Weapons give artillery unit old bang with new precision

BLACKSTONE, Va.

On a grassy field at Fort Pickett, soldiers gathered around a half-dozen howitzers pointed over the horizon.

One group of seven soldiers made a flurry of hand gestures, slid a smooth shell into their tube, and pulled the trigger.

"Ka-boom!"

About 100 yards away, Staff Sgt. Dwayne DuBose looked over a map in a control tent and smiled. DuBose, an artillery fire direction soldier, hadn't blown things up with big guns in years.

"You kind of feel like a god," he said, "sitting on a hill."

The Virginia National Guard's lone artillery unit, the 1st Battalion 111th Field Artillery Regiment, got back into the shooting business Tuesday after a two-year break. The Norfolk-based unit this week broke in 16 new artillery guns - M119A2 howitzers - and practiced the art of indirect fire.

For the 300 soldiers, the artillery training marked the return to a mission the unit has practiced since being formed as the Norfolk Light Artillery Blues in 1829.

The storied history of the unit includes fighting at Gettysburg during the Civil War and storming the beach at Normandy on D-Day in World War II.

During the Cold War, the state had three to four times as many artillery soldiers as it has today, said Command Sgt. Maj. Ronald Howell. Howell, the unit's top enlisted officer, has been an artilleryman for nearly three decades in the Virginia Guard.

But the need for light artillery is limited in wars such as the one in Iraq, he said. Insurgents fight with guerrilla tactics, and infantry soldiers typically do not need support from howitzers.

Although only one artillery unit remains in the state, it was among the first to receive new equipment under a federal plan to replenish National Guard equipment damaged or being used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The program paid for the new howitzers and also rifles, helmets and other equipment, said Lt. Col. Todd Hubbard, the commanding officer.

It's an important moment for the soldiers, he said. They plan to name and christen their guns with champagne at the end of the week.

Army trainers taught the Virginia soldiers how to use their new weapons last week. The new versions replaced howitzers that were built in 1970. The new guns have a longer range, firing 105 mm shells up to 12 miles with rocket-boosted ammunition and creating a lethal impact circle that can be about 300 feet across.

And computers now help soldiers aim. Looking back, "it's like we were in the Stone Age, or medieval warfare," said Sgt. 1st Class Thurman Felker, an artilleryman for nearly 30 years.

But the basic skills are still the same, Howell said.

The 111th Regiment started live-fire training this week. The key has been to keep a slow, steady pace as the soldiers acquaint themselves with their weapons, Hubbard said.

"The main thing is to build their confidence," he said.

On Tuesday, the soldiers from Bravo battery learned how the new guns fired and handled.

Sgt. Ricky Jackson said the new guns take a little more work but added that the training was going well.

"It's real easy once you learn it," said Jackson, 29, from Norfolk.

DuBose said he has never been to the target area about five miles away from the guns. It's a well-pounded patch of dirt, and he was satisfied the unit had done its work.

"There's nothing down there," he said and shrugged. "What's the use?"

Louis Hansen, (757) 446-2322, louis.hansen@pilotonline.com