Soldiers with the Army's 1st Battalion, 68th Armored Regiment, pile into the back of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle during a live fire exercise in Grafenwoehr, Germany, Friday, Aug. 4, 2017. (Martin Egnash/Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers with the Army's 1st Battalion, 68th Armored Regiment, pile into the back of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle during a live fire exercise in Grafenwoehr, Germany, Friday, Aug. 4, 2017. (Martin Egnash/Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers with the Army's 1st Battalion, 68th Armored Regiment prepare to attack a mock urban environment during a live fire exercise in Grafenwoehr, Germany, Friday, Aug. 4, 2017. (Martin Egnash/Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers with the Army's 1st Battalion, 68th Armored Regiment, clear rooms while attacking a mock urban environment during a live fire exercise in Grafenwoehr, Germany, Friday, Aug. 4, 2017. (Martin Egnash/Stars and Stripes)
Bradley Fighting Vehicles with the Army's 1st Battalion, 68th Armored Regiment, fire their machine guns during a live fire exercise in Grafenwoehr, Germany, Friday, Aug. 4, 2017. (Martin Egnash/Stars and Stripes)
A soldier with the Army's 1st Battalion, 68th Armored Regiment, takes aim during a live fire exercise in Grafenwoehr, Germany, Friday, Aug. 4, 2017. (Martin Egnash/Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers with the Army's 1st Battalion, 68th Armored Regiment radio their command after securing an area during a live-fire exercise in Grafenwoehr, Germany, Friday, Aug. 4, 2017. (Martin Egnash/Stars and Stripes)
Bradley Fighting Vehicles maneuver to an extraction point to bring their dismounted soldiers away from the front lines during a live-fire exercise in Grafenwoehr, Germany, Friday, Aug. 4, 2017. (Martin Egnash/Stars and Stripes)
GRAFENWOEHR, Germany — Soldiers with the Army’s 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, conducted a live-fire exercise on Friday in preparation for the Combined Resolve IX exercise later this month.
During the exercise the soldiers, originally based out of Fort Carson, Colo., assaulted an urban complex with Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and provided indirect fire for dismounted troops to breach obstacles and clear the area of mock enemy combatants. The entire exercise was conducted at an extremely fast pace. “We fought like hell,” said C. Company commander Capt. Todd Pepino.
The type of high-speed combined arms breach practiced in this exercise prepares the soldiers to attack heavily defended objectives.
“We did extraordinary today.” said Bradley gunner Cpl. Coy Thomas. “We destroyed every enemy that was presented to us, and the dismounts were fluid. As a platoon, we were solid.”
egnash.martin@stripes.com Twitter: @Marty_Stripes
