Last week, Chris Caywood, Chief of the FED’s Design Branch and a group of seven Engineering Division engineers met with customers from Story Range to complete a site assessment on three of the complex’s ranges.

The event kickoff meeting and safety briefing immediately eliminated sites that would not be a fit for the needs of a contingency environment. The design team, Training Support Activity Korea, and the 2ID Abrams Master Gunner reviewed a number of sites to determine the feasibility of each range. This preliminary review determined the ranges that would be the best fit to meet the width and terrain requirements for the contingency environment and was followed by a visit to all of the ranges within the Story Range complex to better visualize and understand the mission.

After validating the range requirements, Sang Yoon Woo and Min-U Yi from the FED’s Geotechnical Branch along with Hyon Ku Choe from the Design Branch, provided ENFIRE training to the rest of team. Equipped with the knowledge to train their co-workers, these experts were able to utilize the range as a training ground to train-up the team on the ENFIRE Reconnaissance tool after attending a week-long ENFIRE train the trainer class.

Hyon-Ku Choe, Structural Engineer speaks on his training, “First, the ENFIRE training provided by the 11^th Engineering Battalion was very helpful in regard to carrying out the Story Range Mission. Some of our team members were able to operate the ENFIRE equipment for the first time and I believe we performed our mission very well. We really enjoyed the exercise! I was impressed with every member’s pro-active attitude as well as Mr. Chris Caywood’s leadership.”

The second day assessment included reconnaissance of the MK-19, Georgia, and Montana/Utah ranges using the ENFIRE system. Targets are required to be set at 800m, 1200m, and 1500m intervals. However, these metrics must be set relative to terrain, angle of fire from tank to future firing point, and available width of range. The team used the technology’s range finder capabilities to determine the key variable ranges and the ENFIRE’s handheld GPS to identify existing firing point locations and the camera to identify the current condition.

“The Story Range Mission provided our engineers a unique opportunity to test out the ENFIRE training equipment in a real-world scenario with real world deliverables.  This experience was extremely beneficial for our FED engineers as it offered us a preview of what our mission would look like in a contingency environment,” says Chris Caywood, Chief of the Design Branch.

Min-U Yi from the FED’s Geomatics and Support Section remarked, “I was very happy to share information about the ENFIRE equipment with my co-workers. This was a great chance to optimize our skills in the use of the technology.”

This assessment created a contingency solution for the KSC that meets their live-firing accuracy screening test (LFAST) requirements for the range. Caywood’s design team will meet with the customers again in the upcoming weeks to confirm the proposed scope and finalized project deliverables in a summary report that will detail the new proposed layouts.

Last week, Chris Caywood, Chief of the FED’s Design Branch and a group of seven Engineering Division engineers met with customers from Story Range to complete a site assessment on three of the complex’s ranges.

The event kickoff meeting and safety briefing immediately eliminated sites that would not be a fit for the needs of a contingency environment. The design team, Training Support Activity Korea, and the 2ID Abrams Master Gunner reviewed a number of sites to determine the feasibility of each range. This preliminary review determined the ranges that would be the best fit to meet the width and terrain requirements for the contingency environment and was followed by a visit to all of the ranges within the Story Range complex to better visualize and understand the mission.

After validating the range requirements, Sang Yoon Woo and Min-U Yi from the FED’s Geotechnical Branch along with Hyon Ku Choe from the Design Branch, provided ENFIRE training to the rest of team. Equipped with the knowledge to train their co-workers, these experts were able to utilize the range as a training ground to train-up the team on the ENFIRE Reconnaissance tool after attending a week-long ENFIRE train the trainer class.

Hyon-Ku Choe, Structural Engineer speaks on his training, “First, the ENFIRE training provided by the 11^th Engineering Battalion was very helpful in regard to carrying out the Story Range Mission. Some of our team members were able to operate the ENFIRE equipment for the first time and I believe we performed our mission very well. We really enjoyed the exercise! I was impressed with every member’s pro-active attitude as well as Mr. Chris Caywood’s leadership.”

The second day assessment included reconnaissance of the MK-19, Georgia, and Montana/Utah ranges using the ENFIRE system. Targets are required to be set at 800m, 1200m, and 1500m intervals. However, these metrics must be set relative to terrain, angle of fire from tank to future firing point, and available width of range. The team used the technology’s range finder capabilities to determine the key variable ranges and the ENFIRE’s handheld GPS to identify existing firing point locations and the camera to identify the current condition.

“The Story Range Mission provided our engineers a unique opportunity to test out the ENFIRE training equipment in a real-world scenario with real world deliverables.  This experience was extremely beneficial for our FED engineers as it offered us a preview of what our mission would look like in a contingency environment,” says Chris Caywood, Chief of the Design Branch.

Min-U Yi from the FED’s Geomatics and Support Section remarked, “I was very happy to share information about the ENFIRE equipment with my co-workers. This was a great chance to optimize our skills in the use of the technology.”

This assessment created a contingency solution for the KSC that meets their live-firing accuracy screening test (LFAST) requirements for the range. Caywood’s design team will meet with the customers again in the upcoming weeks to confirm the proposed scope and finalized project deliverables in a summary report that will detail the new proposed layouts.