The Road to Safwan: The 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry in the 1991 ...

Preparation 17
Quarter Horse headed for Fort Riley’s range complexes. Building
on the army’s published standards, Wilson organized his
gunnery training into three distinct elements. First, the ground
scout crews fired their weapons systems in a series of progressive
events called gunnery tables. The M3 Cavalry Fighting Vehicle,
nicknamed the Bradley, was a modification of the M2 Infantry
Fighting Vehicle designed in the 1970s. Equipped with a
25-mm Bushmaster chain gun, a 7.63-mm machine gun, and a
TOW antitank missile launcher, it was a potent weapon system.
Not simply shooting exercises, these events sought to develop
proficiency in crew duties such as acquiring and engaging
targets, using all of a vehicle’s weapons and fire control systems,
and selecting the correct ammunition for the target. These
firing tables progressed from relatively simple exercises, such
as engaging one stationary target with one weapon, to complex
qualification events using all the weapons systems of the combat
vehicle and requiring its crew to function as a seamless
whole. Qualification tables usually required the crew to destroy
multiple stationary and moving targets while on the move.
Ranges ran day and night, using all weapons in both offensive
and defensive scenarios. These were demanding tests and failure
to qualify during a gunnery period was a serious situation
that resulted, as a minimum, in the crew receiving additional
training and another opportunity to pass. It could also have
consequences for promotion and advancement for the vehicle
commander and even the platoon or troop commander.
While the ground troops fought their battles on the range
complex, the helicopter crews participated in the second element
of Wilson’s training program: aviation gunnery. Each aviation
table required at least two aircraft, an OH-58C Kiowa
scout helicopter and one or more AH-1 Cobra Attack helicopters
organized into a scout weapons team, or SWT. The
aeroscout coordinated with ground troops in the area, located
the enemy force, and alerted the attack helicopters to their presence.
They then guided the attack aircraft to a firing location
and helped it identify and acquire the enemy force. Armed with
up to eight TOW antitank missiles, a 20-mm cannon, and
“pods” that contained as many as seventy-six 2.75-inch rockets,
the AH-1 after twenty-five years of service was still a potent