Crew-served weapons course held at Fort Indiantown Gap

By Sgt. 1st Class Zane Craig / Published Feb. 7, 2024
FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa.,

Soldiers with the Pennsylvania National Guard’s Individual Training Branch and Marksmanship Training Unit conducted a crew-served weapons course here Jan. 19 to Feb. 2.

The class of 28 mostly noncommissioned officers with some officers and junior enlisted, received instruction on planning and execution of unit marksmanship training, range operations, and machine gun theory/competencies. Students conducted hands-on testing and live fire of the M249, M240B, M2A1, and Mk19 weapons systems.

“All the Pennsylvania Army National Guard’s current operational environments and deployment missions require subject matter experts on crew served weapons, whether fixed or mounted,” said Sgt. 1st Class Rani Doucette, Individual Training Branch noncommissioned officer-in-charge and the course’s primary instructor. “This course provides an in-depth understanding to leaders in the field that they can take back to their units and train the force accordingly.”

The crew-served weapons course and its counterpart, the individual weapons course, are train-the-trainer courses, which means upon completion, Soldiers return to their units as subject matter experts on the material. Graduates are also eligible to become their unit marksmanship master trainer, assisting and advising commanders with unit marksmanship training. The UMMT’s are the main point of contact between the Marksmanship Training Unit and the units, which allows the MTU reach to extend throughout the state.

“If a unit doesn’t have a qualified weapons expert, the weapons will jam up, get damaged, or something unsafe can happen,” said Sgt. Michael Swinehart, with the 108th Field Artillery Regiment, 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division, Pennsylvania Army National Guard.

The Individual Training Branch and Marksmanship Training Unit conducts this course annually but are planning to start conducting it at least twice a year. The crew-served weapons course and the individual weapons course have been run since 2021 when they replaced the legacy small arms weapons expert course.

“We look for motivation and dedication here, and if we don’t see that, we pull them aside and ask them what’s going on,” said Spc. Tyler Kase, CSWC assistant instructor, who is also with Ambassador Demonstration Team. “The cadre won’t tolerate spreading bad attitudes or lack of motivation.”

The CSWC runs regardless of weather, visibility, or other conditions, so the students and staff put in maximum effort despite enduring cold, snow, wind, and night environments.

“The students said they were really happy to get hands-on time with weapons in adverse weather conditions and night-fire ranges, as those tasks are often overlooked but essential for Soldier proficiencies,” said Doucette.

Both students and cadre spent long hours in the classroom and in the field learning complex weapons systems in depth while maintaining high morale and cooperating in the spirit of teamwork.

“When you have Soldiers that are dedicated and working together, it really drives the motivation,” said Swinehart.