School of the Gun builds Soldiers’ weapon readiness, appreciation

FORT POLK, La. – To hone their lethal-fires skills, 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, conducted “School of the Gun” training from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2.
First Sgt. Heath Furbish, A Company, 2-30 Infantry first sergeant, planned, resourced and executed the weeklong course, which took two months to come to reality. With few leaders and Soldiers experienced on the variety of weapons in the battalion, the need to develop lethal machine gun teams in the battalion was the main basis for the training, he said.
“It establishes the train the trainer for platoon sergeants and weapons leaders,” Furbish said. “It is important that (leaders) know their jobs and know how to train their Soldiers on the weapon systems.”
Along with using the “train the trainer” method, Furbish mentioned that 1/3 of those participating in the training are relatively new Soldiers who have not fired the M-240B weapon system, making the training all that more important.
“The training gives us some sort of idea of what to do,” said Spec. Roy Wasbotten, a truck driver assigned to F Company, 2-30 Infantry. “It gives us more familiarization with the weapon systems.”
The first day of training involved classroom instruction, allowing Soldiers to learn multiple aspects about weapons they would fire. Topics leaders taught included the history and development of the M-240B machine gun, theory, and characteristics and math of machine guns.
Actual weapon firing was on tap for Day 2, which included day- and- night weapon qualifications. Challenges for Soldiers included zeroing and qualifying the M-240B and performing transition fires on 200-to-800 meter targets during the day. That night, Soldiers qualified on 200- to 400-meter targets and field-zeroed their weapons. Day 3 brought along more qualifying for Soldiers, with Day 4 providing plenty of tasks to complete.
“Soldiers conducted crew drills,” said Furbish. “They also participated in day and night live-fires.”
Furbish said crew drills consisted of a gunner, assistant gunner and ammunition-bearing support Soldier. Crews went through various scenarios, including the assistant gunner having to take over for the gunner and assume the firing position on the enemy.
On Day 5, Soldiers endured a stress shoot in three-man teams. One Soldier carried the M-240B, another carried a bipod, and the third carried 900 rounds of ammunition in his ruck sack. Once they received their scenario, they sprinted 800 to 900 meters to a firing position, where they received instructions from a noncommissioned officer, who was also the grader for this timed event.
A team’s time began when they got to the start line after receiving their orders and ended when they finished all five firing lanes. Graders scored teams based on their finishing time and how many engaged targets they hit.
Soldiers moved from station to station, firing on assigned targets and going through combat scenarios. The stress shoot created a challenge for Soldiers.
“We didn’t want to (just) go through the motions,” said Sgt. Kendall Spataro, motor sergeant, F Company, 2-30 Infantry. “You always want to do good in a competition. I think we did pretty well.”
Spataro and his Soldiers had a lot to prove, being from a support company that does not necessarily participate in field exercises as much as their infantrymen comrades.
“We were motivated, because the infantry guys were talking ‘smack,’” said Spec. Alexander Huble, a F Company truck driver. “They know we don’t shoot weapons a lot; it was a good competition.”
Even after the stress shoot, Soldiers were not done training. They repeated the same stress shoot at night, and then took a written exam featuring questions based on the training they received during the week.
“I wanted the Soldiers to do the exam when they were mentally exhausted,” Furbish explained, saying he wanted “to see how much they retained from the week.”
Once the weeklong training event was complete, Soldiers received something they could take back to their companies to use down the line.
“Leaders and Soldiers can take this knowledge back to the company level,” Furbish said. He encouraged companies in the battalion to develop training plans and have them come back together again to see how much they learned and retained from this week of training.
With a probable deployment in the coming year, 2-30 Infantry Soldiers and leaders know they must be prepared for anything that comes their way.
“The enemy knows their weapon systems and uses their terrain very well,” Furbish said. “Soldiers and leaders need to understand the true lethality of the weapon systems they are using.”