Battery A. “When
the team gets going and we are
running smooth and sending steel
down range, it’s great. The big
booms are addictive.”
At the conclusion of gunnery,
the battery commander and first i
sergeant use the teams’ scores to Mi
select the best crew to represent ■
their battery. jB
Selected teams advance to /‘j
the next round of the compe-
tition, which con-
sists of basic j
soldiering
skills
M777 is also much
more technologi-
cally advanced
than the
Ml98 with
the inte-
g r a t i o n
f of the
Global
i Position-
; Sys-
and
Digital
Con-
Sys-
The
GPS enables
UB the gun to
T know exactly
S where it is
anywhere in
9 the world,
while the
2 DFCS allows
» the gun to be
’ adjusted much
’ more quickly
’ and with more
accuracy.
The Top
Gun com-
petition
enabled
the squad- M
ron to ■
identify ■
the best gun
crew and Fire
Direction
Steel Squadron holds competition for artillery crews
TOP GUN
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ABOVE, The 2nd “Steel” Squadron, 3rd Cav. Regt, brings out its big guns, the M777
Howitzer, to quality for the first time at a Fort Hood range July 22. BELOW, Members
of 2nd Section, Battery A insert a 100-pound, 155mm high-explosive round into the
Photos by Pfc. Erik Warren 3rd Cav. Regt. Public Affairs
breach of the M777 Howitzer while firing a string of four rounds during the Steel
gunnery and Top Shot Competition July 22. During the competition, knowledge and
performance of the M777 were tested.
>>
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LIVING
www.FortHoodSentinel.com
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August 1, 2013
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Larsen, Dave. Fort Hood Sentinel (Fort Hood, Tex.), Vol. 71, No. 30, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 1, 2013, newspaper, August 1, 2013; Fort Hood, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1205020/m1/24/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Casey Memorial Library.