SOUDA BAY, Greece – It’s a pretty spectacular sight to watch a Patriot missile being fired.

      In the blink of an eye, white-hot flames erupt from the missile’s exhaust as it ignites and punches through its protective weapons canister with a loud pop. A fraction of a second later the missile is locked on target and screaming through the sky faster than the speed of sound, leaving only a billowing trail of white smoke behind. Within seconds the missile intercepts and destroys its target thousands of meters away.

      It’s a sight Soldiers of U.S. Army Europe's 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade say they don’t get to enjoy often enough. They certainly couldn’t say that in late March, however, when brigade air defenders participated in a live-fire exercise on the Greek island of Crete.

     “This was definitely one of the most exciting things I’ve ever seen in my life,” exclaimed Pfc. Robert Brown, a Patriot crewmember assigned to the brigade’s Bravo Battery, 5th Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery, after witnessing the Patriot launch. “Seeing the missiles fire -- there is nothing like that. It was pretty extraordinary.”

     Brown was one of nearly 100 Soldiers from the V Corps brigade who traveled to Crete to conduct the exercise on the NATO Missile Firing Installation near the port city of Souda Bay.

At left, two Soldiers from 5th Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery, talk with a dock worker as they stand by and wait for their equipment to be unloaded from a ship at the port in Souda Bay on the Greek island of Crete.  The cargo ship took nearly a month to arrive after leaving port in Germany. At right, Soldier from 5th Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery uses a tag line to help keep a missile canister steady as a crane moves it into position to be loaded on to a launcher. (U.S. Army photos by Staff Sgt. John Queen, 69th ADA Brigade Public Affairs)

     
     Chief Warrant Officer 5 Donald Hendricks from the brigade’s Headquarters Battery, the officer-in-charge of the mission, said the exercise was the culmination of more than four months of training by Soldiers of the 5-7th.

     “All of the certification these guys go through ... this is the capstone to that, the icing on the cake,” Hendricks said.

     Soldiers from the Hanau, Germany-based battalion began training for the live-fire exercise in October. Hendricks explained that the training was an intense and sometimes stressful process monitored by the battalion’s electronic missile maintenance officer.

     During this process the launching system crews take various practical tests on crew drill procedures that must meet exacting standards. The tests cover everything from the systems march order and emplacement to actually firing the missiles. A Patriot crew has to pass the training and be certified to participate in the live-fire event.

     “For a crew to able to fire the system it must be Table VIII certified,” Hendricks said. “In this case we had two units that were not only Table VIII certified, but Table XII qualified as well.”

     The Table XII certification is an advanced version of the standard crew drill and requires crewmembers to train in limited visibility while wearing their full chemical protective suits and protective masks.

     The March 20-29 exercise was the first time the battalion has fired a missile in three years.

     Hendricks explained that Army standards require every Patriot battery to fire one missile every two years if missiles are available.

     “The last time we did a live-fire was in 2005,” he said. “There were two live-fires scheduled since then, but due to budget constraints with the Global War on Terrorism we were unable to make the needed logistical preparations.”

     Hendricks said missiles were available this year and Lt. Gen. Kenneth Hunzeker, the V Corps commanding general, pushed the exercise for the brigade.

At left, Pfc. Robert Brown of Bravo Battery, 5th Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery, attaches a grounding wire to a Patriot missile canister after it has been loaded on to an ammunition truck at the NATO Missile Firing Installation on the Greek island of Crete. With the final turn of a torque wrench, Pfc. Michael Hibdon, right, of Delta Battery,  5th Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery makes sure the missile canister safely secured to the launching station.  (U.S. Army photos by Staff Sgt. John Queen, 69th ADA Brigade Public Affairs)

    
     “He thought it would be a good to do it -- which was a good thing for us,” Hendricks said.

     For this live-fire the brigade was able to get 10 missiles, he added, that were designed prior to Operation Desert Storm and originally manufactured to serve in an anti-aircraft role.

     “We’re using these missiles because they are no longer part of our wartime inventory,” Hendricks explained. “We have a stockpile of them which would otherwise have to be destroyed.”

      “It’s important to note that any of the tactical ballistic missile engagements we performed represent a large success, since we exercised these missiles to the limits of their capabilities.”

     The battalion successfully destroyed two types of aerial targets during the exercise. The first four were Supersonic Target Rockets designed to mimic an incoming tactical ballistic missile.

     To counter these, the launching systems fired two Patriots in succession in what is called “modified ripple fire.”

     The systems also engaged drone targets with one single-shot launch and a two-missile salvo.

     Hendricks said the exercise was a huge success. “I think it went outstanding. There were no problems at all; (there were) little glitches here and there, but no significant problems.”

     Many of the crewmembers said this was the best live-fire event they have experienced.

     “This is my second time to Crete and my fourth live-fire,” said Sgt. Trevor Howard, a launcher crewman with Bravo Battery, 5-7th. “I would say it was the best out of the four. The fact that we fired 10 missiles in one day; I believe that is the first time a Patriot unit has done that.”