Apache attack helicopters of the Army’s 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade in South Korea fly in formation. Brigade soldiers, among them Apache crews and Chinook and Black Hawk helicopter door gunners, will take part in annual gunnery live-fire training Thursday to Feb. 4. (Courtesy of the U.S. Army)
PYEONGTAEK, South Korea — Door gunners and Apache helicopter crews in the Army’s big aviation unit in South Korea will devote the next three weeks to an important annual test of their gunnery skills.
From Thursday to Feb. 4 between 700 and 900 soldiers of the 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade will rotate through the live-fire gunnery training at the Rodriguez Live Fire Complex east of Camp Casey.
"We’ll go out and practice so when the time comes that we need to use those skills, we’re comfortable knowing that we can fire our weapons with precision," said Sgt. Maj. Robert Bousley of the brigade’s operations staff.
The soldiers will be from brigade units at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Camp Eagle in Wonju and K-16 Air Base in Seoul.
The live-fire exercise will include the brigade’s AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters, whose two-person crews will fire its 30 mm gun and 2.75 inch rockets.
Door gunners on CH-47 Chinook heavy lift helicopters and UH-60 Black Hawk medium lift helos will practice firing their 7.62 mm machine guns.
All must fire well enough to achieve qualifying scores, and must do so annually, said Bousley.
"The Chinooks and Black Hawks, they fire door gunnery to qualify their door gunners," he said. "And the Apaches are qualifying the actual aircraft and the crews that fly it."
Chinook and Black Hawk door gunners need virtually the same skills, said Bousley.
"It’s equally challenging," he said. "It’s like firing from a moving vehicle," with the added challenge that a helicopter may shift suddenly up, down or in other directions as it maneuvers.
