OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma Army National Guard Soldiers demonstrated their ability to rapidly mass troops and equipment during live-fire artillery training at Fort Sill March 7-9.

The Soldiers, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 160th Field Artillery Regiment, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, convoyed from armories across Oklahoma to Fort Sill March 7 and began two days of live-fire exercises.

Lt. Col. Brent Hill, commander of the 1-160th, emphasized that global conflicts highlight the critical role of artillery in modern warfare. He stressed that training to deploy rapidly, set up howitzers and fire effectively is key to saving lives in large-scale combat against peer and near-peer adversaries.

“The faster we can be at calculating data from the hill, to the gunline, to out the tube matters,” Hill said. “That means we are more lethal, more precise and more accurate for those personnel down range who need [fire support].”

To speed up their ability to fire on target, battalion leaders coordinated with the OKARNG’s Bravo Company, 2nd General Support Aviation Battalion, 149th Aviation Regiment, to deploy forward observers via CH-47 Chinook before the main body arrived at Fort Sill.

For Sgt. Nathan Treadway, a joint fire support specialist assigned to the 1-160th, the air insertion was his first time in a CH-47.

“The focus of the training was to get us used to flying into our area of operations,” Treadway said. “Maybe it’s a heavy contact area where we’re taking fire and we need to get in and [the helicopters] need to quickly get out. Being brand new to that, learning to embark and disembark the Chinook and learning how to pull security was important.”

Hill plans to integrate air movements into future training exercises to enhance rapid emplacement and firing, ensuring his Soldiers are prepared for future combat challenges.

“The 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team is a light infantry brigade combat team and we’re a light field artillery unit,” Hill said. “One of our goals and [mission essential] tasks is to conduct air assault operations, including sling loading our howitzers, equipment, personnel and gear we need to move forward on the battlefield to put ourselves into position to take out targets.”