Editor's Bully Pulpit.

Although I have been the Editor-in-Chief of Field Artillery for more than 11 years (eight more as Managing Editor), I have never used my prerogative to editorialize in the magazine--that is, until now. I am stepping up to the Bully Pulpit to give you an Editor's memoirs and musings as I publish the last edition of Field Artillery after 90 years of almost continuous editions and as I prepare to retire on 31 July.

The next magazine, May-June 2007, will be the Fires Bulletin as the Field Artillery and Air Defense Artillery Bulletins come together as the first of the Base Realignment and Closures (BRAC)-directed mergers of branch professional magazines.

During the past 20 years, I have had the pleasure of knowing many outstanding Soldiers, Marines and their leaders--mostly Field Artillerymen--and watched my former Communication Skills students from the 1986 and 1987 FA Captain's Career Courses grow up to become colonels and generals. I have had tremendous experiences putting out a magazine for the King of Battle.

Magazine Interviews to Remember. As your Editor, I have had incredible opportunities to interview more than 80 of the most senior Army, Marine and Air Force leaders and a few international leaders--plus several junior veterans who are heroes for our "A Soldier's Story" series. Among the many memorable interviews, I relate a story or two.

I interviewed General (Retired) Walter T. (Dutch) Kerwin, Jr., a Redleg and former Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, for the August 1993 history edition during a working lunch at the 1993 Senior Field Artillery Conference sponsored by Chief of Field Artillery Major General Fred F. Marty. General Marty had asked General Kerwin to be back for the early afternoon discussion of massing fires, an area of expertise of General Kerwin's. During World War II at Anzio Beachhead, then Lieutenant Colonel Kerwin's corps commander asked him to coordinate the massed fires of 28 battalions from multiple divisions, fires that ultimately had a significant impact on securing the beachhead.

During the interview, General Kerwin began answering every question at length--I had sent him the questions in advance, and he had made notes on all the points he wanted to cover per question. About an hour into the interview, I suggested we pick the most important questions to answer from the many remaining in an effort to return General Kerwin to the conference for the early afternoon session. His response--"Hell, no! No one ever asks me to tell my war stories, and I am not leaving here until I have told them all!" Three and one-half hours later, the interview concluded.

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Interviews usually take about three magazine pages. His interview, which was packed with fascinating World War II, Korean and Vietnam war stories, required (and got) five magazine pages.

The interview with then Major General Franklin L. (Buster) Hagenbeck, Commanding General of the 10th Mountain Division and Coalition Forces in Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan, was in the September-October 2002 edition. To say the least, it was memorable.

In the interview, General Hagenbeck criticized the US Air Force's close air support (CAS) for Operation Anaconda and the lack of enough enlisted terminal attack controllers (ETACs) to control CAS for the platoon-level fight. Operation Anaconda was complicated by the fact that the Army had not allowed the 10th Division to take any of its howitzers to Afghanistan, only mortars, which were pretty much ineffective against the enemy ensconced in the caves in the rugged mountainous terrain. As aired in the international media, the Air Force, right up to the Chief of Staff, was offended by the interview.

The magazine was flooded with calls from the New York Times, Washington Post, British Broadcasting Company, Inside the Pentagon and other media. My "lane" was to tell the media only that the interview in its entirety was posted online and where and not to interpret or expound on anything the general said--the interview could "speak" for itself or the media could contact the 10th Mountain Division Public Affairs Officer for further clarification.

As it turned out, General Hagenbeck's candid remarks drew the Army and Air Force to the table to solve CAS problems, some of which were due to the Air Force and some of which were due to the Army. The two services rapidly resolved problems before Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) kicked off, and today we are growing more capable joint fires observers (JFOs) down to the platoon level and enough joint terminal attack controllers (JTACs) to accommodate CAS terminal control down to the company level. By printing the issues Major General Hagenbeck discussed, the magazine played a part in the joint resolution of CAS problems.

Later, I interviewed then Major General Peter (Pete) W. Chiarelli at Fort Hood, Texas, as the 1st Cavalry Division Commander returning from Iraq (September-October 2005 edition). With a twinkle in his eye, the first thing he said was, "I just want to make clear right up front in this interview that my Air Force CAS in Iraq was outstanding and that I had no problems whatsoever with the Air Force." My response (with a laugh): "Too bad, Sir. Could be good for your career as Major General Hagenbeck has been picked up for his third star," to which he laughed. (General Chiarelli also got his third star.)

My most fascinating interviews include one recent one with Lieutenant General John F. Sattler, Commander of US Marine Forces in Central Command (CENT-COM) and the I Marine Expeditionary Force plus all Coalition Forces in the Battle of Fallujah II (March-April 2006 edition). General Sattler talked about Phase IV operations during Fallujah II, operations that the media did not cover while it was criticizing the Army and Marine Corps for being better at breaking things in combat rather than reconstructing them in stability operations.

Another of the more fascinating interviews was the one with Lieutenant General (Retired) Harold (Hal) G. Moore, co-author of We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young. He discussed the November 1965 Battle of la Drang in Vietnam in which his 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, was outnumbered 10 to one while fighting North Vietnamese Regulars. In the interview (July-August 1999), he discussed not only the battle, but also what he should have done that he did not.

These interviews in editions of Field Artillery are online in "Past Editions" at sill-www.army.mil/famag/index.asp. By the end of June, the magazine's online archives will have all editions online--from the first magazine, January-March 1911, to the last, March-April 2007--that are easily searchable via a Google Mini device and downloadable using minimum bandwidth from anywhere in the world.

Side Trips. On magazine missions, I have traveled around the world--to Korea; all over Germany; into Bosnia a few months after the 1st Armored Division entered the country; to the Pentagon, the Pentagon, the Pentagon; and to such "garden spots" as "downtown" 29 Palms and the National Training Center (NTC) in California--I also have "swung in on a grapevine" to the Joint Readiness Training Center in (JRTC) in Louisiana several times. I once traveled to the Pacific Command Headquarters for a magazine interview in Hawaii in January--a complete aberration. Local FA commanders (or senior artillerymen) and command sergeants majors often took me on fantastic "side trip" adventures while I was in their areas.

In my mind's eye (aided by night-vision goggles), I still can see the 82nd Division paratroopers dropping against the night sky and in whisper silence, wriggling free of their chutes flat in the grass on Drop Zone (DZ) Normandy at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. I was on DZ Normandy for a "mass tactical" jump and, after the equipment was air dropped, stood out on the DZ with paratroopers landing all around me. I then witnessed the 82nd Division Artillery lay the Ml 19 howitzers, hump 105-mm rounds and live fire just minutes after the equipment and rounds landed. Quite impressive.

I can see the innocent-looking faces of the Bosnian people along the road in 1996, peering in curiosity at the United States Army (and me), wearing flack vests and Kevlar helmets, passing through their villages in a five-vehicle convoy. I was in Bosnia for four days to conduct an interview with the Commanding General of the 2nd Armored Division just months after the division crossed the Sava River into Bosnia.

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I remember wondering how these beautiful people--Bosnian, Croatian and Muslim living in the same villages--could have warred with each other for more than 600 years. As I watched horse-drawn agriculture in action, which I had read was Bosnia's main economic business, I realized how much I take for granted in the US.

I remember what fun it was to cross the high desert in a high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle (HMMWV) as a "Right-Seat-Ride" with a crusty, weathered-faced warrior, Wolf 07, during a force-on-force engagement at the NTC at Fort Irwin. Neither before nor since have I had so much dust and grime embedded in every pore and orifice of my body as that day of war at the NTC.

I also remember my convoy being "strafed" by an Air Force A-10 during "major combat operations" at the JRTC at Fort Polk and watching the M119 howitzers live fire in rapid response to calls-for-fire.

At the Combat Maneuver Training Center (CMTC) in Hohenfels, Germany, in the middle of a frigid February night, I watched force-on-force combat while wearing night-vision goggles from a HMMWV driving in black-out mode. Because I had come to the CMTC unprepared for combat operations, I borrowed rather large web and cold weather gear from a Redleg friend to go to war, making me appear more like a "Private Benjamin" swallowed in gear than the Field Artillery's Editor, representing the branch with any dignity. That night, our four-wheeled-independent-suspension HMMWV, which was fairly new to the force, crossed some amazing crevices on that frozen terrain, each wheel doing its own thing.

But perhaps my most memorable experience at one of our dirt combat training centers (CTCs) was my mines awareness training at the CMTC that was required before I could go into Bosnia. For three days of training, I wore fatigues, combat boots, flack vest and Kevlar helmet as part of the "Oldies Platoon," composed of individual ready replacement military police NCOs (and me). In platoon formation, we marched to and from class and up and down hills to and from breakfast, lunch and dinner. I gained an "inside" appreciation for what Soldiers go through during training and the Army adage "Hurry up and wait."

The first day our CMTC instructors force marched us several miles out to a firing area at the (CMTC) and exploded a mine under a five-ton truck to give us an appreciation for the destructive power of mines. When the mine exploded, the truck jumped and rattled, making the Oldies Platoon jump also.

The NCO in formation next to me expressed surprise that I had not jumped. I explained that I was from the Field Artillery Center at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and on more than one occasion, I had seen Copperhead or sense and destroy armor (SADARM) artillery projectiles send major chunks of main battle tanks flying in all directions or entire mountain sides destroyed by massed fires. He just nodded.

The last day of the training culminated in a squad lane training exercise to test our total skills. During the lane, I spotted a trip wire for one mine and the chokepoint of a narrowed path and bridge for another mine emplacement, initially making me a valued member of my squad. However, my credibility took a beating when we had to react to an infantry attack and fall back one at a time, covering each other with rifle fire as we went.

Because I was not qualified on an M-16, even firing blanks, I had to hold my hands up to simulate the rifle and yell "ratta-tat-tat" to indicate the covering fire I was providing. Somehow that took away from the realism of the training and my squad's confidence in my ability to protect the force.

Other Reminiscences. I remember the 1991 satellite telephone call from Field Artillerymen, former authors and friends, who had stopped at the Iraqi border and decided to call "The Journal" after the President declared the Operation Desert Storm's (ODS') 100-hour war over. Their voices were hoarse and broken sounding because they had been moving so fast the previous 24 hours that they had had to choose between resupply of water or food or rockets. They had chosen rockets.

We still have a Christmas card fabricated from a meals-ready-to-eat (MRE) box for "Chocolate Nut Cake, Net Weight: 3.2 Ounces" sent to us from a Redleg in ODS. It is framed and on the wall.

I remember the 2003 satellite call from the 3rd Infantry Division Artillery Commander shortly after the cessation of major combat operations in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), outlining the stories his Redlegs already were writing for the magazine. With the rapid influx of articles from Field Artillerymen in the 3rd, 101st and 82nd Divisions; the 11th Marines; and V Corps Artillery; and the willingness of the Commanding General of V Corps and the Assistant Division Commander of the 3rd Division to be interviewed, we published the "Operation Iraqi Freedom" magazine just a few months after the war ended--September-October 2003.

Shortly after the edition came out, Chief of Field Artillery then Brigadier General David P. Valcourt visited Israel. He reported that the Israelis, who had been quiet and had "kept their heads down" during OIF, had taken their artillery's copy of our OIF magazine, made photocopies of it and passed it throughout the Israeli Army as the first comprehensive military lay down of what happened in the war. (See Corollary (a.) of Editor's Rule Number 1 in the figure on Page 39.)

I remember the time a young captain called the magazine and asked to speak to the Editor about an article he was sending for publication consideration. I got on the phone and said I was the Editor. The captain paused, recognizing that my voice was that of a woman, and said, "No, I want to talk to who really makes the decisions about what is published in the magazine." I paused and responded, "Captain, what part of the word 'Editor' don't you understand?" He paused and then said, "Alright then. Let me tell you how good my article is...."

I ended up not publishing the article; my decision was because Editor's Rule Number 5 had proven true once again. (See the figure.)

My time with your magazine has not been without some controversy and, on occasion, more than enough national and international attention. Based on one of our articles about fire support for the Battle of Fallujah II in Iraq, the international press, inspired by anti-American media, erroneously and widely reported that our use of white phosphorous (WP) in Fallujah II violated international laws--that WP was chemical and, therefore, internationally banned. (Of course, even firing a bullet calls for a chemical reaction, but no matter.) Again, the magazine staff received multiple international calls and emails about the article and white phosphorous.

Particularly memorable during that time was the story told by Chief of Field Artillery Major General David C. Ralston. He had been at the Pentagon for meetings and returned to his hotel room one evening. He flipped on the TV at the console in time to see the White House Press Secretary during a press conference say, "According to the US Army's Field Artillery magazine, white phosphorous was used in Fallujah...." General Ralston said he jumped back from the television and stood glued to the report. He told me later, "Field Artillery is one powerful magazine." I loved that comment.

All Good Things Must Come to an End. If Field Artillery has been a good magazine, and I think it has, I lay that at the feet of Field Artillerymen--authors writing for the magazine from the brightest branch in the Army--and because of the continuous and enthusiastic command support of every one of my nine Chiefs of Field Artillery.

Over the years, your magazine has received many letters and emails asking to exchange magazines or for permission to reprint articles, including from Estonia, Kosovo, Peru, Spain, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, the Republic of China, India, Portugal, Argentina, Israel, the Netherlands and, of course, Canada, Britain, Germany and France, to name a few. As your Editor, I have been invited to serve on the advisory board of a multi-service military magazine published in India and speak at a Portuguese Army conference. Although honored, I declined both invitations ... because both really were interested in what you have to say, not what your Editor has to say about what you have to say.

Canadian Artillerymen once asked if all their units could be added to the magazine's free distribution list. As tempted as I was to do that, the magazine is published using US tax-payer dollars, so free distribution is limited to US government agencies.

In spite of the fact that I never have served in the Army, I have been Field Artillery for nearly 20 years. During that time, I have had grand adventures and flown in helicopters and military fixed-wing aircraft, including a C-130 over hostile territory; ridden in howitzers, tanks, rocket launchers, armored personnel carriers and HMMWVs; and experienced an Apache helicopter pilot simulator at Fort Hood, Texas. I rode in and then fired one of the first 155-mm Paladin howitzers--still have the brass primer from the round. My time as the Editor of the King of Battle's magazine has been quite a ride.

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Patrecia Slayden Hollis has been the Editor of Field Artillery at the FA Center, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, since 1995 and, before that, had served as the Managing Editor since 1987. She is the only civilian and longest serving Editor of the magazine since its inception in 1911. At the FA School, she taught Communication Skills in the Captain's Career Course. She also was a Training Extension Course writer at Fort Eustis, Virginia; an Associate Professor of English at Park College in Parkville, Missouri; and a reporter for the Lawton Publishing Company's morning and evening newspapers in Oklahoma. Her articles include "Common Sense Writing: The Army Writing Style," published in the Training and Doctrine Command's Army Trainer, Summer 1987, and used as a handout by the Air Staff College and the Command and General Staff College. She holds an MA from George Washington University in Washington, DC. Her awards include Molly Pitcher, Honorable and Ancient Saint Barbara's and the Commander's Award for Public Service, the latter from the Commanding General of the Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

 1. Know your branch and its contributions to the joint force.
    (a.) If one knows the force allocation rules and what Field
    Artillery did in battle where and when, then one knows how the
    battle unfolded.
    (b.) If one knows the allocation rules and the sizes and locations
    of FA units around the world, then one knows the general sizes,
    configurations and locations of ground forces around the world.
 2. The Army will change a new acronym a minimum of three times. For
    example, first we had stability and support operations (SASO); then
    stability operations and support operations (SOSO), which needed
    editing; then back to SASO; on to stability and reconstruction
    operations (S & RO, also acronymed as SRO) and now have stability
    operations. GWOT stands for Global War on Terrorism, which recently
    has been changed to WOT: the War on Terrorism. (WOT is that all
    about?) Two more changes are due.
 3. Never allow an author to refer to GWOT (or WOT) as the Global War on
    Terror (vice Terrorism) or the first fire mission to win the war
    will have to be to mass fires on Hollywood.
 4. Don't allow Field Artillerymen more than one full-page matrix and 10
    smaller matrices per three-page magazine article.
 5. The weakness of an article is in direct proportion to the author's
    strength and volume of praise for it.
 6. Don't let authors write long, long sentences or use the first person
    "I"--unless you are the Editor writing reminiscences.
 7. Never let an author use "Nerbs" (nouns as verbs), unless you are the
    Editor and the Nerb ("acronymed") is perfectly clear.
 8. Allow authors to "push the envelope" with their articles' contents--
    even when, in hindsight, an occasional article moves into "stupid."
 9. When "doctoring" an article, first do no harm.
    (a.) Know the limitations of medical science.
    (b.) When you must euthanize an article, do it quickly and humanely
    and move on.
10. Don't print a battalion commander's unedited article after he
    directs you not to change a word or spell out acronyms because he
    wrote the article for other battalion commanders who will
    understand; instead, tell him to write a letter to the other
    battalion commanders and enclose the manuscript.

Field Artillery Magazine Editor's Rules