Before heading to Iraq, tank crews test abilities during live-fire practice

[unhappycamper]

Pfc. Aeteon Miles, a loader from 1st Battalion, 35th Armor Regiment “Iron Knights,” brings ammunition aboard an M1A1 Abrams tank Wednesday at a range near Baumholder, Germany.


Before heading to Iraq, tank crews test abilities during live-fire practice
By John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Friday, October 12, 2007


BAUMHOLDER, Germany — Soon the newly assembled four-member crew will be rumbling in their Abrams tank somewhere in Iraq.

But on Wednesday, the team from the 1st Battalion, 35th Armor Regiment tested their skills together for the first time during a live-fire drill in Baumholder, where the local range was getting a heavy-duty workout.

“It went well. Only thing was the time,” said Staff. Sgt. Harry McLain, commander of the tank crew, shortly after his team’s first run at a series of targets.

McLain’s team, along with 13 other 1-35 Iron Knight crews, were taking part in a weeklong exercise in Baumholder, where units from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division are engaged in an assortment of live-fire drills.

Soldiers with the 1-35 had the somewhat rare opportunity to fire their tanks in their own backyard. Such exercises are typically conducted in Grafenwöhr.

The training will prepare the unit as the 2nd BCT gears up for a mission readiness exercise later this month and deploy to Iraq in early 2008.


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=49440



uhc comment: The 1st Battalion, 35th Armor Regiment is part of the the 1^st Armored Division.
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