by Dick Couch
Blaylock quickly PowerPoints his way through the curriculum and weapons systems. Weapons systems include antiarmor rockets, antiair-craft rockets, a wide range of pistols, rifles, machine guns, submachine guns, sniper rifles, and grenade launchers, and indirect-fire weapons such as mortars and artillery. Within each of these types there are U.S.-made and foreign-made weapons. A Special Forces soldier has to be able to fight with his weapon, his ally’s weapon, or the enemy’s weapon. The first sergeant pushes on, slide after slide, weapons system after weapons system. Every pistol, rifle, machine gun, rocket, rifle, or mortar is considered a weapons system. Each one has to be mastered.
“As a detachment weapons sergeant, it will be your job to train your teammates,” Blaylock tells them. “You will be the primary weapons system trainer of foreign and allied troops, and you’ll have to be able to train them in their language. You’ll have to know how to set up and manage firing ranges—here and overseas. The maintenance and inventory of all team weapons are your responsibility. The maintenance and inventory of all night-observation devices and night-vision goggles are your responsibility. It will be your responsibility to project, source, and order all ammo for your deployments. Along with the detachment engineering sergeant, you’ll be responsible for the storage and security of all weapons and demolitions.
“You have operational responsibilities as well. The team leader will look to you as his primary adviser for weapons and tactics, offensive and defensive. You’ll assist the team sergeant with operational fire-support plans. You’ll be responsible for building terrain models and associated briefing graphics. You’ll help with the operational planning to include infil, exfil, and route planning to and from the target. As an 18 Bravo, you’ll have to be thoroughly familiar with the computer-based Special Operations Debriefing and Retrieval System. And there are a slew of administrative issues and reports that are your responsibility as an 18 Bravo.”
I can see the look of dismay begin to grow on the faces of the new Bravo candidates. They really had no idea that there were so many weapons and so much to learn.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Sergeant Blaylock told me later, “the Bravo MOS is considered the least challenging and least technical of the specialties. That’s why we get a lot of the X-Rays and the younger soldiers here. Some guys come in with the attitude that ‘It’s an Army school; how hard can it be?’ We have to get past that in a hurry. They have to learn and master the capability, tactical use, and maintenance of each of these systems, and they have to demonstrate proficiency with them on the range.”
Rick Blaylock is a square-shouldered, well-built soldier who looks as if he spends a fair amount of time in the weight room. He resonates authority, power, and competence. Blaylock grew up in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and has been in the Army for fifteen years. He has only been in Special Forces for eight years, but he has made three deployments to Afghanistan and one to Iraq—all combat deployments. He has just been selected for promotion to master sergeant and is awaiting orders back to 3rd Group for duty as an ODA team sergeant. It was my sense that while he has a passion for teaching, he wants to get back to the fight.
The new Bravo candidates begin in the classroom, a very old classroom, with lots of very modern weapons—day after day, weapons system after weapons system. There are fifty-some systems in all. Basically, they must know how to load, clear, disassemble, reassemble, bore-sight, zero in, and fire all commonly used military personal and light-infantry weapons in the world. They also have to be able to overhaul and repair weapons that are not functioning properly.
“They hand me an M4 that will not cycle on semiautomatic or automatic fire,” Specialist Antonio Costa tells me of his training. “I have to look at the weapon and figure out what’s wrong. It could be a bent firing pin, an improperly assembled weapon, or a missing part. Then I have to get out the spares kit and fix it. We spend a lot of evenings in the weapons rooms taking apart guns and putting them back together. We’re getting so we can almost do it in our sleep.”
The weapons systems taught at this Phase III include the following:
PISTOLS
Smith & Wesson M10
.38
United States
Colt Govt. M1911
.45
United States/others
Browning Hi-Power
9mm
Belgium/others
Beretta M-9
9mm
Italy/United States
Makarov
9mm
Russia
Heckler & Koch USP
.45
Germany
Glock 17
9mm
Austria
Heckler & Koch P-7
9mm
Germany
SUBMACHINE GUNS/MACHINE PISTOLS
M/45-Swedish K
9mm
Sweden
Madsen M/50
9mm
Denmark
Beretta M12
9mm
Italy
Sterling L2A3
9mm
Great Britain
Uzi
9mm
Israel
Heckler & Koch MP-5A3
9mm
Germany
Scorpion VZ61
9mm
Czech Republic
RIFLES/CARBINES
M14
7.62 × 51mm
United States (Colt and others)
Colt M16A2
5.55 × 45mm
United States
Colt M4A1
5.56 × 45mm
United States
Famas G2
5.56mm NATO
France
Simonov SKS
7.62 × 39mm
Russia
Heckler & Koch G3
7.62mm NATO
Germany
FN FAL
7.62 × 51mm
Belgium
AK-47/AKM
7.62 × 39mm
Russia
AK-74
5.45 × 39mm
Russia
Steyre AUG
5.56 × 45mm
Austria
SHOTGUN
Winchester M1300
12-gauge
United States
MACHINE GUNS
Kalashnikov PKM
7.62 × 54mm
Russia
M240B (FN MAG)
7.62 × 51mm
United States (Belgium)
M249 (FN Minimi)
5.56 × 45mm
United States (Belgium)
M60
7.62 × 51mm
United States
MG-3
7.62 × 51mm
Germany
Browning M2HB
12.7 × 99mm (.50 cal)
United States
DShK M38/46
12.7 × 109mm
Russia
Mk44 (mini-gun)
7.62 × 51mm
United States
GRENADE/ROCKET LAUNCHERS
M79
40mm (40 × 45)
United States
M203
40mm (40 × 46)
United States
Mk19
40mm × 53mm HV
United States
Mk47
40mm × 53mm HV
United States
AGS-17
30mm × 28mm
Russia
AT4
84mm
Sweden
Carl Gustaf M2
84mm
Sweden
RPG-7
40mm launcher
Russia
MORTARS
M29A1
81mm
United States
M224
60mm
United States
Podnos 2B14
82mm
Russia
A portion of the classroom time is devoted to simulators, including the call-for-fire simulator. The modern c
all-for-fire simulator is a room-sized video game. One whole wall of the simulator is a visual presentation of terrain. The candidates are arrayed in raised tiers before the huge projection screen with maps, protractor, an observed-fire reference card, and a call-for-fire guide. Their reference is that of a ground observer on a mountain looking into a valley. Each student makes a call for fire using proper radio call signs, procedures, and target descriptions, and with reference to the position of nearby friendly forces. The simulator projects the targets and the fall of shot onscreen—in this case, the splashes of 105mm artillery. It even has sound effects with the whistling of incoming shells and the KRUMP of explosions. Calls for fire are made using grid coordinates or polar plot coordinates, adjusting from a known reference point. The lessons learned in adjusting artillery fire are helpful when the class begins working on the range with mortars.
“I love mortars,” Private First Class Tim Baker tells me after he came off the mortar range. “You can do a lot with a mortar, and you can teach the use of mortars to others. It’s a simple weapons system and a basic defensive weapon, but there’s a lot to know about it. We qualify in three qualification positions. First you have to crew the mortar. You have to set up and lay in the tube, shoot a few rounds to set in the baseplate, and get your aiming stakes calibrated. Then you elevate and traverse the tube as the spotter walks the rounds onto the target. You can’t see the target, you just make the adjustments and drop the rounds in the tube.
“The second position is the spotter and probably the most fun job. You spot the fall of shot and adjust it onto the target. In the spotter’s position, you are in contact with the plotter; you give him the corrections, and he passes them on to the mortar crew. The plotter probably has the hardest job. He has to take the corrections from the observer and convert those heights and distances to issue the proper orders for the mortar crew. The plotter has to know where the mortar tube is and where the observer is. There’s procedures for all this, but you have to understand the relationship between the guys on the tube, the observer, and the target. The next time I do this, there could be a gang of bad guys moving on a friendly position, and I’ll have to be able to get those mortar rounds on target quickly.”
Back at the Bravo training area, the candidates spend a day with the gun trucks—Humvees that are modified for Special Forces application. They’re sometimes called general military vehicles.
“You guys need to listen up,” Sergeant First Class Don Adams tells the prospective Bravos as he stands atop one of the two gun trucks, “because you’re going to spend a great deal of your time in these vehicles on deployment.” The gun trucks have only a passing resemblance to the standard Humvee; both have undergone extensive modification. “And when you’re in one of these, never forget that you are a target.”
Sergeant Adams joined the Army after he graduated from Parkway South High in St. Louis in 1990. He’s been a Green Beret since 1993, and is qualified as a sniper and in military free-fall parachuting. Like First Sergeant Blaylock, he’s from 3rd Group. Adams has made deployments to Ghana, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mauritania, Djibouti, Qatar, Yemen, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Sergeant Adams explains how the deployed Special Forces detachments have come up with a whole protocol for the storage of equipment and ammo, including where to keep personal weapons if a soldier is driving or manning one of the vehicle weapons systems. The modifications are the evolution of trial and error—what works and what doesn’t. This knowledge is handed down from team to team. Given the speed and tactical requirements of Special Forces work, and that they are moving at night whenever possible, they use unarmored Humvees.
“All of you should learn how to weld if you don’t already know how. There’s always a welder handy when you’re deployed. Make the modifications as necessary for your team and mission requirements. And don’t forget that as a weapons sergeant on your detachment, you have to see that all guns on the truck are working and serviceable and that the ammo is in good order. You also have to see that every man on your team knows how to load, man, and use every weapon. This means you have to schedule live-fire drills for your team; don’t assume that your junior engineer—or the senior one, for that matter—knows how to use a mounted 240 or an Mk19 grenade launcher.”
Throughout the course, the Bravo candidates alternate between the classroom and the firing ranges. The classroom work is more heavily weighted during the early part of the course to allow for more range time during the latter portion of the instruction. They’re routinely tested on all material and weapons systems. On the ranges, they get to shoot, and that’s why many of these Special Forces candidates wanted to become weapons sergeants.
At the sniper ranges, they spend time with the Remington M700 SOPMOD (special operations modification), the standard sniper rifle in the Special Forces inventory, as well as the heavy-caliber and special-purpose sniper systems. In the classroom, they receive a thorough orientation on foreign sniper rifles. On the rocket ranges, they fire the two rockets in the U.S. inventory, the AT4 and the Carl Gustaf. The AT4 is a light weapon that gives a squad-sized unit in the field an antiarmor capability. The Carl Gustaf is larger and more accurate. Still a squad weapon, it is usually carried when the squad’s primary mission is launching rockets. They also fire foreign-made RPGs, or rocket-propelled grenades.
“After firing the Russian-made RPG-7, I see why it’s causing us such headaches in the hands of the insurgents,” PFC Roberto Pantella tells me. “It’s a very user-friendly and accurate weapon.”
The prospective Bravos receive training on surface-to-air rockets, the U.S.-made Stinger and the Russian-made SA-7 Strella. All training I observe is with simulators. These are very expensive weapons systems, and so are the targets, so there’s no live-fire training with the SAMs.
Standoff weapons systems include grenade launchers and recoilless rifles. Some of these systems are quite dated, while others feature the latest in technology. The 106mm recoilless rifle, married up with a .50-caliber spotting rifle, is identical to the ones we used in Vietnam—very accurate and very lethal. Forty-millimeter grenade launchers have been around for a while as well. The M79 and M203, the latter now adapted to the standard M4 rifle, have been in inventory for forty years. Automatic, high-velocity grenade launchers are relatively new. The newest is the Mk47 grenade launcher.
“You won’t believe what the Mk47 can do,” Specialist Tom Kendall tells me. “It has a laser range finder with a CRT screen. You just put the laser on the target, match the sighting mechanism to the laser, and fire. It’s a Nintendo game. Your first round is on target—one shot, one kill. The Mk19 is a fine weapon, but the 47 is unbelievable. It’s great for static defense, or it can be mounted on the ring turret of a Humvee.”
During the last few weeks of training, there are two field exercises. These are mini outings designed to keep the Bravo students in the field so they can begin at dawn and work straight through into the night. One of these is a three-day exercise at Camp Mackall. At a training site that for all practical purposes could be a Special Forces base in Afghanistan, Iraq, or anywhere else in the world, the prospective weapons and engineering sergeants work on the construction of a base camp and its defenses. The Bravo candidates fill sandbags, build mortar pits, construct rifle and machine-gun emplacements, string concertina wire, and develop security-patrol procedures. In ODA-sized teams, they build sand-table terrain models of the camp defenses and position toy weapons to best advantage and with interlocking fields of fire. After a cadre sergeant approves their plan, then they go out and position real weapons to defend the camp in keeping with their terrain-model plan. This exercise will be repeated many times in foreign lands during their Special Forces careers.
The second field exercise amounts to camping out on the firing ranges at Fort Bragg. The cadre and support staff truck in weapons and ammunition, and the Bravo candidates are treated to a final round of shooting, firing as many of the weapons systems as possible. The most popular e
vent during this field evolution is the combat range. Each candidate is armed with his personal M4 rifle and standard Beretta 9mm pistol. The targets are silhouettes at ranges from ten to twenty-five yards—close-in killing range. The drill is transition—rifle to pistol, pistol to rifle. Rounds on target with the rifle, then quickly drawing the pistol—primary weapon to secondary weapon when speed counts.
“You guys got to be aggressive—this is the business of killing,” Rick Blaylock tells them. “If you’re going to your secondary weapon in a tactical situation, you’re in trouble. If that rifle jams or you’re out of ammo, you have to get to that pistol—fast. It’s kill or be killed—you or him. Most of your range time has been static firing—shooting for nice groups or double-tapping a silhouette target. In a gunfight, you’re going to shoot that son of a bitch until he goes down, and you’re going to keep shooting him. Get aggressive; get mean; get pissed. You kill him, or he kills you.”