SBCT Final EIS - Govsupport.us

Chapter 2 ⎯ Description of the Proposed Action and AlternativesB. It would take several years to complete these projects and they would not be ready to support therequirements of the 2/25 th until 2012 or 2013. Until then, the 2/25th would need to use outdatedranges at Fort Richardson as an interim solution. There is no range currently at Fort Richardson thatreplicates the urban training environment like the UAC. The MPMG would be planned for constructionon top of an existing small arms range (Figure 2–8). The UAC, a 2- to 3-acre urban trainingcomplex, would be sited on previously undisturbed land. In addition to firing ranges, Fort Richardson’svirtual training and simulations center that is used to train leaders on battle command taskswould need to be expanded to support the 2/25 th SBCT’s units and their commanders.Live-Fire Training Activities: The 2/25 th would conduct semi-annual individual and crew servedweapons qualifications in accordance with Army policy for maintaining trained and ready units.Crews, squads, and platoons would also conduct collective training qualifications at least once everysix months. Almost all of these live-fire training activities would take place on Fort Richardson’straining range complexes. In addition, larger units at the company and battalion level would also conductCALFEXs to ensure proper integration and synchronization of its different types of units incombat scenarios. As part of this alternative, the 2/25 th would conduct up to brigade level CALFEXsat DTA.The SBCT would conduct its live-fire training on the ranges described previously. The 4,105 Soldiersof the SBCT require approximately 13 million blank and live-training rounds of ammunition and explosivesto fully implement and meet live-fire training requirements. The 4/25 th requires approximately6.9 million rounds of munitions to execute its training strategies. This represents an 88 percentincrease over the IBCT in the number of ammunition rounds required for annual qualification. A vastmajority of this increase is needed for the SBCT’s increased numbers Soldiers to qualify on smallarms and crew-served weapons systems located at Fort Richardson. In addition to small arms training,the SBCT would conduct 105-mm MGS qualification on Fort Richardson’s MPTR. Indirect fire mortartraining capability is only available at Fort Richardson in the winter months, and DTA would supportadditional indirect fire training that could not be accommodated at Fort Richardson as part of thisalternative. Table 2–2 shows the differences in annual ammunition authorizations between the 2/25 thSBCT and the 4/25 th .Maneuver Training: The stationing of the 2/25 th SBCT in Alaska would involve an increase in theamount and scale of maneuver training that takes place there. Units at all levels must conduct maneuvertraining across the full spectrum of maneuver operations to be properly prepared for operationaldeployment. Small unit maneuvers at the squad and platoon level would typically take place at FortRichardson. Fort Richardson, with less than 70,000 total acres to accommodate all SBCT requirements,lacks the space for large maneuver areas to conduct maneuver training above the platoon orlimited company level. Because of this, all maneuvers above the company level for the 2/25 th wouldoccur at DTA and would involve the transport of the companies, battalions, and the BCT to DTA toconduct required maneuvers training.Platoons and companies of the SBCT would conduct up to 5 weeks of small unit maneuver trainingeach annually. The SBCT has 36 infantry and reconnaissance platoons compared to the modularIBCT’s 27. The number of platoon and company training rotations would be anticipated to increaseby 33 percent because of the increased numbers of platoons and companies in the SBCT.February 2008 2–33 2/25th SBCT Final EIS