Skip to comments.
Soldiers Scan Skies for Mortars, Rockets
American Forces Press Service ^
| Pfc. J. Princeville Lawrence, USA
Posted on 07/10/2009 4:51:17 PM PDT by SandRat
CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, July 10, 2009 Army Pfc. Dustin Clark was manning the night shift when he heard the warning system go off.
![Click photo for screen-resolution image Click photo for screen-resolution image](http://www.defenselink.mil/dodcmsshare/newsstoryPhoto/2009-07/lrs_090628-A-4276L-004c.jpg) Army Pfc. Dustin Clark calibrates the sights on a radar system at Contingency Operating Base Basra, Iraq, June 28, 2009. Clark and other members of Echo Battery, 4th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, out of Fort Hood, Texas, detect mortar and rocket attacks. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. J. Princeville Lawrence (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. |
|
Clark -- a counter rocket, artillery and mortar, or C-RAM, systems operator -- has watched the skies for indirect fire attacks here for six months. Months had passed with nothing happening. Now, the system was alerting him that someone, somewhere, was firing rockets toward the contingency operating base.
Now its time to do my job, he said.
Within seconds, Clark acquired the projectiles and tracked them. After sounding the general alarm for the soldiers throughout the base, he turned to his peers and alerted them to the incoming rounds. This was not a drill.
A Dayton, Ohio native, Clark is a member of Echo Battery, 4th Batallion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, C-RAM, out of Fort Hood, Texas. He and other C-RAM systems operators provide 24-hour coverage against mortars and rockets across the Multinational Division South area of responsibility.
We man the duties of watching the skies here, said Army Staff Sgt. Queston Newell, 2nd Platoon section sergeant. The bad guys shoot their weapons at us. We use our equipment to see them shooting at us. And then we tell people theyre shooting at us using an alarm. The mission is two-fold, said Newell, of Lubbock, Texas.
We actually sense that the round is coming, he explained. We know where its going to land, and where it came from. Of course, our priority is to protect our soldiers, but the second part is very important: to find the guys who are doing that.
Were very accurate, he added.
Much of the C-RAM soldiers day is spent either monitoring against hostile activity or maintaining and calibrating their equipment.
The maintenance is the biggest part, Newell said. We have to test speakers pretty regularly. We have to make sure everyone can hear the speakers. We have to maintain our radar equipment [and] make sure its calibrated correctly.
While the hours may be long, the C-RAM soldiers take their mission to heart, Newell said.
They know peoples lives depend on them. Without them, people would have to wear their full battle-rattle armor all the time, he said. We allow them to relax a little, enjoy some volleyball and football. This team gives people in Basra peace of mind knowing were protecting them from [indirect-fire] attacks.
Its this kind of commitment that allowed Clark to make the calls he did the night the rockets came in. After sounding the alarm, he stood by and tracked the projectiles before and after impact.
We didnt have any injuries that night, Newell noted, which is a spectacular tribute to both the soldiers here on the ground doing what theyve been trained to do during an attack, and a tribute to the soldiers who are manning shift and making sure that the area is protected. If our alarm saves only one life, we have succeeded in our mission. (Army Pfc. J. Princeville Lawrence serves in Multinational Division South.)
Related Sites: Multinational Corps Iraq
|
![Click photo for screen-resolution image Click photo for screen-resolution image](http://www.defenselink.mil/dodcmsshare/newsstoryPhoto/2009-07/thm_090628-A-4276L-007c.jpg) |
Army Pfc. Dustin Clark adjusts the sights on a radar system at Contingency Operating Base Basra, Iraq, June 28, 2009. Clark and other members of Echo Battery, 4th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, out of Fort Hood, Texas, detect mortar and rocket attacks. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. J. Princeville Lawrence Download screen-resolution Download high-resolution
|
|
TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: cram; dtab; frwn; iraq
1
posted on
07/10/2009 4:51:18 PM PDT
by
SandRat
To: MozartLover; Old Sarge; Jemian; repubmom; 91B; HiJinx; MJY1288; xzins; Calpernia; clintonh8r; ...
FR WAR NEWS!
If you would like to be added to / removed from FRWN,
please FReepmail Sandrat.
WARNING: FRWN can be an EXTREMELY HIGH-VOLUME PING LIST!!
2
posted on
07/10/2009 4:51:45 PM PDT
by
SandRat
(Duty, Honor, Country! What else needs said?)
To: SandRat
My understanding is that while these systems theoretical effectiveness is high, the number of enemy they have neutralized is very, very low, and that’s because of fears of civilian deaths due to counter-fire (fears which intensified 10x over the past 1.5 months).
So the job of these guys ends up being to document where our guys ended up being fired at FROM —not in actually killing those muzzies.
It must be hugely frustrating...
3
posted on
07/10/2009 4:54:59 PM PDT
by
gaijin
To: SandRat
Counter battery should also be firing back, but I guess they don’t want to get into those details. :>)
4
posted on
07/10/2009 4:55:27 PM PDT
by
xzins
(Chaplain Says: Jesus befriends those who seek His help.)
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson