Does someone in the ARNG have a mounted gunnery focused training schedule they're willing to share?

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 04 Oct 2019 12:54:02 -0400

I'm currently the AGR training officer for a light infantry battalion. While we've made a good amount of progress, there's some significant concerns about our heavy weapons company completing Gunnery Table VI prior to AT on an annual basis. With us only having a 6 month window and limited UTAs there is very little room for error. However, I know there are units out there who are meeting this requirement. What I'm looking for is a training schedule to compare ours with and see if there's something we're missing. Right now I have a lot of constraints I'm dealing with, ranging from the number of MUTAs we're allowed to use to range availability. My intent is to build a case for my leadership to either reduce some of these constraints or be willing to accept we won't meet some of their training goals. Any help would be appreciated.

Response by CSM William Everroad made Oct 7 at 2019 3:13 PM

CSM William Everroad — Mon, 07 Oct 2019 15:13:08 -0400

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member, because you have so many constraints you may not be able to find someone else's training plan useful. They would spread gunnery training over 12 months, I would go back to the tables and see the related tasks. It is simpler than it seems. Start with your hard points, which are the range days. Backwards plan from each one to build the individual skills that need to be proficient. Don't see the range days as training, see them as evaluation of the progress of individual and collective training.
If you have 6 months, that means you have about 12-14 days total to get it done. Your drivers need to be licensed and proficient, your gunners need to be qualified (mounted) and proficient, and your VCs need to know the vehicle, the weapon system, and the course of fire. And all that needs to happen before you set foot on a gunnery range to 'practice'.
Crawl (non-range): Start with 'dry fire' exercises once everyone is qualified as mentioned above. Practice PID of targets, ranging, and running through the motions of your gunner moving into the sector of fire and acquiring the target. Get your timing and communication down, you can even do these while knocking out convoy training tasks.
Walk (first range day): Rehearse as listed above, Dry run the course of fire first, practice communication, movement and timing then move on to live fire, you will identify things that can be practiced during rehearsals
Crawl (non-range): Capitalize on the deficiencies identified during the range day through repetitive battle drills. Most of the issues with gunnery is centered around communication and equipment faults.
Rinse and repeat.
Let us know what you find if you see anything useful.