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Staff Sgt. Lance Philpot fires his M-16 during qualification with other members of the 319th Transportation Company. The reservists had to pass accuracy tests on a firing range.
ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER/STAFF |
FORT STEWART, Ga. - Atop an embankment at a firing range deep in the woods at Fort Stewart, Army reservists with the Augusta-based 319th Transportation Company are training for a situation they hope will never happen.
Spc. Kendera Gresham, 27, from Wilkes County, has been in the reserves for six years and has never fired a weapon while wearing chemical gear. A sergeant gives the warning: "Gas, gas, gas!"
Spc. Gresham tears off her helmet, pulls a mask from a bag on her waist, straps it on, pulls a cover over her head, then puts her helmet back on.
"Lock and load," the sergeant orders.
Lying on the ground in the prone position, she aims her M-16 rifle at a paper target. To pass this test, she must put 11 out of 20 rounds inside a silhouette. At first she takes her time, firing diligently, choosing her shots.
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Scores of tracer bullets ricochet and streak across the sky as members of the 319th Transportation Company go through night-fire training at Fort Stewart.
ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER/STAFF |
Other soldiers are shooting, too, and the combined crackling sounds like the finale at a fireworks show. The smell of gunpowder permeates the air.
With her gun clip nearly emptied, Spc. Gresham is shooting faster now, with more confidence. She hits the target 17 times.
Spc. Gresham, an accountant, doesn't know whether she'll ever need to shoot to kill while under a chemical attack, but considering where her unit is likely headed, she'd better know how.
"I don't know what the situation is going to be," she said. "You never know what could happen."
When and where the 143 men and women of the 319th will be deployed has not been announced, but they expect to join the trucks, equipment and 20 fellow 319th members already in Kuwait, where thousands of American troops are amassing for a possible attack on Iraq.
In his State of the Union address, President Bush said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has not accounted for biological weapons materials sufficient to produce more than 25,000 liters of anthrax and 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin - both substances the United Nations concluded Iraq had in 1999. Mr. Bush also said Iraq has the materials to produce 500 tons of sarin, mustard gas and VX nerve agent.
Since being mobilized, the 319th has been awaiting orders for a week and a half at Fort Stewart near Hinesville, Ga. Members have spent much of that time in a world of paperwork, checklists and long lines that leaves little time for physical training.
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Range officer Sgt. 1st Class Charles Parrish of the 306th Infantry checks to make sure M-16 barrels are empty before members of the 319th head to the small arms range. The soldiers have been undergoing continuous training as they await orders.
ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER/STAFF |
But they are getting ready for modern warfare.
Last week they wore their chemical suits in a tear-gas chamber, a sort of confidence booster. On the same day they received inoculations including their first anthrax shot, part of a six-shot series. Members described feeling a sharp pain and having a sore arm for days afterward.
The 319th's role in a war would be to drive tanker trucks hauling petroleum from refineries to fuel depots. Like all troops, they would face the threat of missile attacks and would be armed during fuel runs in case of an ambush.
Tuesday was spent on weapons qualification, which involves adjusting the sights of their rifles, then passing tests of accuracy on paper targets. If they don't pass, they must keep trying until they do.
At another range Tuesday night, they practiced night firing with tracer bullets, which streaked and skipped across a field of sand berms in trails of red phosphorus light.
When they fill out medical paperwork, 319th members have been told to write "unknown" on the line for country of destination.
Wherever they go, they'll be wearing the same camouflage forest fatigues they wore when they left Augusta. They stood in line at Fort Stewart's equipment issuing facility, filling grocery carts with canteens, waterproof blankets, sleeping bags with insect screens, helmets, gloves, extra T-shirts, cold weather boots, bullet-resistant vests and anything else they didn't have but might need - but they did not get desert fatigues.
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Spc. Brande Langford of Aiken (right) puts on her gas mask while her instructor yells "Gas, gas, gas!" The reservists had to practice putting on their gas masks and firing their weaponry to prepare for a chemical attack.
ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER/STAFF |
W. Royce Kennedy, the director of logistics for Fort Stewart and the 3rd Infantry Division, said the Army is conserving its desert fatigues for now and stopped issuing them several weeks ago. The Army has decided that the woodland uniforms will be sufficient for troops heading to the Middle East, especially those who are not on the front lines, he said.
One brigade was deployed to the Middle East with half the soldiers in forest fatigues and the other half in desert gear, Mr. Kennedy said. Throughout Fort Stewart, 3rd Infantry members are dressed for the desert, their uniforms a mix of light brown, beige and lime green.
"I'm going to be shooting in defense more than in offense," 319th 2nd Lt. Richard Kennedy said. "If those guys are up front wearing desert fatigues, keeping me safe, and I'm behind them wearing forest fatigues, that's fine with me."
Reach Johnny Edwards at (706) 823-3225 or johnny.edwards@augustachronicle.com.
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