PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. - With the surge to Afghanistan now underway, thousands of XM-153 Common Remotely Operated Weapons Stations, known as CROWS, will soon be taking flight to strengthen U.S. Army forces in theater.

Program Executive Office Soldier is ramping up its stateside logistics efforts and is in the process of establishing three new CROWS support sites in Afghanistan. The sites -- under PEO Soldier 's Project Manager for Soldier Weapons -- will manage the fielding, training, and sustainment of the XM-153 CROWS.

The CROWS systems mount what is essentially a small turret on top of Army combat vehicles that provides Soldiers the ability to employ their machine guns while using a control grip and video monitor from inside the protection of an armored vehicle. There are currently about 1,000 CROWS systems already in use in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We are embedding the new CROWS support sites with units that are farther afield to enhance our support of the warfighter," said Lt. Col. Michael Ascura, product manager for crew-served weapons. "We fielded one new site in December and will bring two more online by April in Afghanistan."

The complexity of the fielding is magnified by the sheer number of military vehicles and vehicle variants that are now employing CROWS; including MRAPS, Humvees, route clearance vehicles, the new MRAP All-Terrain Vehicles or MATVs, and others.

Each vehicle requires customized vehicle integration kits to bring the units online, PEO Soldiers officials explained. They said CROWS field service representatives are charged with meeting those challenges in the combat zone as they staff support sites in some of the toughest and most dangerous environments on earth.

'Building in a Box'

Staffed by Department of Defense civilians and contractors serving six-month deployments, the CROWS support sites need to serve as a one-stop shop in theater, PEO Soldier officials said.

Maj. Michael Pottratz, assistant product manager for crew-served weapons, manages the logistical field support of the entire system. To accomplish his mission, he has devised a "building in a box" concept that enables field service representatives to independently set up support sites in a matter of days. All they need is a piece of real estate and some JP-8 to get underway.

"We wanted to put together a custom kit for our field service reps that enables them to become fully operational as soon as possible," Pottratz said. "All the components necessary to establish the support site come in a single container: tools, equipment, computers, classroom space and materials, generators, air conditioners, even a Gator ATV. Our FSRs can provide CROWS support within 48 hours after offloading."

Once operational, FSRs can begin comprehensive, hands-on training sessions with Soldiers, which run 40-60 hours. To begin, Soldiers learn all the functions of the sensors and fire control system, including how to lase and engage targets. Soldiers also learn how to mount four different weapons systems on the CROWS, including the M-2, Mk-19, M-240B, and M-249 machine guns.

Soldiers conclude their training with a day and night operation, and fire live ammunition. To enhance a unit's operational capabilities, Ascura recommends that every member of a unit receives training on the system, not just operators. CROWS training provides leaders with critical knowledge on how best to employ CROWS to support a diverse set of missions, he said.

With its day and night cameras, CROWS provides target identification and surveillance capabilities that are well beyond what small-unit leaders have had previously.

"Soldiers learn how they can turn 'area weapons,' such as the M-2, into precision engagement weapons," Ascura said. "Beyond the guns, leaders begin to think about how to integrate the system capabilities into their tactics, techniques and procedures. In the past, Soldiers had to perform the same functions with the naked eye from an exposed position in the turret. Those days are coming to an end."

As a next step, PM Soldier Weapons is developing a stateside home-station training program. The initiative is designed to enable a unit to be operationally ready upon arrival in theater and improve Soldiers' confidence on the system's ability to successfully support their mission.

Field Service Goes Mobile

When it comes to FSRs, "instructors repair, and repairers instruct," said a PEO Soldier official. That means experts that deliver the training often find themselves working in all types of environments. Many units are positioned in remote areas, and getting a damaged CROWS system back for support may be difficult given the unit's mission. Moreover, travel along poor or nonexistent roads exposes Soldiers and FSRs to ambushes or IEDs.

To reduce risk, FSRs will travel out to unit locations by air, performing on the spot servicing for CROWS. FSRs jump on supply helicopters with their bag of tools and parts and are flown hundreds of miles to remote outposts.

Gary Decker, Crows II FSR fielding team chief at PM Soldier Weapons, manages the FSR program out of Picatinny Arsenal, N.J. A former Marine and combat veteran of the Gulf War, Decker himself has 24 months of deployments between Iraq and Afghanistan as an FSR. On one of his most memorable trips, he flew out to a fire base to repair a CROWS system for a Special Forces team.

"Helo supply runs can be days apart and sometimes an FSR can find himself sitting in an outpost for 10 days after finishing a 10-minute repair job," Decker ," said. "At that point, the FSR makes the best use of his time by supporting the unit any way possible. When you get back, you turn in the damaged parts and get ready to go on the next mission."

With thousands of CROWS on their way to Afghanistan, there is no shortage of work to be done to get the new systems in place and deployed, PEO Soldier officials said. They added hat soon, thousands of Soldiers will be able to employ all the advanced capabilities of this high-tech weapons system while benefiting from an increased level of safety.

Decker said the Army has come a long way from the days when Soldiers drove around in Humvees with no doors and with the M-2 gunner riding on the top with nothing but a flak vest on.

"In Desert Storm, we were totally exposed," Decker said. "Then we armored up with the gunner protection kit. Now, Soldiers are coming out of the turret thanks to CROWS. It's no surprise that the Soldiers just love it. CROWS saves lives."

Anger, frustration and a hunger for revenge are running high among U.S. Marines as casualties mount on the frontline of the battle against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.

On a base near Marjah, a Taliban stronghold in Helmand province, Marines are grieving the deaths of a sergeant and corporal killed by the remote-controlled bombs that have become the scourge of the long-running conflict.

Commanders try to keep the men's rage in check, aware that winning over an Afghan public wary of the foreign military presence and furious about mounting civilian casualties is as crucial as any battlefield success.
"It causes a lot of frustration. My men want revenge, that is only natural," says First Lt. Aaron MacLean, 2nd Platoon commander of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Regiment.

"But I keep telling them that the rules are the rules for a reason. If we simply go crazy and start shooting at everything, in the long run we will lose this war because we will lose the support of the population."

He too is frustrated, accusing the Taliban of manipulating the rules of engagement by using women and children as shields and shooting from hidden positions before dropping their weapons and standing out in the open.

"They know we can't shoot them if they don't carry guns or without positive identification. They are fighting us at another level now," MacLean said.

MacLean recently led his unit on a routine foot patrol near Marjah, expected to be the scene of a major offensive this month to drive the insurgents from one of their last bastions of control.

What the Marines encountered was a likely precursor of the battle to come.

They were met by fierce gunfire from Taliban gunmen who pinned them down for three hours at the expense of two of their men.

One corporal stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED) --- the remote-controlled bombs now the main weapon in the Taliban arsenal and which military intelligence officials say claim up to 90 percent of foreign troop lives.

The corporal's legs were blown off and he was thrown yards into the air.

A second IED killed a sergeant who rushed to the corporal's aid as bullets flew everywhere, MacLean said.

Three others were wounded in the clash, making it one of the bloodiest days for U.S. Marines since President Obama's December announcement of a fresh troop surge in the war to eradicate the Taliban.

The death toll of foreign soldiers fighting in Afghanistan under U.S. and NATO command hit 44 in January --- the highest for the month since the war began more than eight years ago --- compared with 25 in January 2009.

The number of Americans who died last month in the conflict now in its ninth year was almost double the number for January last year, at 29 compared with 15, according to the icasualties.org website, which keeps a running tally.

The U.S. and NATO currently deploy 113,000 troops in Afghanistan, with another 40,000 due over the course of the year as part of a renewed strategy that emphasizes development and the "reconciliation" of Taliban fighters.

Most of the incoming troops will be deployed in Helmand, which along with neighboring Kandahar province 
has been the hub of the insurgency since the Taliban regime was removed from power in late 2001.

MacLean's unit is among the first Marine outfits to be sent into Helmand since the surge was announced.

On the day of the ambush, Marines hunkered down in tents inside the camp as information about the encounter came in.

Some had tears in their eyes as the names of casualties were made known. Others held tightly to their weapons and yelled at their enemy on the horizon.

"We were attacked treacherously. We came under fire from everywhere, but the rules of engagement prevent me from doing my job," said Lance Cpl. Mark Duzick, who was in the unit that was ambushed.

Outside a tent housing the Marine unit responsible for firing mortars stands an improvised cross bearing the inscription: "Here lies the 81st, death by stand down."

Last year was the worst yet for foreign troops fighting in Afghanistan, with 520 soldiers dead, up from 295 in 2008. More troops will mean more casualties, military experts say.

For the Afghan people, too, 2009 was the deadliest, with the U.N. putting civilian deaths at 2,412 for the year, compared to 2,118 in 2008.

While most are caused by the Taliban, the insurgents easily exploit civilian casualties to spread distrust among the public for foreign and Afghan troops.

As the nature of the fight has changed, with the Taliban increasingly using suicide attacks and IEDs, there had been no traditional winter hiatus and defence ministry spokesman General Zahir Azimi said spring is likely to be ferocious.

"We will have the most intense clashes come the spring, and will shed the most blood this year," he told AFP.