A Facelift for Fires

Abstract

"No branch of the Army has suffered a greater identity crisis than Field Artillery, as a result of transformation, COIN-centric operations and the non-standard manpower demands of OIF/OEF." These are the words of three maneuver brigade commanders in a white paper outlining one of the most alarming problems facing the Army today: the degradation of the field artillery to the point that delivery of lethal fires is no longer a simple task for most cannon battalions or fire support teams (FIST). The field artillery branch currently oversees eight separate enlisted specialties. For an officer to remain technically and tactically proficient in such a wide range of skill sets is virtually impossible. The two most perishable of these skill sets that are essential to the delivery of fires -- gunnery and fire support -- have grown more challenging and specific and each requires enough expertise to warrant its own officer specialty. To combat the atrophy of core competency/mission essential tasks, increase officer proficiency and retention, and negate the loss of division artillery (DIVARTY) the Army must create two separate officer MOS tracks within the field artillery branch.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 20, 2009
Accession Number
ADA510972

Entities

People

  • Patrick W. Henson

Organizations

  • Marine Corps University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Army
  • Artillery
  • Artillery Units
  • Dwell Time
  • Electronic Mail
  • Electronic Warfare
  • Fire Support
  • Information Operations
  • Job Satisfaction
  • Maneuvers
  • Marine Corps
  • Retraining
  • Standards
  • Task Forces
  • Training
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Economics
  • Military Leadership and Professional Education.
  • Military Science