Fort Carson soldiers train on machines guns, grenade launchers ahead of leaving for South Korea

Mar. 22—From inside hulking eight-wheeled combat vehicles, soldiers took aim at a plywood "truck" at Fort Carson on Wednesday firing from machine guns and grenade launchers, ahead of leaving for a large-scale training in South Korea.

As the truck rose on its hydraulic lifts and moved along its rail system, soldiers locked on to it from computer screens inside their new Strykers, combat vehicles designed to carry troops into battle and protect them with machine guns or MK-19 grenade launchers.

Officers in charge of training watched the action from a tower and used livestreams from cameras inside and outside the vehicles. As bullets from .50-caliber machine guns hit replica "enemy fighters" sending up dust, Sgt. Matthew Buck, the master gunner, celebrated his students' quality aim — "Bang! Target," he called out.

Buck oversaw training for the 32 members of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division who were brand new to the weapons systems. From the tower, officers scored the teams of drivers and gunners for certification.

Ahead of testing, the soldiers learned to load and fire their weapons using a system called the Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station that allows them to fire at targets farther away and with greater accuracy than manually aiming. The gunners stay inside Strykers while firing, keeping them safer, training officers explained.

The overall goal is to train as many combat soldiers as possible as both Stryker drivers and gunners so they can take over if someone else is injured.

"We try to get them amped up about being gunners. ... Most infantrymen want to be boots on the ground, out there fighting," Buck said.

His selling point is "you get to shoot really big guns" that will keep fellow soldiers on the ground alive, he said.

In a potential conflict with China or Russia, Strykers would defend troops while taking cover from behind walls or berms, rather than going toe to toe with tanks, he said.

"Where ideally Strykers want to be is supporting those ground troops from a defensive position and keeping that enemy suppressed where we can move in," he said.

As training advances and integrates larger and larger teams, Buck said, Stryker teams will practice with ground troops and sometimes helicopters.

The 2nd Stryker Brigade recently returned from a large-scale exercise at the Joint Readiness Training Center on Fort Polk, La., where they trained to take back territory from an opposing force, said Maj. Zach Jones, the operations officer for the battalion. Compared to preparing to battle the insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan, the training is a bit of a change.

"We are really getting back to the way we used to train and used to fight," he said.

The large-scale training will continue when the brigade travels to train with the South Korean military.

"The Mountain Warriors are excited to participate in our upcoming operational deployment. Through our rigorous training and preparation, we are more than ready to tackle any challenges presented," said Col. Andrew Kiser, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Commander.

The 4th Infantry Division could not say when the brigade will leave, spokesman Maj. Travis Shaw said.

The South Korean and U.S. militaries are holding their biggest joint field exercises in five years in March, according to The Associated Press.

North Korea has threatened to take "unprecedently" strong action against such exercises. It's likely that it will respond to the upcoming training with missile tests because it views it as an invasion rehearsal.

In a joint news conference, the South Korean and U.S. militaries said they will conduct the Freedom Shield exercise, a computer-simulated command post training, from March 13 to 23 to strengthen their defense and response capabilities, and separate large-scale joint field training exercises called Warrior Shield FTX.

North Korea test-fired more than 70 missiles in 2022, the most ever in a single year, and several more this year. Many of the missiles were nuclear-capable weapons designed to strike the U.S. mainland and South Korea.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.