Ready! Aim! Qualify!

FORT BENNING, Columbus – More than 240 Georgia Army National Guardsmen from units belonging to Metter’s 265th Regional Support Group (RSG) converged on a firing range here to improve their skills as riflemen during annual weapons qualification Nov. 6, to 8, 2009.


   Firing a total of more than 16,000 rounds of M16 rifle ammunition and 200 rounds of 9mm pistol ammunition, Soldiers  totalling about 70 percent qualified with their weapons. Those who didn’t qualify will receive remedial training back at their home stations, and then re-qualify with the 265th when it conducts its own weapons qualifications in May 2010.

The transportation and maintenance units that comprise the RSG include the 1148th Heavy Transportation Company, also from Metter; the 1177th Transportation Company from LaGrange; the 1230th Transportation Company based in Bainbridge; and Columbus’ 82nd Maintenance Company and 110th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion (CSSB).

LTC April Asher, the 265th’s operations and training officer, said this is the first time the RSG and its elements have conducted weapons qualification together. Asher, a 22-year Georgia Army Guard veteran, is the Guard’s full-time deputy personnel officer.

“This was a great opportunity for our commander, COL Craig McGalliard, and his staff to bring together our subordinate units, most of which have had weapons training as individual elements but never in conjunction with the main headquarters,” Asher said.

“It’s not only helped our Guardsmen get in some great, and necessary, weapons training, it also allowed the colonel to share his command philosophy with his Soldiers on a more personal level,” she added.

Another advantage to the weekend was that it prepared these troops for possible deployment, and the chance to enhance their transportation skills – something they most certainly would be doing at home or abroad.

As the weekend progressed, all the units in the 265th had specific tasks assigned to them.
The 82nd, for example, had to qualify, and it assisted with range operations.

1SG James Sites, the company’s senior enlisted Solider, said he’s proud of how well his unit did. Sites, who lives in Hinesville, is a full-time military technician with the Guard at Fort Stewart.

“Personally speaking, my Soldiers did an outstanding job. Not only did they have to qualify, but they also managed three of the weapon ranges,” Sites explained. He added that he felt the overall mission they were given was a great success.  “Our unit worked well with the others, and we feel we’re more than up to the task of providing great support to anyone who needs us,” he said proudly.
SSG Marcus Wise, materials controller for the 82nd, was responsible for Preliminary Marksmanship Instruction (PMI) at the range. “My job is to make sure the soldiers understand how to properly sight, and safely fire their weapon to ensure their success in qualifying,” Wise said.
 Many members of the 265th said they felt that this weekend helped them achieve a greater level of communication with each other, as well as see what they needed to improve as individual Soldiers.

SSG Wade Taylor, from La Grange’s 1177th, said this was his fourth time qualifying with his unit. But, like many of his fellow Guardsmen, it was his first with the 265th and the other units. Taylor, a reinforcing steel operation manger from Lawrenceville, has more than 17 years with the National Guard, 14 of those in the Virginia Army Guard.

“I doubt you can find anyone who’d tell you this wasn’t great training,” Taylor said.

While she watched several Soldiers come off the firing line, Asher said she’s confident the main objectives set out by McGalliard and his staff for this three-day training period were met many times over.

“Getting people here, getting them on the range and getting as many as we did qualified with their individual weapons are reasons for saying, ‘Mission Accomplished.” she added.

With the training weekend over, the next step is getting these Citizen-Soldiers back to their families and their civilian jobs. Asher said she had no doubts that would be accomplished with the same success as the first-ever combined weapons qualifications for the 265th and its subordinate units.