thedrifter
10-11-08, 08:56 PM
Save time while training
Troops float tanks across New River
October 10, 2008 - 11:32PM
JENNIFER HLAD
Seven M1A1 Abrams tanks took a trip across the New River on Friday, with help from Bridge Company, 8th Engineer Support Battalion.
The Marines of Delta Company, 2nd Tank Battalion were headed out to the field for a two-week training and qualification exercise, but hauling the tanks to the training area by land would have taken about three hours. Instead, they loaded them one at a time onto rafts - made up of large metal pieces that can also fit together to create bridges, and propelled by small boats on either side - and floated them about two kilometers across the river, from Weil Point to Rhodes Point.
"It's training for us, plus it saves them money," said Cpl. Chris Schwerk, a raft commander with Bridge Company, 8th ESB.
The experience was a pretty new one for Lance Cpl. Tyron George, assistant coxswain. He has only been doing the job about a week, but he said it wasn't as hard as it looked.
"Just learning how to do it is the hard part," he said.
Cpl. Mario Escobar, a boat commander, said he has deployed three times before and never had to move tanks across a body of water. But that doesn't mean the unit shouldn't prepare.
"If tanks need to cross water, they'll call us," he said. "The more practice we get, the better."
The biggest challenge for the Marines on the raft and boats is the current and the wind, said 1st Lt. Jason Carberry, commander of Bridge Company. But the weather Friday was no problem, the Marines said.
The voyage across the river was mainly down time for the tank crew, but Marines said moving by water instead of by land is still a good training exercise.
Normally, the tanks are loaded onto trucks and towed, said Lance Cpl. Josh Guertin, a tank gunner with Delta Company.
"This is really the only way other than using flatbed trucks" to get the tanks to the training area, said Capt. Cornelius Hickey, operations officer for 2nd Tank Battalion.
"It is just a skill set we don't always have the opportunity to do," he said.
Once the tank Marines arrived in the training area in Sneads Ferry, they began a two-week slate of training and qualification exercises. The "gunnery" includes offensive and defensive engagements, and allows the gunners to "go out there and shoot a bunch of rounds," Guertin said.
The goal is "to train our Marines to be more accurate," he said.
Contact interactive content editor and military reporter Jennifer Hlad at jhlad@freedomenc.com or 910-219-8467. Visit www.jdnews.com to comment.
Ellie
Troops float tanks across New River
October 10, 2008 - 11:32PM
JENNIFER HLAD
Seven M1A1 Abrams tanks took a trip across the New River on Friday, with help from Bridge Company, 8th Engineer Support Battalion.
The Marines of Delta Company, 2nd Tank Battalion were headed out to the field for a two-week training and qualification exercise, but hauling the tanks to the training area by land would have taken about three hours. Instead, they loaded them one at a time onto rafts - made up of large metal pieces that can also fit together to create bridges, and propelled by small boats on either side - and floated them about two kilometers across the river, from Weil Point to Rhodes Point.
"It's training for us, plus it saves them money," said Cpl. Chris Schwerk, a raft commander with Bridge Company, 8th ESB.
The experience was a pretty new one for Lance Cpl. Tyron George, assistant coxswain. He has only been doing the job about a week, but he said it wasn't as hard as it looked.
"Just learning how to do it is the hard part," he said.
Cpl. Mario Escobar, a boat commander, said he has deployed three times before and never had to move tanks across a body of water. But that doesn't mean the unit shouldn't prepare.
"If tanks need to cross water, they'll call us," he said. "The more practice we get, the better."
The biggest challenge for the Marines on the raft and boats is the current and the wind, said 1st Lt. Jason Carberry, commander of Bridge Company. But the weather Friday was no problem, the Marines said.
The voyage across the river was mainly down time for the tank crew, but Marines said moving by water instead of by land is still a good training exercise.
Normally, the tanks are loaded onto trucks and towed, said Lance Cpl. Josh Guertin, a tank gunner with Delta Company.
"This is really the only way other than using flatbed trucks" to get the tanks to the training area, said Capt. Cornelius Hickey, operations officer for 2nd Tank Battalion.
"It is just a skill set we don't always have the opportunity to do," he said.
Once the tank Marines arrived in the training area in Sneads Ferry, they began a two-week slate of training and qualification exercises. The "gunnery" includes offensive and defensive engagements, and allows the gunners to "go out there and shoot a bunch of rounds," Guertin said.
The goal is "to train our Marines to be more accurate," he said.
Contact interactive content editor and military reporter Jennifer Hlad at jhlad@freedomenc.com or 910-219-8467. Visit www.jdnews.com to comment.
Ellie