YAUSUBETSU MANEUVER AREA, HOKKAIDO, Japan -- Marines with Headquarters Battery provided command and control support Aug. 28 to Sept. 3 during the battalion phase of live-fire artillery training as part of Artillery Relocation Training Program 14-2 at Yausubetsu Maneuver Area in Hokkaido, Japan.
Headquarters Battery is assigned to 3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force.
As the Marines shift to the battalion phase from the battery phase of ARTP 14-2, their mission and responsibilities change also.
"During a battery phase exercise, Headquarters Battery concentrates on battery-level operations such as local security, proficiency with crew served weapons, individual weapons training and other training requirements," said Maj. Eric J. Williamson, the operations officer for the battery. "During battalion phase, we actually take control of the whole battalion and perform tactical fire direction for Bravo Battery, 1st Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, and Kilo Battery, 3rd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment."
The fire direction center at Headquarters Battery gathers and computes all data needed to accurately process fire missions, according to Lance Cpl. Peter B. Aybar, a field artillery sensor support man with the battery.
"To ensure accurate artillery fire, we provide meteorological data to the fire direction center numerous times a day," said Aybar, from Washington, D.C. "The weather can affect an artillery round just like it can affect a round fired from a rifle at a distant target. We constantly provide the FDC with the wind direction, wind speed, temperature, humidity and air pressure so they can make the appropriate weather call for the fire missions."
The battery also monitors the accuracy of all fire missions using radar, according to Lance Cpl. Jacob B. Thomas, a field artillery radar operator with the battery.
"We have counter-battery radar which tracks artillery rounds," said Thomas, from Seminary, Mississippi. "This is used for tracking both friendly and hostile artillery. During this exercise we are mainly using the radar to find the point of impact for the rounds, and adjust as needed to ensure rounds are accurately hitting the target. In a combat setting we would focus more on finding enemy artillery."
The radar works by tracking the point of origin and the point of impact for the rounds, according to Thomas.
"In friendly mode it is used to track the point of impact because you already know where your cannons are at, so it is more important to make sure rounds are going where they are supposed to," said Thomas. "In hostile mode it tracks the point of origin because it is more important to find the location of enemy artillery than what they are shooting at. Once we locate an enemy artillery position, we can then either process a fire mission ourselves or we can pass the information to the fire direction center to process the mission."
Batteries B and K, although not from the same parent command, have integrated well during the battalion-phase training, according to Williamson, from Lock Haven, Pennsylvania.
"We have definitely learned a lot during this ARTP," said Williamson. "We get batteries from across the Marine Corps (as part of the unit deployment program), so we try to establish a standing operating procedure at 3/12 that is conducive to being flexible and responsive to the SOPs as well as the tactics, techniques and procedures from other battalions."
The ARTP is routine training, which has taken place since 1997. It is conducted in accordance with prior agreements between the governments of Japan and the U.S.