Expanding Role of Marine Artillery WOs.

The USMC survey officer billet dates back to the early 1960s. The artillery needed technical experts who could dedicate themselves to understanding the complex art of surveying and sounding the atmosphere for meteorological information or coordinating sound and flash ranging teams. Therefore, the Marine artillery warrant officer (WO) billet was established.

But times have changed. Today's artillery warrant officers have better systems and more time to serve the Marine Corps in an expanded capacity, making the most of their considerable expertise.

This article gives a brief history of the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) 0803 Marine Warrant Officers' role in the Marine Corps, leading to the formulation of a plan to revise the 0803s' billets and professional development progression. It also outlines the plan to migrate the 0803 into the world of targeting and fires tactical systems, starting in late 2001 , while not forsaking the 0803's obligation to survey, Met and radar.

History of the Marine Artillery Warrant. The early warrant officer was expected to know how to maintain and fix the equipment, much like today's Army MOS 131A Targeting Technician counterpart does with the radar. Some of the equipment, such as the AN/ TPQ-4 countermortar radar and the GMD meteorological system, could consume a great deal of a warrant officer's time just to keep it running.

Vietnam saw survey crews cutting line-of-site with machetes to perform survey. Radar personnel were largely doing sound and flash ranging or extremely risky crater analysis under fire to acquire enemy indirect fire (rating an "automatic" Bronze Star). Meteorological crews sounded the atmosphere with pilot balloons and manual theodolites and then "cut" ballistic winds on a chart to extract zoned atmospheric information to apply to the gunnery solutions.

Some units were starting to see the early stages of solid-state equipment, which made their jobs somewhat easier but required a lot of man-hours to maintain or fix. This was the responsibility of the 0803 Survey/Met Officer.

Operations in Beirut introduced peace keeping into the Marines' warfighting book, and target acquisition continued to play an important role. Marine TA platoons rotated into Beirut in support of the Marine amphibious unit, or MAU (now called a Marine expeditionary unit, or MEU), conducting a peace keeping mission. The 0803 coordinated survey, Met and TA operations, although it was common to have a lieutenant as the TA platoon commander.

Beirut became the test bed for the AN/ TPQ-36 Firefinder radar; an Army team from Fort Sill was dispatched to Beirut to reinforce the Marine TA and, eventually, the counterfire effort. CWO3 Richard Ortiz, MOS 0803, was the officer-in-charge (OIC) of the team in Beirut. He and his soldiers were killed in the terrorist bombing of the MAU headquarters on 23 October 1983.

Technological advances delivered the AN/USQ-70 position and azimuth determining system (PADS), AN/TMQ-41 meteorological measuring set (MMS) and AN/TPQ-46A (Army AN/TPQ-36 Version 8) Firefinder radar. These systems were easier to maintain and operate. Digital communications tied them together, and advanced tactical data systems facilitated employing them. This technology allowed the 0803 to focus more on new methods of employing his gear and, consequently, improve operational efficiency.

In 1997, the 0803 community was challenged to identify its future. The reality is that the 0803's history in survey, Met and radar is coming to an end. The 0803 community has had to ask itself if Marine artillery warrant officers could not better serve the artillery in a different role. Thus, the development of a plan to expand the role of the 0803 in the Marine Corps began.

The 0803 Migration Plan. The 0803 community examined the role of the Army 131A. The Army artillery warrants had migrated into targeting billets while maintaining a base as radar technical experts. However, the Marine Corps was not prepared to leave meteorology "unattended."

The 0803 was introduced to the five elements of accurate, predicted fires to achieve first-round fire for effect--the five elements never to be taken for granted. It was important the 0803 community understood that "Artillery is who we are and fire support is what we do."

With personnel drawdowns and increasing demands on the 0802 Marine Artillery Officer, it seemed that once the officer learned his job as a Target Information Officer (TIO), he was transferred to a new billet in the process of grooming him to be an artillery commander. Thus, the Marine artillery warrant will progress to a TIO billet as a CWO3 in the new plan. (See Figure 1.)

The TIO is not only a targeting technician, but also a manager of tactical fire direction data via the advanced FA tactical data system (AFATDS) or initial fire support automated system (IFSAS). The newly trained 0803 will not be a communications officer, rather he will be the resident expert on the connectivity of artillery systems: information flow and tactical as well as technical considerations of employment.

The increasing demands placed on the technical proficiency of an officer or enlisted Marine has necessitated the creation of the Fires Tactical Systems Officer (FTSO) billet at the CWO2 level. One advantage the 0803 has is that, as a restricted (warrant) officer, he would never leave the Field Artillery, giving his commander the benefit of his continuity as a subject matter expert.

After deliberation, the 0803 community developed a career progression path similar to the Army's 131 As but with a Marine flavor. The new Marine 0803 Target Acquisition Officer would continue in survey with his initial assignment as the Survey Officer of an artillery battalion. Once the lightweight 155-mm (LW 155) with towed artillery digitization (TAD) is fielded, the battalion survey officer will move to the maneuver regiment fire support coordination center (FSCC) as the TIO/FTSO.

Logic called for the CWO2 to progress into the Radar Platoon Commander position where he could train the radar personnel and be responsible for the division's Firefinder assets, which are maintained by the artillery regiment. The senior CWO3 then would go to the division FSCC to serve as the TIO.

To implement the plan, the current table of organization takes the duties of the Regimental Meteorological Officer and places them under the Regimental Survey Officer. The Survey/Met Officer CWO4 will continue to be the senior 0803 in the regiment and provide survey and Met support when and where required. His duties will include oversight of battalion survey sections in the absence of the battalion survey officer. A key issue is that Marine artillery warrants won't divorce themselves from oversight of survey and meteorology--ensuring units meet the five requirements for accurate predicted fires is simply too important to the artillery.

The plan is scheduled to go into effect in October 2001 with the addition of a 0803 TIO in each artillery regiment assigned to the division's FSCC and a 0803 FTSO assigned to the regimental operations section.

The transition of the battalion Target Acquisition Officer is tied to the fielding of TAD and AFATDS. Once fielded, the battalion Target Acquisition Officer will move to the FSCC for duty as the TIO/FTSO. The TIO/FTSO will continue to oversee the training and readiness of the battalion survey section. Figure 2 shows the career progression and schooling path of the Marine 0803 Target Acquisition Officer.

This major transition of the small community of 0803s in the Marine Corps will have a significant impact on fire support. The 0803s will serve the force where it matters the most.

The 0803's future includes the addition of an active duty TIO/FTSO billet in the l4th Marines' Force Artillery Headquarters. The 14th Marines' mission calls for a TIO/FTSO billet to mesh the Total Force with respect to target acquisition.

As torchbearers of the five requirements for accurate, predicted fires, the WO 0803 will continue to ensure the Marine artillery is on time and on target.

Chief Warrant Officer Three Quint D. Avenetti, US Marine Corps, is the Chief of the Meteorology Branch in the Fire Support and Combined Arms Operations Department of the Field Artillery School, Fort Sill, Oklahoma. His previous billets include serving as the Survey/Meteorological Officer for the 1st Battalion, 11th Marines; Survey/Met Officer for the 3d Battalion, 11th Marines; and Regimental Met Officer for the 11th Marines, all at Camp Pendleton, California. He also served as Assistant Battalion Operations Chief for the 1st Battalion, 12th Marines during Operation Desert Storm and Battery Operations Chief for Battery F, 2d Battalion, 12th Marines during Operation Desert Shield, both in the Gulf.

Figure 1: Typical Marine Artillery Regiment Structure for 803
Artillery Warrant Officers. The structure includes table of
organization changes already scheduled for implementation.
Billet                 Location
Acquisition Officer    Marine Corps Systems Command
                       (MARCORSYSCOM)
Survey/Meteorological  HQ Battery, Artillery Regiment
Officer                Operations Platoon
Target Information     HQ Battery, Artillery Regiment, Division
Officer                Fire Support Coordination Center (FSCC)
Radar Platoon          HQ Battery, Artillery Regiment
Commander              Radar Platoon
Fires Tactical         HQ Battery, Artillery Regiment
Systems Officer        Operations Section
Battalion Target       HQ Battery, Artillery Battalion
Acquisition Officer*   Operations Platoon
Billet                 Status                              Rank
Acquisition Officer    Filled                              CWO5
Survey/Meteorological  Filled, Responsible for Survey/Met  CWO4
Officer
Target Information     Authorized 01 October FY02          CWO3
Officer
Radar Platoon          Filled, Responsible for Radars      CWO2
Commander              (Personal and Equipment)
Fires Tactical         Authorized 01 October FY02          CWO2
Systems Officer
Battalion Target       Filled, Responsible for all TA      WO1/CWO2
Acquisition Officer*   Issues at Battalion
(*)After the lightweight 155-mm howitzer (LW 155) with
towed artillery digitization (TAD)
is fielded, the battalion Target Acquisition Officer will
transition to the artillery
battalion fire support coordination center (FSCC) for
duty as a Target Information/Fires
Tactical Systems Officer. This move will be at the
discretion of the commander.

Figure 2: Marine Artillery Warrant Officer Career Progression and Schooling Path

WO1 The Basic School/Warrant Officer Basic Course

CWO2 Advanced Geodetic Survey Course

CWO3 Warrant Officer Advanced Course

CWO4 Advanced Targeting Course [*]

CWO5 Acquisition Courses [**]

(*.) Exact targeting course to be determined.

(**.) As determined by the Marine Corps Systems Command (MARCORSYSCOM).