Degradation of Artillery Skills
Abstract
Thesis: Continuous non-standard/non-artillery deployments in support of the Global War on Terror (GWOT) conducted by artillery units over the past five years has caused severe degradation of artillery skills and the ability to fire accurate and predicted fires. Over the past five years the American war machine that drove Saddam Hussain from power has transitioned into a force that must contend with an insurgency that originally they were not prepared for. Fire and maneuver and combined arms doctrine gave way to CounterInsurgency Operations (COIN). This transition has required the Marine Corps to react to shortfalls with manning requirements for missions they are unaccustomed. They filled those shortfalls by creating "provisional" missions and Individual Augments (IA) that have generally been filled by the artillery community. In order to regain the capability of accurate, predicted fire and properly incorporate artillery into the doctrine of fire and maneuver the focus of training needs to shift back to conventional training and prepare for high-intensity conflict. The artillery regiments must have relief from the continuous support of personnel to transition teams and individual augment billets for higher headquarters staffs in order to retain senior enlisted and officers that are vital for training junior Marines. The Marine Corps also must deploy battalions in support of Regimental Combat Teams to retain a vital relationship and give the Regimental Commander the fire support expertise that is found at the battalion level not at the battery level.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA510297
Entities
People
- Timothy M. Slinger
Organizations
- Marine Corps University