Indirect Fire Infantryman

You are the ammo bearer or the assistant gunner. The section runs on whether the rounds are on the gun in the right order with the right charge when the FDC calls for fire.

You are part of a mortar crew — gunner, assistant gunner, ammo bearer, FDC computer — and you live in either the rifle company's weapons platoon (60mm M224) or the battalion mortar platoon (81mm M252 / 120mm M120 / M121). Most of your week is crew drill, tube and baseplate maintenance, FDC plotting practice, range prep, sustainment training on the 40 warrior skills, and the same detail rotation the rifle squads pull — CQ, motorpool, area beautification. Field problems are where the actual job lives: you set the gun on a chunk of frozen ground at 0300, you run the misfire procedure cold, and you carry tubes and baseplates that weigh what they weigh.

• 01Lay the gun for direction (deflection) and elevation off the M67 sight to the standard in TC 3-22.90 — set, level, lay, refer.
• 02Run the section's crew drill (set up, register, fire mission, displace) inside the time hack the section sergeant briefed.
• 03Plot a fire mission on the M16 plotting board before you ever touch the M32 LHMBC (Lightweight Handheld Mortar Ballistic Computer) — analog first, digital second.
• 04Zero and qualify the M4 on TC 3-22.9 standards. Mortarmen are infantrymen — qualifying expert is the floor, not a stretch.
• 05Function-check and clear stoppages on the M249 / M240 the section is built around — small crew, every soldier is a backup gunner.
• 06Maintain your kit so it survives a foot move with a tube or baseplate strapped to it — tape, dummy-cord, waterproof what matters.

• —ATP 3-21.90 — Tactical Employment of Mortars.
• —TC 3-22.90 — Mortars (gunnery, drills, firing tables).
• —ATP 3-21.8 — Infantry Platoon and Squad (you operate inside the rifle company too).
• —TC 3-22.9 — Rifle and Carbine.
• —STP 21-1-SMCT — Soldier's Manual of Common Tasks, Warrior Skills Level 1.
• —FM 7-22 — Holistic Health and Fitness (your ACFT plan lives here).

• —ACFT 500+ to be left alone, 540+ to start getting noticed for schools. The conditioning floor is non-negotiable when you carry the baseplate.
• —Crew qualification on Mortar Training Strategy gun tables to the section sergeant's standard — every soldier in the section trains every position.
• —Expert on the M4 every cycle. The mortar section that lets rifle qual slip becomes the section the line companies stop respecting.
• —12-mile foot march in under 3 hours with the section load — tube, baseplate, ammo cans are heavier than a rifleman's kit.

• —Calling "round complete" before the round is on the gun, on the charge, with the fuze set. The FDC time hack lies; the section sergeant reads it back at AAR.
• —Treating tube and baseplate PMCS as a formation event. The section sergeant who finds carbon in a firing pin at random checks remembers it for your next counseling.
• —Skipping the misfire procedure rehearsal because "we covered that in OSUT." Hot tube, hung round, no rehearsal — that is the safety stand-down that ends a training cycle.
• —Mishandling Class V (ammunition). One round unaccounted for at end-of-fire shuts down the range and pulls the company commander out of the BUB.
• —Posting OPSEC-relevant photos — tube serial number, unit patch, geotag at the firing point. The collection effort is real and your section pays the price.

The good cherry 11C is invisible the right way: tube and baseplate squared away, sight kit dummy-corded, the right round in the right hand at the right time, mouth shut, asking the questions during AAR instead of during the brief. By month nine the section sergeant is letting you call out the data from the M32 to the gunner; by month eighteen you are running the FDC plotting board in a live mission and on the short list for the Air Assault or Airborne slot the platoon sergeant has to give to someone.

You are the gunner now, or the senior ammo bearer the section sergeant trusts to run the gun when the gunner is at sick call. The next E-5 board is reading your gunnery scores and your school stack.

You run the gun as the primary gunner — you set, level, lay, refer, and you make the section sergeant's time hack on every fire mission. You train the new ammo bearer the same way you got trained. If you are corporal-pinned, you are running a 3-soldier gun crew (gunner, AG, ammo) for real: PCC/PCIs, ammo plan, comm plan, misfire procedure, casualty plan. If you are still SPC, you are the bench — running the FDC during half the live missions, the M2 in the M1064A3 turret, the additional duty (arms room key holder, supply, training NCO assistant) that the section cannot live without. The IMLC (Infantry Mortar Leader Course) conversation is starting to happen around you.

• 01Brief a gun-crew level fire mission set — situation, mission, registration plan, ammo allocation, displacement plan — without notes.
• 02Run a PCC/PCI as a checklist with real consequences — sight kit, aiming posts, baseplate stakes, M32 LHMBC battery and load, ammo accountability.
• 03Compute a fire mission on the M16 plotting board AND the M32 LHMBC — the FDC fight has to survive a dead battery and a lost GPS lock.
• 04Run the section's misfire and hot-tube procedure cold, in the dark, with a hung round in the tube. The procedure is the difference between a stand-down and a continuation.
• 05Operate the M1064A3 mortar carrier (ABCT) or the M1129 Stryker MC variant (SBCT) as a crewman — driver, gunner, or VC depending on platform — and run the onboard fire control with the MFCS (Mortar Fire Control System).
• 06Call for fire to the TC 3-09.81 standard — even from inside a mortar section, the section has to talk in the same procedure the FO uses.

• —ATP 3-21.90 — Tactical Employment of Mortars (own this manual, do not just read it).
• —TC 3-22.90 — Mortars (gunnery tables, drills, firing data).
• —TC 3-09.81 — Field Artillery Manual Cannon Gunnery (call-for-fire reference shared with the FOs).
• —ATP 3-21.71 — Mechanized Infantry Platoon and Squad (Bradley) if you are in an ABCT mortar section.
• —TC 3-21.76 — Ranger Handbook (the small-unit leadership backbone the entire community quotes).
• —ADP 6-22 — Army Leadership and the Profession.

• —EIB tab on your blouse — the same Expert Infantryman Badge the riflemen chase. Mortarmen who let EIB slip stop getting respected by the line companies.
• —Air Assault and/or Airborne wings if your unit lane supports it. Both are pre-sergeant resume builders and visible competitiveness in a small MOS.
• —ACFT 540+ minimum, 580+ if you are positioning for IMLC or the Ranger packet — the conditioning floor for the gunner who carries a baseplate is real.
• —BLC (Basic Leader Course) — required to pin sergeant. Get the slot before your platoon sergeant has to fight for it; 11C BLC slots can be tight.
• —Be the section SME on one piece of the mission set — gunnery, FDC plotting, mounted fire control, ammo handling — owned, not just qualified.

• —Coasting on EIB because "mortars are technical, not tactical." The senior NCOs in the brigade do not draw that line and neither does the cutoff board.
• —Skipping the BLC packet because the slot is "probably next quarter." 11C is small; the slot evaporates and your peer in the next battalion takes it.
• —Running a PCI for new ammo bearers without reading their counseling. They are watching whether the standard is real or a paperwork drill.
• —Mishandling a sensitive item — sight kit, M32 LHMBC, NVG, radio. The MFCS components are accountable property; one item missing at end-of-cycle is in the company commander's office that afternoon.
• —Treating the FDC plotting board as a "backup" you do not have to practice. The day the LHMBC dies in a contested mission is the day the section that practiced the board keeps firing.

The good Specialist 11C is the gunner the section sergeant puts on the most important fire mission without thinking — the registration, the danger-close, the night displacement. The good Corporal is the one whose gun crew beats the section's time hack consistently, whose privates can plot a mission on the M16 board in the dark, and whose IMLC packet is already in the platoon sergeant's folder when the next slot drops.

You are an NCO now. You own a gun section — gunner, AG, ammo — or you are the FDC NCOIC running the plotting fight for the platoon. The Mortar Leader Course path is the visible competitiveness signal in this community.

You run a 3-4 soldier gun section or you sit FDC NCOIC over the section's plotting fight. You write monthly DA 4856 counselings on each soldier, you inspect the gun, you run section-level live fire to the Mortar Training Strategy gun tables, and you brief your platoon sergeant on bottom-up readiness — sleep, finances, family, training, gun status. You will spend more time on the M32 LHMBC, the MFCS sustainment, and the section's registration data than you expect. You will still be on the gun at 0530, but you will also be writing the NCOER input on your ammo bearer at 2100.

• 01Write a clean, legally defensible DA 4856 counseling — Plan of Action specific, measurable, and signed before the soldier walks out.
• 02Run a section live-fire mission set (registration, fire-for-effect, displacement, re-lay) to the ARTEP-MTP / Mortar Training Strategy standard.
• 03Brief a section-level OPORD annex inside the company OPORD — fires plan, ammo plan, displacement plan, casualty plan, terrain model the privates understand.
• 04Run the FDC fight on the M32 LHMBC with the M16 plotting board as the fallback — solve a mission in under the time hack with the LHMBC dead.
• 05Manage a casualty under fire from inside the gun crew — TCCC tier 2 / Combat Lifesaver+ behavior, the mortar section's medic is the maneuver platoon's medic on a good day and yours alone on a bad one.
• 06Build the section's pre-combat ritual — gun check, sight check, ammo check, comm check, misfire rehearsal — before the platoon sergeant has to ask.

• —ATP 3-21.90 — Tactical Employment of Mortars (own it cover-to-cover).
• —TC 3-22.90 — Mortars (gunnery, drills, firing tables — every section sergeant's reference).
• —ATP 3-21.10 — Infantry Rifle Company (you operate inside the rifle company's scheme of fires).
• —AR 600-20 — Army Command Policy (SHARP, EO, leadership accountability).
• —AR 600-8-19 — Enlisted Promotions and Reductions (you sign these now).
• —TC 7-22.7 — The Army NCO Guide; ADP 6-22 — Army Leadership.

• —IMLC (Infantry Mortar Leader Course) at Fort Moore on the radar — ~28 academic days, voluntary, the visible mortarman competitiveness signal.
• —BLC graduate (required), ALC packet built and ready when the slot drops.
• —ACFT 560+ as a floor — your soldiers do not respect a section sergeant who fails the test they have to pass with a baseplate on their back.
• —Section "T" rating on the Mortar Training Strategy gun tables you run as section sergeant.
• —Promotion points stacked — weapons quals, schools, college (CLEP / DSST / TA), correspondence (DLC / structured self-development).

• —Counseling soldiers verbally. If it is not in writing, it did not happen and the company commander cannot defend you.
• —Letting the FDC plotting fight drift because "we always run digital." Next live-fire the LHMBC dies and the mission times out — the platoon sergeant reads it at AAR.
• —Skipping risk management on the live mission. A hot tube without a written misfire procedure on the gun is the safety stand-down that pulls the battalion off the range.
• —Hiding a SHARP / EO / suicidal-ideation issue from the chain. The unit, the soldier, and your career all need it in the system within 24 hours.
• —Going to the LT instead of the platoon sergeant with section-internal problems. The chain runs through your PSG for a reason.

The good SGT 11C is the section sergeant the platoon sergeant trusts with the danger-close mission and the night displacement at the same time. His gun crew beats the time hack at FTX-1 and stays beating it at FTX-3. His ammo bearer is a gunner-in-training by month 9. His IMLC packet is built; his ALC packet is built; his section's NCOER bullets are honest and the senior rater calls him by name when board season opens.

You are the senior section sergeant on the platform — 60mm in the rifle company, 81mm or 120mm in the battalion mortar platoon. The platoon sergeant is grooming you for his job; the rifle company commander is reading your fires plan.

You run the senior section in the mortar platoon — typically two guns and 8-10 soldiers — or you are the platoon's senior NCO bench when the platoon sergeant is at the BUB. You build training schedules, sign for the platoon's serialized gear (tubes, baseplates, sight kits, M32 LHMBCs, MFCS components, M67 sights), conduct quarterly counselings, defend the platoon's training input at the QTB, and translate the rifle company commander's scheme of fires into something the section sergeants can rehearse. You will brief brigade-level fire-support coordination as the senior mortar voice. You will also still be on the gun line when the platoon needs three sections firing simultaneously.

• 01Develop and defend a Quarterly Training Brief (QTB) input for the platoon's mortar gunnery — Mortar Training Strategy aligned, ammo-bid, range-bid, METL-aligned.
• 02Run a platoon-level LFX from concept to AAR — risk assessment (DD 2977), MEDEVAC plan, surface danger zones, ammo accountability, post-fire weapons check.
• 03Brief a battalion-level fires-plan annex — register the guns, integrate with the FO net, sequence the displacement, sustain the ammo flow.
• 04Manage the platoon's readiness across the four pillars — personnel, equipment (tubes, sight kits, MFCS, vehicles), training, individual training records — and report it honestly.
• 05Mentor your section sergeants on how to be section sergeants. If they leave your platoon as bad NCOs, that is on you.
• 06Run a mounted mortar platoon (M1129 Stryker or M1064A3 carriers) through gunnery and a CTC rotation as the senior NCO inside the platform — the vehicle fight is the daily fight.

• —ATP 3-21.90 + TC 3-22.90 — Tactical Employment of Mortars and Gunnery (own both at the platoon level).
• —ATP 3-21.10 — Infantry Rifle Company; ATP 3-09.50 — The Field Artillery Cannon Battery (fires integration reference).
• —AR 350-1 — Army Training and Leader Development (you build training to this).
• —ATP 5-19 — Risk Management; DA Form 7566 / DD 2977 — Composite Risk Management Worksheet.
• —AR 600-8-19 — Enlisted Promotions; AR 623-3 — Evaluation Reporting System (you write NCOERs now).
• —ATP 6-22.1 — The Counseling Process; ADP 6-22 — Army Leadership.

• —ALC graduate (required), SLC packet ready when promotion to E-7 enters the discussion.
• —IMLC graduate is the differentiator at this rank — the platoon sergeant slate without it is a narrower slate.
• —ACFT 560+ minimum; the platoon's aggregate is on the brigade slide.
• —NCOER bullets on the OFFICIAL achievement list — action-result-impact format, real metrics (gun-section "T" rates, training-event completion, mission times), no fluff.
• —Platform-specific master credential where it applies — Stryker Master Trainer (SBCT), Bradley Master Gunner for the 120mm carrier crew in ABCT.

• —Writing the NCOER as a wish-list. Senior raters read every one and remember the SSG who inflated. In a small MOS the read propagates fast.
• —Skipping risk management on the LFX. The CO will not stand by you when a soldier loses a hand to a hung round and DA 2977 is blank.
• —Letting one section sergeant carry the platoon because he is "your guy." The other two notice; the NCOER profile shows it; the platoon sergeant's read of you closes.
• —Letting tube / sight kit / MFCS accountability slide on a movement day. One serial number missing eats the company schedule for a week and pulls the BN CO into the conversation.
• —Hiding platoon problems from the PSG to look good. He will find out — usually from the rifle company commander, in the worst way.

The good SSG 11C runs a section the rifle company commander names in the slide as "fires is solid." His gun crews pass gunnery tables at the brigade's highest rate. His section sergeants are IMLC- and ALC-ready when the slot drops. He has the platoon sergeant's NCOER bullets in the bank when the company senior NCO board reads. The brigade master gunner equivalent for mortars knows him by name.

You are the platoon sergeant of a mortar platoon — the company's organic indirect fire (60mm) or the battalion's 81mm / 120mm platoon. The LT signs. You execute. The CSM reads the platoon's fires posture every BUB.

You run the platoon's entire enlisted side — training, evaluations, schools, promotions, discipline, equipment, family readiness. You build the mortar LT into the battalion's next fires officer; you write four-to-five section-sergeant NCOERs per cycle; you defend the platoon's gunnery readiness to the battalion commander when fires posture comes up. You operate at company and battalion level — the rifle company commander quotes your fires plan, the battalion S3 builds the calendar around your range bids, and the brigade-level CSM evaluates you against every other platoon sergeant in the battalion. The mortar community is small; the senior NCOs at brigade and division know each other.

• 01Build a quarterly training plan that survives contact with the S3 calendar — Mortar Training Strategy gunnery cycle, ammo-bid, range-bid, METL-aligned, locked.
• 02Write four NCOERs per cycle that the senior rater can defend at the brigade NCOER review.
• 03Run a platoon collective live fire to the ARTEP-MTP "T" rating — gunnery tables, lane validation, sustainment training, displacement under contact.
• 04Mentor three SSGs into SFC-board-ready candidates without losing your edge on your own SLC and MLC.
• 05Run a CSM-quality sensing session in a small-MOS platoon and translate it into actions the LT and CO will fund.
• 06Operate as a company-level acting 1SG for the weapons company or battalion mortar platoon — accountability formation, sick call, casualty notification, family readiness, all of it.

• —ATP 3-21.90 + TC 3-22.90 — Mortars (the platoon sergeant is the unit subject-matter expert).
• —ATP 3-09.50 — Field Artillery Cannon Battery; ATP 3-21.10 — Infantry Rifle Company (fires integration up and down).
• —AR 600-20 — Army Command Policy (you enforce it).
• —AR 350-1 + DA PAM 350-9 — Training; ATP 7-22.01 — Holistic Health and Fitness Testing.
• —AR 623-3 + DA PAM 623-3 — Evaluation Reporting (your NCOERs go up against every other platoon's).
• —TC 7-22.7 — The Army NCO Guide; ATP 6-22.6 — Army Team Building.

• —SLC graduate, MLC packet built — required for E-8 board competitiveness.
• —IMLC graduate on the record brief — the institutional credential the senior NCO mortar slate reads.
• —Platoon ACFT pass rate at or above 95%; platoon CTC rotation rating in the upper third of the battalion.
• —Platoon-level zero relievable incidents in your tenure — no negligent discharges, no DUIs you missed coming, no sensitive item loss.
• —NCOER profile clean — Top Block / Most Qualified rate consistent with the platoon's actual performance and the small-MOS visibility.

• —Letting one section drift on gunnery because you trust the section sergeant. That is the section the brigade master-gunner-equivalent inspection will visit.
• —Confusing being "tight" with the LT with being aligned with the LT. The platoon needs you to push back honestly, in private.
• —Carrying a personal feud with a peer PSG into the company. Battalion-level NCOERs notice and the mortar community is small.
• —Skipping the family-readiness piece because "the spouses run that." You sign the unit status report on family readiness for a reason.
• —Going to the CSM around your 1SG. You will be wrong and you will be relieved.

The good mortar PSG runs a platoon that the battalion CSM is willing to send to the worst rotation because they will not embarrass anyone on the fires net. His LT pins captain on time. His section sergeants pin SFC. His soldiers get IMLC, ALC, and the Air Assault / Airborne slots the platoon sergeant was supposed to fight for. He is on the short list for First Sergeant of a weapons company or HHC before he sits the MLC seat.

You are the standard-bearer for the formation, and inside the small mortar community you are also the institutional voice — the senior NCO every mortar platoon sergeant in the brigade calls when the gunnery slide does not survive the BUB.

As 1SG you run a company — typically a weapons company, a headquarters company, or an infantry rifle company — 100-130 soldiers, four platoons, the orderly room, the supply room, the training calendar, and the boundary between what the CO needs and what the soldiers can deliver. As SGM/CSM you advise a battalion or brigade commander on every enlisted decision and you set the standard for hundreds to thousands of soldiers. On the MSG staff track you may sit as the brigade fire-support senior NCO, the JRTC/NTC senior OC/T for fires, the TRADOC senior mortar cadre at the Infantry School at Fort Moore, or the institutional voice on mortar gunnery doctrine. You write fewer NCOERs but they are the ones that pick the next mortar platoon sergeant slate.

• 01Run a 1SG's call that produces actions, not anxiety — accountability, sick call, training, discipline, family readiness, finance — in 30 minutes.
• 02Build a company training and tasking calendar that the CO can defend at battalion BUB without surprises — including the platoon's mortar gunnery cycle if applicable.
• 03Mentor four PSGs and the senior staff NCOs as the next 1SG cohort; mentor the brigade's mortar platoon sergeants as the institutional bench.
• 04Walk the line during a battalion ARTEP and identify the broken systems before the OC/T does — including fires integration with the maneuver companies.
• 05Run a Red Cross / casualty notification with the dignity it requires — you are the face the family sees.
• 06Brief the battalion / brigade command team on enlisted morale, retention, and the mortar community's health — slot fill, IMLC pipeline, NCO development.

• —AR 600-20 — Army Command Policy (you and the CO own this together).
• —AR 600-8-2 — Suspension of Favorable Personnel Actions; AR 27-10 — Military Justice (you are in the room).
• —AR 638-8 — Army Casualty Program (every senior NCO must know this).
• —AR 350-1 — Training; AR 25-2 — Cybersecurity (signed by you as part of the unit's compliance posture).
• —ATP 3-21.90 + TC 3-22.90 — Mortars (you are the institutional reference for the small-MOS senior NCO community).
• —The 1SG Course / USASMA / SMA-published reading list — you are now expected to consume doctrine and translate it down.

• —MLC graduate; SMA-selected for SGM-Academy fellowship if SGM-track.
• —Company UCMJ rate, retention rate, and SHARP/EO climate index in the top tier of the battalion.
• —USASMA / Sergeants Major Course completion before competing for command CSM slate.
• —Personal NCOER profile defensible at brigade — the bar for command CSM is whether your rated NCOs got selected.
• —Zero senior-NCO-level integrity incidents — financial, fraternization, OPSEC. One ends the career permanently at this rank, and the small mortar community means the read propagates everywhere.

• —Going public with disagreement with the CO. You take the disagreement in the office; you walk out aligned.
• —Confusing seniority with leverage. The Army keeps senior NCOs who serve the formation, not the ones who run their own program.
• —Stopping personal physical training because you are "too senior." Soldiers stop respecting the chevrons when the body stops carrying them — and 11C senior NCOs cannot let conditioning slip because the formation is watching.
• —Letting a PSG run a bad climate because he is your guy. Battalion CSM finds out, brigade finds out, and the slate gets read at the next CSM conference.
• —Confusing the warm-up to retirement with the job. Until you walk out of the formation for the last time, the formation is your job.

The good senior 11C is the senior NCO every mortarman in the brigade knows by face and reputation. He is the reason a re-enlistment line forms in the weapons company after a hard rotation. The CO trusts him with the worst news at 0200; the rifle company commanders trust his fires plan; the soldiers trust him to walk away from a fight he cannot win only when he absolutely cannot win it. His 1SG diamond tour produced two platoon sergeants who pinned MSG, two LTs who made command-list, and a weapons company climate the brigade names in the slate.