Last month, 1-5 Infantry went to Yakima Training Center for a couple weeks of training. Yakima is dry and hot, a good place for desert training. About three days in, fires burned about a couple hundred acres. (There was a fire control detail standing by. While they were rushing to put out the first blaze that started, the Platoon Leader gave the signal to shift fire: a green star burst flare, which he cracked off against his helmet. 
) Since my mortar section was standing by to provide supporting fires, we had a box seat to the action, taking turns passing our one ACOG-equipped M4 around so we could all get good views.
They fought that fire for the rest of the day, first with trucks and troops on the ground, then with Chinooks. It was Cook's birthday, and he thought the fire was great.
Well, we had a pyro ban after that. No flares and such, but...A week later we had an even larger exercise. This time it wasn't just a platoon assaulting two small buildings, but a much larger force in LAVs, with ITAS TOWs riding shotgun, and integrated with Engineers in a LMTV to breach through obstacles. The HMMWVs engaged "enemy armor" with TOW II missiles, the engineers used a MICLIC to clear the way, and the LAV deployed their happy little crunchies. Oh, sure, there were a few problems- like when the 3rd platoon leader wasn't monitoring the radio, and fired the MICLIC two minutes after our company commander called a cease-fire, probably to put out yet another fire.
And the mortars? Well, we were standing by to support the effort, by golly. We were to engage with 81mm mortars, then on command, displace by vehicle closer to the objective, where we would direct lay onto the target with our 60mm mortars. This we did.
Oh- did I mention that we were ordered to fire white phosphorus rounds from our 81mm?
Like many things, the fire started relatively small. We had time to load into our loaned HMMWVS, move, fire in support, and stand by for some time.
The cease-fire (due to fire, of all things) was called perhaps three hours after our initial 81mm fires. In the interim, 2 gun was struggling, and 1 gun was rocking. After we had walked onto the target, 1 gun was dropping rounds about every 4 seconds- an incredible display of focused force. We rocked.
And the fire? Well, the fire we started with 13 rounds of 81mm White Phosphorus went on to burn approximately 32,000 acres. A CO 1-5 has submitted an official request to be known, from this time, as "Arson Company".
John
) Since my mortar section was standing by to provide supporting fires, we had a box seat to the action, taking turns passing our one ACOG-equipped M4 around so we could all get good views.They fought that fire for the rest of the day, first with trucks and troops on the ground, then with Chinooks. It was Cook's birthday, and he thought the fire was great.
Well, we had a pyro ban after that. No flares and such, but...A week later we had an even larger exercise. This time it wasn't just a platoon assaulting two small buildings, but a much larger force in LAVs, with ITAS TOWs riding shotgun, and integrated with Engineers in a LMTV to breach through obstacles. The HMMWVs engaged "enemy armor" with TOW II missiles, the engineers used a MICLIC to clear the way, and the LAV deployed their happy little crunchies. Oh, sure, there were a few problems- like when the 3rd platoon leader wasn't monitoring the radio, and fired the MICLIC two minutes after our company commander called a cease-fire, probably to put out yet another fire.
And the mortars? Well, we were standing by to support the effort, by golly. We were to engage with 81mm mortars, then on command, displace by vehicle closer to the objective, where we would direct lay onto the target with our 60mm mortars. This we did.
Oh- did I mention that we were ordered to fire white phosphorus rounds from our 81mm?
Like many things, the fire started relatively small. We had time to load into our loaned HMMWVS, move, fire in support, and stand by for some time.
The cease-fire (due to fire, of all things) was called perhaps three hours after our initial 81mm fires. In the interim, 2 gun was struggling, and 1 gun was rocking. After we had walked onto the target, 1 gun was dropping rounds about every 4 seconds- an incredible display of focused force. We rocked.
And the fire? Well, the fire we started with 13 rounds of 81mm White Phosphorus went on to burn approximately 32,000 acres. A CO 1-5 has submitted an official request to be known, from this time, as "Arson Company".
John
