Another Fire Mission

This Time as a Gunner

A clip of my gun section conducting a fire mission with the M777 howitzer in the deserts of Twentynine Palms, California.

I was the gunner during this mission and unlike the other gun sections, I was actually gunning. That is, we were using the iron sights instead of the DFCS (digital fire control system) with its three-axis gyroscope and fancy self-location. The M777A2′s very expensive electronics have a propensity to fail spectacularly during operation. Marine artillery might be the rex belli (king of battle), but this version of the lightweight howitzer must be treated like a princess.

“Close-Up.” Christopher in the Philippines. He was amused at my attempts to repeatedly capture a close-up.

I do not remember exactly how I ended up in Christopher’s section, but he was my section chief for this field operation (he is the one verifying everything and yelling “Fire!”). It must have been right after my previous section chief separated from the Marine Corps. It would explain why I was gunning instead of being the recorder and ammunition team chief, which were my usual billets.

Now, a gunner is someone who manually aims the massive weapon towards the direction the FDC (fire direction and control) section relays to the gun section. Usually, with the DFCS in operational, it is a simple matter of turning the wheel until the gunner’s display returns a solid circle. With the DFCS out-of-commission, I actually had to do some actual gunning by using the pantel (panoramic telescope). There was some knob-twisting, wheel-turning, and scope-peeking involved. It took me a while to understand how looking into a collimator that is a mere four feet away through the pantel somehow aims the weapon to be able to deliver an explosive projectile to a target up to fifteen miles away. It eventually makes sense, though.