As US-backed Syrian Defense Forces clear ground around Raqqa, recently liberating roughly 386 square miles from Islamic State control, a Marine artillery battery is hard at work, shelling the ever-living crap of out of ISIS.
On June 21, the Corps released several images showing arty Marines dropping rounds around the clock.
In May, the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit returned to the states after the unit’s artillery battery fired 4,500 rounds at ISIS in support of Kurdish and Syrian Arab Forces isolating Raqqa, the Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria. The mission of the 11th MEU was handed over to another Marine unit in last month, presumably the 24th MEU, according to reporting by Marine Corps Times’ Jeff Schogol.
The recently released Marine Corps photos were taken by Sgt. Matthew Callahan, who is assigned to the 24th MEU, and they show just what arty “support” entails.
It means lobbing a ton of rounds from red-hot barrels of M777-A2 howitzers.
Check them out:
After setting up their guns on May 14, the Marines got to work.
On May 15, Marines fired M777-A2 howitzers in northern Syria in support of coalition partners there.
Though artillery positions provide support from a distance, their positions are often forward and isolated, requiring Marines to dig in and fortify the gun pits.
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