An American in Lulworth: Comparing British and American Armor Training

An American in Lulworth: Comparing British and American Armor Training by Sergeant First Class Matthew T. Hite and Staff Sergeant Karl Hilton, British Army “England and America are two nations divided by a common language.” — George Bernard Shaw While the British and American armored forces share some common traits, there are areas, which are vastly different. This article illustrates some of the key differences between our two armor corps. An Introduction to the Royal Armoured Corps (RAC) To begin to compare the British and American armored forces, you must understand some key differences in organization and terminology. A regiment is the standard battalion-sized organization in the British force structure. Each regiment has a long history, in most cases, dating back before the Revolutionary War. Due to force reduction in recent years, many of the regiments have undergone amalgamation. This is the combining of two existing regiments into one new unit. The British army, to avoid losing hundreds of years of regimental history, adopted this practice. Each regiment has its own traditions, customs, and to a varying degree, distinctive uniforms, which includes different colored berets, cap badges, or regimental crests, and other distinctive devices. The major differences are only apparent when wearing formal mess dress. A British tank regiment contains several squadrons. These are company-sized elements, each commanded by a major with a senior captain serving as second in command. Each regiment usually contains four maneuver squadrons and one command squadron. The command squadron is similar to a headquarters and headquarters company organization. This includes a close recce or scout troop (platoon), fielding eight Scimitar combat vehicle reconnaissance (tracked), or CVR(T), scout vehicles. The line squadron consists of four maneuver platoons, or troops, with three Challenger 2 tanks. The squadron also contains a command troop consisting of the command tanks, a Spartan used by the squadron sergeant major (1SG), a Sultan ambulance and a number of Land Rover utility vehicles. The troop leader, the troop corporal, and the troop sergeant operate the maneuver platoon’s three vehicles. This is not a hard-and-fast organization; some regiments vary the table of organization and equipment to support individual missions. Formation reconnaissance regiments carry out similar roles of U.S. cavalry units. These regiments are reconnaissance pure with no organic tank support. The standard organization for a formation reconnaissance regiment is normally three maneuver squadrons and one command squadron. The squadron is further broken down into three troops, consisting of four Scimitar CVR(T)s. The Scim itar is equipped with a 30mm cannon and 7.62- mm machine gun. The command squadron contains a guided weapons platoon with the Stryker antitank guided missile (ATGM) CVR(T). There are several sighting systems available for CVR(T). The first is enhanced sight periscopic infrared equipment (E-SPIRE), which contains an enhanced thermal sighting capability, improved surveillance, and crew interface capabilities. Formation reconnaissance regiments field E-SPIRE Scimitars. The second is battle group thermal imager (BGTI), with which close reconnaissance units are currently being equipped. BGTI features a combination of enhanced daylight and thermal sighting systems, and interfaces with the new Bowman communications system, which is the British army’s version of Force XXI battle command brigade and below (FBCB2) platform-based situational awareness (SA) system. Institutional Training Institutional training is the cornerstone of the British armored corps as it is with the U.S. Army; however, the British adopt a very different approach. Firstly, the training is broken down into distinct phases at separate schools. For instance, a troop leader begins his training at the Command, Information, and Signals (CIS) School. This phase lasts approximately 2 weeks and covers the basics of communications equipment and digital SA systems. Next, the troop leader progresses to the Driving and Maintenance (D&M) School, which covers basic driving, recovery, and maintenance tasks. Students leave the school after approximately 4 weeks and are qualified tank drivers. Both the CIS and D&M phases take place at the Armor Centre at Bovington Camp. Following the D&M phase, students move to the Gunnery School at Lulworth for a period of 3 months. Here, they learn all gunnery subject matter to include maintenance, servicing, and drills lessons. This phase culminates with a live firing exercise, comprising an annual crew test (ACT) similar to tank table VIII, and an annual troop assessment (ATA) similar to tank table XII. Once complete with the gunnery phase, students transition to the Land Warfare Centre at Warminster for the tactics phase, which is the final phase of training. The tactics phase covers mounted and dismounted tactics and culminates with a 4-day exercise where troop leaders practice putting all subject matter taught into practice in a field environment. Secondly, the regimental chain of command selects soldiers in the early stages of their careers for a specific discipline of gunnery, CIS, or D&M. These soldiers will then follow that career path throughout their subsequent training. For example, a soldier identified for the gunnery path will return to the gunnery school to become a regimental gunnery instructor and ultimately serve as a schools instructor at the gunnery school. Finally, there are several different levels of institutional training. From a gunnery standpoint, a soldier selected will first attend the Recruit Gunner’s Course, which is the first course attended by all potential tank crewmen. The gunner is the least experienced crewman on Challenger 2. The drills required by the loader on Challenger 2 require a higher degree of experience; therefore, he is generally the second in command to the tank commander. On reaching the rank of lance corporal, which equates roughly to specialist, the gunnery soldier returns to the school to attempt the advanced gunner’s course. This course provides additional instruction on gunnery techniques, introduces loader’s drills and gunnery training equipment, and produces a soldier who can assist his unit with gunnery tasks on his return. On achieving the rank of corporal, equivalent to staff sergeant, the soldier attends the crew commander’s course, which is similar to the Basic Noncommissioned Officer Course. The commander’s course contains similar modules to the troop leader’s course. Tank commanders must complete the crew commander’s course and receive the institutional qualification to command a tank. A regiment will normally have more qualified commanders than open positions. The remainder of qualified commanders will serve in other positions such as the supply department or the motor transportation department. Excess commanders are used as replacement crewmen in the event of casualties. Instructor Training The next career phase is a Regiment Instructor’s Course, which provides in-depth training on the use of gunnery training equipment and instructional techniques. The students complete testing over the entire course in their ability to deliver lessons to an acceptable level. The institutional approach the RAC uses in training regimental instructors provides standardization across the armored force. A typical instructor’s course will begin with lectures on instructional techniques. These lectures include everything that a potential instructor needs to deliver gunnery-related training. Instructor students are taught how to teach by using demonstration lessons. The schools instructor, who is training the instructor course, conducts a demonstration of each type of lesson that students will be required to teach back. These include weapons handling lessons, servicing/maintenance lessons, vehicle-based lessons, and simulation lessons. In a demonstration lesson, the “Training equipment to support Challenger 2 is quite a bit different from that of the Abrams family. There are two distinct gunnery simulators. The first is the part task trainer (PTT), which consists of a central instructor’s station and six student stations arrayed in one room. The student stations contain only basic controls, as the PTT trains only introductory, full-systems techniques. After completing the PTT portion of a training matrix, crewmen move to the turret gunner trainer (TGT).” 22 — May-June 2007 schools instructor conducts the “shell” lesson in typical format. He then “steps into” the lesson type he is demonstrating; he demonstrates an introduction, a portion of the main lesson content, and a summary. At each stage, students are invited to attempt each portion of the lesson, which assists with building confidence in the students and establishing a benchmark standard. After demonstration lessons, students complete 40-minute icebreaker lessons and are evaluated on all areas of instructional techniques. Following the icebreaker lessons, students receive the schedule of all lessons they are required to teach to satisfy the course assessment plan. They will then teach back a set number of lessons in each category where the schools instructors evaluate each lesson and provide feedback. If a student cannot successfully instruct and pass assessments in each area of the course, he will fail the instructor’s course. Another benefit of the institutional approach is the uniformity of instructional technique; a regimental instructor in any of the armored or recce units uses the same teaching techniques. This is a demanding course, requiring a copious amount of evening work preparing the lesson for the next day. On completion, the regimental instructor delivers unit-specific gunnery training and assists the regimental gunnery staff in planning and conducting gunnery training. Regimental instructors have the capability to conduct gunnery school standard training at regimental duty because all instructors have access to gunnery school approved lesson plans, all regiments have the same training equipment available to the gunnery school, and all instructors are trained and certified by the gunnery school. Unlike the U.S. Army system, a British army instructor will seldom return to an instructional assignment a second time; the British army continues to use the training value invested in developing the instructor. A gunnery instructor will follow a gunnery career path, beginning his career as a regimental instructor, moving up to a schools instructor. The capstone for a gunnery path soldier is to return to the Gunnery School as a schools instructor. To achieve school’s instructor status, a candidate must complete the Schools Cadre Course. This is a 4-month course broken into two phases: soldiers attending this course come from both 30mm CVR(T) regiments and 120mm Challenger 2 units. The first phase is normally the 120mm phase. During the Challenger 2 phase, students teach a number of lessons to troop leaders on every subject in the gunnery spectrum, which includes training devices, servicing, maintenance, drills, and weapons mechanism lessons. Current schools instructors rigidly assess the teaching practices of the instructor students. After successful completion of the 120mm phase, students then transition to the 30- mm phase. During the 30mm phase, students teach similar lessons on the CVR (T) Scimitar and Spartan and culminate with a live-firing package. After serving as a schools instructor, soldiers can move on to assignments as wing warrant officers, branch chiefs at the Gunnery School, or members of the armored training advisory team (ARMTAT) in Germany. ARMTAT’s function is to provide gunnery support and advice to forward-deployed units in Germany and abroad, and to enforce standardization of training across the armored corps. Training Aids Training equipment to support Challenger 2 is quite a bit different from that of the Abrams family. There are two dis- “...the TGT is contained in one room, but has three crew stations and three instructor’s stations. Each crew station contains a gunner and commander’s station with all controls. The TGT trains all aspects from full-systems gunnery through all levels of degraded mode or reversionary levels. The three separate crew stations can be linked together easily to facilitate troop-level training.” May-June 2007 — 23 tinct gunnery simulators. The first is the part task trainer (PTT), which consists of a central instructor’s station and six student stations arrayed in one room. The student stations contain only basic controls, as the PTT trains only introductory, full-systems techniques. After completing the PTT portion of a training matrix, crewmen move to the turret gunnery trainer (TGT). Again, the TGT is contained in one room, but has three crew stations and three instructor’s stations. Each crew station contains a gunner and commander’s station with all controls. The TGT trains all aspects from full-systems gunnery through all levels of degraded mode or reversionary levels. The three separate crew stations can be linked together easily to facilitate troop-level training. One piece of training equipment usually found the most alien to American visitors is the loader’s drills trainer (LDT), which consists of a fully functioning loader’s station, complete with simulated movement for main armament firing, recoil of the main armament, coaxial machine gun firing, and elevation/depression of both weapons systems. The LDT is a requirement for several reasons. First, Challenger 2 fires three-piece ammunition, which is broken down into a projectile, a charge, and a primer or vent tube. The projectile and charge are manually loaded on each reload. The vent tubes are contained in a magazine fitted to the back of the breech ring and rammed by an automatic tube loader during recoil/counterrecoil. As a result, there is an increased potential for malfunctions and vent tube stoppages on the main armament. Secondly, the L94 coaxial chain gun is located on the loader’s side of the turret. Therefore, the loader carries out all drills on the chain gun. The final piece of training equipment is the secondary armament drills trainer (SADT), which is a standalone 7.62mm coaxial chain gun trainer, consisting of a chain gun mounted to a fixed stand with a sound system, electric drive system, and a remote-control unit. The instructor can replicate all stoppages seen on the chain gun with the remote-control unit. The SADT exists primarily for employment training for entry-level crewmen such as recruit gunners and troop leaders who can conduct sustainment training at home regiments. Scimitar training equipment consists of three training aids. The first is the Aqua-lina gunnery system (AGS), which is comprised of a 30mm Scimitar turret mounted on a stand. The turret contains a drill 30mm RARDEN cannon and full controls for both gunner and commander. The crews engage stationary and moving targets placed on a board at opposite ends of the classroom. A low-power laser transmitter mounted above the gun replicates fall of shot. Crews are evaluated on engagement techniques and correcting the fall of shot onto the target. Scimitar crews train weapons handling drills on the 30- mm RARDEN cannon, which is mounted on a static gun stand in the classroom. Crews train coaxial machine gun drills in a similar manner with a stand-mounted L37. Weapons Handling The British cadre take a different approach to weapons handling drills, which is directly attributable to the variations in “During the Challenger 2 phase, students teach a number of lessons to troop leaders on every subject in the gunnery spectrum, which includes training devices, servicing, maintenance, drills, and weapons mechanism lessons.”

weapons designs between the U.S. and UK. Challenger 2 main armament drills include normal loading, reloading, and clearing guns, as well as specific drills to rectify malfunctions that are specific to the use of three-piece ammunition. The British have very specified drills for smallarms malfunctions. With the L7 general-purpose machine gun (GPMG), there are three sets of drills. The L7 GPMG is the same as the M240B machine gun. The first set of drills is for the L7 in the dismounted role. These drills emphasize speed of engagement and adaptability to a changing tactical situation. The L37 is a modified L7 used as a coaxial machine gun on the CVR(T) Scimitar. The differences include removing the foresight and bipod legs and adding a feed pawl depressor. The feed pawl depressor is a sliding metal slat that mounts to the cover of the machine gun. This slat moves across to the right to isolate the movement of the feed pawls in the top cover. The drills for the L37, when mounted in a coaxial role, differ from those of the dismounted machine gun. The drills for the coaxial machine gun include tailored stoppage drills based on the condition of the gun or ammunition. The general approach of drills training is very structured and regimented. The instructors follow a similar crawl-walk-run approach beginning with basic handling and progressing on to extended stoppages and malfunctions. One central component of drills training is the instructional technique used. Every instructor carries out drills lessons identically; there is no latitude for variation from the lesson plan. The instructor must adopt a very uncompromising demeanor through out the lesson. This rigid approach results in a high level of standardization of weapons handling drills across the armored force. The Future of the RAC The RAC is currently pursuing several avenues of mid-life upgrades for Challenger 2 and CVR(T) Scimitar. The first is the development and trial of a smoothbore main armament, which will require significant modification to ammunition stowage to allow for the size difference between current and future ammunition. Additionally, the development of an upgraded simulation system for Scimitar is ongoing, which may provide the ability to train all variants of Scimitar currently fielded, including E-SPIRE and BGTI. The military personnel exchange program provides an invaluable opportunity to exchange information regarding training, tactics, techniques, and procedures. Although, many of the British army’s “The British Royal Armoured Corps is currently pursuing several avenues of mid-life upgrades for Challenger 2 and CVR(T) Scimitar. The first is the development and trial of a smoothbore main armament, which will require significant modification to ammunition stowage to allow for the size difference between current and future ammunition. Additionally, the development of an upgraded simulation system for Scimitar is ongoing, which may provide the ability to train all variants of Scimitar currently fielded, including E-SPIRE and BGTI.” training methods are possible simply because of its smaller sized force, there are some systems that the U.S. Army could find beneficial, especially given its adoption of the Army force generation (ARFORGEN) model. The British Royal Armoured Corps is a highly professional organization with a long history of excellence. At the core of this organization is the central reason for its success, a dedicated and adaptive group of noncommissioned officers responsible for the individual training of the future armored force. Sergeant First Class Matthew T. Hite is currently a U.S. Army exchange instructor, Armoured Fighting Vehicle Gunnery School, Lulworth Camp, UK. His military education includes 19K One Station Unit Training, Warrior Leaders Course, Basic Noncommissioned Officers Course, M1A2 Tank Commanders Certification Course, M1A1 Master Gunner School, Advanced Noncommissioned Officer Course, and Stryker Conversion Training. He has served in various command and staff positions, including mobile gun system platoon sergeant, C Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry (SBCT), Fort Lewis, WA; tank platoon sergeant, D Company, 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry, Fort Hood, TX; battalion master gunner, 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry, Fort Hood; tank commander, D Company, 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry, Fort Hood. Staff Sergeant Karl Hilton, British Army, is currently a staff instructor at the AFV Gunnery School, Lulworth Camp, UK. He received a certificate in education from the University of Plymouth. His military experience includes 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, Royal Dragoon Guards, and AFV Gunnery School. He has served in various leader and staff positions, to include Challenger 2 troop corporal/sergeant; corporal team commander, Maze Prison, Gird-wood Park, West Belfast; lance corporal team second in charge, Maze Prison, Lisburn, Northern Ireland; and trooper rifleman, Observation Post Fondant, Northern Ireland. May-June 2007 — 25