Posted on 04/27/2004 8:39:48 AM PDT by 68skylark
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (Army News Service, April 27, 2004) -- A few hundred Virginia Army National Guard Soldiers, who are preparing to serve in Afghanistan, would like to set the record straight.
They are getting more equipment than they know what to do with. They are getting the best equipment that the Army can buy. They are getting the time and the opportunity to train with it. They do not consider themselves second-class Soldiers.
In short, the 550 or so Soldiers in the 3rd Battalion, 116th Infantry at Fort Bragg, N.C., are convinced they will look just like every other active-duty Soldier if and when they deploy to Afghanistan this summer to do their bit for the global war against terrorism.
"Oh, it's like Christmas. I came here with two duffel bags. Now I've got four," said Spc. Bobby Peasley of Inwood, W.Va., a member of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, before drawing his Interceptor Body Armor vest here at Fort Bragg, where the Virginia battalion has been training since early March.
Everything each Guard Soldier gets, including four sets of desert camouflage uniforms, body armor and state-of-the-art sight systems for the new M-4 carbines, dispells rumors that the Army is not outfitting its reserve-component Soldiers for this war as well as it does the active-duty people.
"We always hear rumors," Peasley scoffed. "Rumors fly like birds."
The rumors have, however, been persistent. People like Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth Preston have done their best to make sure they are not true and that every Soldier sent into harm's way gets everything they can get to stay warm and dry and alive in places like Afghanistan and Iraq.
"We just deployed three [National Guard] brigades. The 30th, 39th and 81st are the best equipped, best prepared brigades the Army has ever deployed," Preston said. "They've got the Interceptor Body Armor, the Rapid Fielding Initiative which [includes] the knee pads and the Moisture Wicking underwear, and the new optics for their weapons. They've got all of the latest equipment. "Each Soldier was issued $3,300 worth of equipment in preparation to go over there," Preston added.
"The Army has done a good job of getting the stuff we need. There has been no resistance for anything we've asked for," said Lt. Col. Blake Ortner, the Virginia Army Guard battalion's commander. "It has only been a matter of how quickly they can get it to us."
That seems to have happened pretty quickly.
Every Virginia Guard Soldier in sight here was wearing his body armor vest during the April week before Easter when it was still cool enough in North Carolina to get accustomed to the extra weight.
And the Soldiers were zeroing their carbines with brand new M68 Aimpoint Sight Systems during the same week, about three months before they are scheduled to complete their training and go to Afghanistan.
They like those new sights.
"You put the red dot on a target and you will hit it. It is going to go down," marveled Sgt. 1st Class James Shepard who pulled a peacekeeping tour on the Sinai Peninsula as an 82nd Airborne Division Soldier for the first half of 1995.
The Virginia Guard Soldiers are also in line to get the Army's advanced combat helmet which weighs about a pound less than the standard Kevlar helmet. It is a bit shorter in the back and above the eyes to make it easier to fire from the prone position, explained Ellen Perciaccanto, a Fort Bragg fielding officer.
But those are only the big ticket items, pointed out Capt. Jeffrey Sink, the Virginia battalion's supply officer.
The basic clothing list includes at least two sets of brown boots and a pair of black cold-weather boots, three sets of polypropylene underwear and silk-weight underwear, gloves, Camelbak water containers and knee and elbow pads.
"I'd venture to say that we're getting as much, if not more, new clothing and equipment than the active-duty guys," Sink said.
It's quite all right with the grunts like Spc. Bobby Peasley, who know they could be dealing with harsh weather, tough terrain and an unpredictable enemy if they do go to Afghanistan.
"This makes us feel a lot better for our personal safety," he said. "We'd like to see all that we go with come home."
It's been more a problem of getting some items into the supply pipeline, expecially in some critical sizes, and in maintaining the followup so that when a localized supply shortage does bite some trooper in the behind, the piece of equipment or gear eventually gets to him or her.
The first regular army units that deployed had the active-duty troop's experiencein dealing with the sometimes recalcitrant and truculent army supply system and sometimes stripped the supply system not only at their own base but others as well, getting equipment for all their own personnel by any meand necessary, by hook or by crook. But it takes time for the system to recover after that equivalent of a visit by locusts or fire ants, and some of the NG and reserve units that immediately followed one of those line unit deployments were indeed caught by some resulting shortages.
But things are getting better now, both here stateside, giving the users a chance to get accustomed to their new gear, and overseas in the field where replacements for wear and tear and combat losses are very much going to be required. It's still not perfect, and probably never will be. But it can be improved, and the worst of the problem fixed, and it looks like now maybe it has been.
Next step: effectively armored vehicles for anyone who might be shot at.
Looks like he hasn't yet gotten the new MICH helmet with 4-point retention yet though.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Also cutaway more in back for use with a ruck [more a matter of decent ruck design, but MOLLE and a PASGT helmet is a horror waiting to happen] and for parachuting, especially with a HALO O2 bottle and facemash, and the MICH is meant for use with portable radios with boom mikes like the BRIT PRRs and the VOX-operated SWAT units used by a lot of go-fast operator raid teams. The improved multipoint straps and improved interior suspension works better with semipermanent NODs, too.
My understanding is that the MICH is going Army-wide, but I've also seen some PASGT helmets reworked to MICH configuration, so that too is a possibility. more info *here*.
For ranges 100 to 200 it's a point and click interface, but for close situations I find that it's awkward, almost like I'm wearing a mask. The dot gets a little big past 200 or so, but that can be adjusted...
I much prefer the iron sights on a carbine than the M68 sight at ranges below 50 yards...especially those in the CQB area of 3 to 7 yards...but and a big but...with an NBC mask, I prefer the dot at all ranges...
There's also a loss of light transmission through the lense of the M68...almost a blue hue...with NOD this becomes mute, but in those twilight hours when NODs are no good, this makes a difference.
My last gripe is the damn switch is easily manipulated when you don't want it to be...maybe the XD has addressed this issue.
I've got several thousand rounds under and M68 and countless others over the irons...just my opinion...
Hopefully the fundamentals are still enforced and the gadgets are used to supplement them.
Now, poly-pro and knee pads, nobody can argue with that.
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