Triple Seven: Arty Marines Placing the Gun
Staff Sergeant Kristopher J. Battles, USMCR
Acquisition Number: 2012.25.9
Medium: Oil on Watercolor Paper

In 2009, near Forward Operating Base Dwyer in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, the crew of an M777 155mm howitzer—called a Triple Seven—sets up their battery precisely. This “lightweight” towed artillery piece went into service in 2005 and is served by an 8-person crew. The Marine Corps used this weapon in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in 2017 the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit deployed to Syria with M777s against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.