{"id":24526,"date":"2023-08-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=24526"},"modified":"2023-08-26T06:41:06","modified_gmt":"2023-08-26T06:41:06","slug":"connecticut-army-guard-mps-conduct-vehicle-gunnery-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=24526","title":{"rendered":"Connecticut Army Guard MPs Conduct Vehicle Gunnery Training"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n U.S. Army Pfc. Buckley Ryan, military police assigned to the 143rd Military Police Company, 192nd Military Police Battalion, Connecticut Army National Guard, poses for a photo from the turret of his High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, or humvee, before vehicle gunnery at Fort Drum, New York, Aug. 13, 2023. Despite this being his first annual training period, and first time manning the M240L machine gun as a vehicle gunner, Ryan successfully engaged all targets and became the fifth gunner in his unit to qualify. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Matthew Lucibello)
\n (Photo Credit: Sgt. Matthew Lucibello)<\/span>
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HARTFORD, Conn. – \u201cTarget!\u201d screams the crew of a Humvee as their gunner, Connecticut Army National Guard Pfc. Buckley Ryan, finds his mark with the M240L machine gun.<\/p>\n

Ryan is one of many Connecticut Army National Guardsmen assigned to the 143rd Military Police Company who recently spent some time behind the gun at Fort Drum, New York, for annual training. Military Police, often called MPs, mounted their Humvees and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicles, or M-ATVs, and conducted vehicle gunnery.<\/p>\n

During gunnery, vehicle crews traverse the live-fire range\u2019s maneuver area, also known as the maneuver box or \u201cthe box.\u201d While in the box, the crews patrol from their vehicles, scanning for potential threats. They conduct defensive operations and repulse enemy attacks with their vehicle\u2019s assigned weapon system \u2014 in this case, a .50-caliber M2 Browning machine gun or a 7.62mm M240L machine gun. They also conduct offensive operations, assaulting enemy positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was my first time being in a gunner position,\u201d said Ryan. \u201cThis was all very new to me. Knowing the functions and all that. … I was taught beforehand, but actually doing the thing is completely different.\u201d<\/p>\n

An evaluator rides with and grades the crews on their communication, weapon handling and marksmanship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way I like to evaluate is \u2026 break it down into three categories: commands, engagements and mechanics,\u201d said Connecticut Army National Guard Sgt. Ryan Mendoza-Murillo, one of the evaluators for the 143rd MP Company.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommand-wise, his (Ryan\u2019s) crew, the TC (truck commander), the driver was helping out. Engagement-wise, making sure they know what they are hitting, making sure they know where they are missing, why they are missing. And, mechanics-wise, the gunner (Ryan), he had a couple malfunctions. That\u2019s bound to happen on these weapon systems. He worked through them. Really had no issues that were self-induced. Love to see that. He got that gun running, and kept it running.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crews also simulate their gunner becoming a casualty, known as a downed gunner drill. After removing the downed gunner from the turret, the truck commander climbs into the turret, assumes control of the vehicle\u2019s weapon system and engages all remaining threats.<\/p>\n

On his first attempt, Ryan was the fifth gunner out of seven to qualify.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gunner exercise really puts into perspective the multipurpose role that we have as military police officers,\u201d said Connecticut Army National Guard Sgt. 1st Class Kelly Strba, the 143rd MP Company\u2019s range safety officer. \u201cWe are ready to fight and support Connecticut\u2019s Home Team if we were to be called up for a mission like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to gunnery, the MPs also aided medics from the 118th Multifunctional Medical Battalion, acting as simulated wounded Soldiers during a mass-casualty training exercise. And they set up and staffed checkpoints so engineers from the 250th Engineer Company (Multi-Role Bridge Company) could set up an improved ribbon bridge, enabling other units from the 143rd Regional Support Group to conduct a wet gap crossing.<\/p>\n

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U.S. Army Pfc. Buckley Ryan, military police assigned to the 143rd Military Police Company, 192nd Military Police Battalion, Connecticut Army National Guard, poses for a photo from the turret of his High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, or humvee, before vehicle gunnery at Fort Drum, New York, Aug. 13, 2023. Despite this being his first annual […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24528,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24526"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24529,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24526\/revisions\/24529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}