2004 Knox Award co-winners.

F/7 FAR 25th Infantry Division

F Battery, 7th Field Artillery Regiment (F/7 FAR), 25th Infantry Division (Light), Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, is the co-winner of the 2004 Henry A. Knox Best Active Component (AC) Battery Award. F/7 FAR's commander is Captain Brendan C. Raymond with First Sergeant Anthony D. Cortez as his senior NCO advisor.

FY04 marked a historic time for the 25th Division and F Battery. As the US continued the Global War on Terrorism, Tropic Lightning Soldiers received deployment orders to Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).

In October 2003, the Big Guns Battery received a unique mission: to provide lethal and nonlethal 120-mm M120 mortar fires in direct support (DS) of the 3d Brigade Combat Team (BCT) for OEF. F Battery leadership quickly developed the critical individual and collective task training to transform the M198 artillery battery into an M120 mortar battery that could fight and win in combat.

At Schofield Barracks, F/7 FAR instituted an extensive physical training program to prepare Soldiers for the rigors of combat. The program's success provided the ability to adapt to new climates quickly and conduct combat operations.

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F Battery deployed in December 2003 to the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia, to train on the 120-mm mortar system. The firing platoons and their fire direction center (FDC) sections quickly mastered crew drills and technical fire direction and certified as 11C Mortarmen. Recognized as the elite firing battery of the 25th Division Artillery (Div Arty), F Battery quickly learned that its go-to-war mission as an M120 firing battery would split the battery and send it to four locations in Afghanistan.

In March 2004, F Battery began deploying to Afghanistan. 2d Mortar Platoon arrived and quickly occupied Forward Operating Base (FOB) Salerno in southeastern Afghanistan, 20 kilometers from the border with Pakistan. During the next three months, 2d Mortar Platoon conducted 22 combat missions, providing lethal and nonlethal fires in support of 1-501 Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR).

In April, the remainder of the battery echeloned into theater with the Combined Task Force (CTF) Bronco, 3d Brigade, 25th Division. 1st Mortar Platoon conducted several combat operations in the Zabul and Arghandab Provinces and occupied Firebase Tycz in the Deh Rawod Province, providing fires in support of Special Forces operational detachment alpha (OD-A).

3d Mortar Platoon occupied FOB Lagman in the Zabul Province to provide fires in support of 2-35 IN. Finally, 4th Mortar Platoon and the Battery Headquarters occupied Kandahar Army Airfield with a primary mission of providing fires and a secondary mission of conducting mounted and dismounted patrols in Kandahar Province.

With only five months in country, F Battery provided hundreds of safe, timely and accurate lethal and nonlethal fires in support of maneuver forces in contact.

The battery conducted joint combat and security operations with other government agencies, OD-A and Afghan Security Forces. The Big Guns represented the 25th Div Arty with distinction and conducted each mission with vigilance, professionalism and focus.

By mid-August 2004, operational needs compelled the division commander to order F Battery to employ its M198 howitzers in support of Coalition Forces in Regional Command East. F/7 FAR received its 155-mm M198 howitzers from Schofield Barracks and certified six howitzer sections and two FDCs in three days while simultaneously maintaining the ability to employ mortar systems in a DS role.

With the additional firepower, the battery made history by becoming the first American unit to fire a 155-mm artillery round inside Afghanistan. Collapsing all but 3d Mortar Platoon to perform the new M198 mission, F Battery deployed from Regional Command South to FOB Salerno in the Khowst Province. It remained there for the balance of its deployment, providing close supporting fires to 3/6 Marines, OD-A forces, other coalition and governmental forces and Afghan Security Forces along the Afghan-Pakistani Border.

3d Mortar Platoon deployed to FOB Asadabad in the Kunar Province to provide mortar fires in support of OD-A and provisional reconstruction team units in Regional Command East.

During the past year, the Soldiers, NCOs and officers of F Battery have spent countless hours preparing for and executing combat operations. When taken at face value, this is exactly the task of the majority of units in the Army. However, this firing battery not only provided lethal fires, but did so on two weapons systems in a combat environment and has blazed a path of excellence for all batteries to emulate--one of flexibility and absolute dedication to accomplish the mission. Big Guns!

A/1-37 FAR, 3/2 SBCT 

A Battery, 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment (A/1-37 FAR), 3d Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2d Infantry Division (3/2 SBCT), Fort Lewis, Washington, is co-winner of the 2004 Henry A. Knox best AC Battery Award. The battery commander is Captain Matthew P. Lillibridge with First Sergeant Mark T. Council as his NCO leader.

The Soldiers of A/1-37 FAR epitomized the phrase "flexible, capable and loyal" throughout the last year during combat operations in Iraq in support of the Army's first SBCT. The Steel Battery established the standard for excellence in the battalion and the Army as it developed emerging tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) for supporting an SBCT.

During an intensive train-up process at Fort Lewis and Udairi, Kuwait, Alpha battery set the standard for the battalion in several areas. It demonstrated competence and motivation while training on both Field Artillery and maneuver-oriented tasks in preparation for movement into and sustained combat operations in Iraq. Knowing the operational environment would require additional skill sets, they aggressively trained to achieve tasks new to the battery.

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Strong NCO leadership formed the core around which Steel Battery built a series of teams and consistently executed split-battery operations within the band of excellence. At any given time, the 60-man battery was assigned two to three tasks, each of which would have required the total focus of similarly manned and equipped units in the brigade.

During the brigade's first combat operations in and around Samarra, the battalion selected Steel Battery to provide counterstrike for the brigade. The battery laid guns from other batteries on multiple azimuths-of-fire to support 6400-mil operations "on the minute." It fired 65 missions, and on one occasion, its accurate fires forced the enemy to abandon 22 rockets prepared to engage a FOB. During the same time frame, the battery helped man a detainee processing facility for the 4th Infantry Division's Operation Ivy Blizzard.

Steel Battery excelled while executing nonstandard missions during its deployment. Upon arriving in Mosul, the battery assumed responsibility for an area of operations (AO) larger than 1,500 square kilometers. Within this AO, it conducted direct actions capturing antiIraqi forces (AIF). It also conducted civil-military operations (CMO), working closely with local governments. Its joint operations with fledgling Iraqi police forces were significant in enhancing the professionalism and building the confidence of those forces.

2d Platoon operated independently and was geographically separated from the battery headquarters on a separate FOB. From January to June, it maintained security and supervised the largest fuel transfer point in Iraq where local officials coordinated and supervised the reception and distribution of more than two billion liters of refined fuel valued at more than $285 million. After the transfer of sovereignty, the battery taught, coached and mentored the staff of the Northern Iraq Oil Company.

2d Platoon's mission, completed with outstanding professionalism, may prove to be the decisive reform of the economic campaign in Iraq.

A Battery's Soldiers conducted combat patrols, countermortar and counter-rocket patrols, cordon and search missions, and stability and support operations (SASO). The battery's successes significantly improved the quality of life for outlying towns in the Mosul area and established a foundation for a more secure region. The battery established health clinics, schools, water systems and electricity in towns that had never before had these services. It emplaced force protection measures for police traffic control points (TCPs) and barriers around government facilities and provided security for critical infrastructure.

In June 2004, the battery moved to FOB Endurance near Qayyarrah, Iraq, and completed several critical, nonstandard missions, including providing security for brigade communications assets in yet another split-battery operation, securing a large AO and providing a quick reaction force (QRF) for the FOB or anywhere in the AO.

Selected Steel Battery Redlegs trained 28 platoons--more than 1,100 Soldiers--in the new Iraqi National Guard (ING). Instruction included patrolling TTPs, clearing buildings and conducting other infantry tasks necessary to provide security for the region. The battery then conducted several combined operations with the ING, thus increasing the ING's confidence and capabilities to serve Iraq in the future.

These combined operations captured many battalion targets and seized two large weapons caches. One of these was the largest operational arms cache seized north of Baghdad.

The Soldiers of A/1-37 FAR have demonstrated excellence across the spectrum of this conflict and are an outstanding example of what the Field Artillery can achieve. They continue to faithfully serve the big guns of the Army's first SBCT.

The annual award is named for the first Chief of Field Artillery Major General Henry A. Knox, a Revolutionary War hero, and recognizes an outstanding Active Component (AC) battery based on specific criteria and a narrative of performance. A similar award was established in 1924 but was phased out in 1940 as World War II Ioomed. The Best Battery Award was reestablished in 2002. (For more information about the award and application and deadline for 2005. see the link "Knox, Hamilton and Gruber Awards" on the Fort Sill website at http://sill-www.army.mil/awards/default.htm.)