FA NCOs--lead, follow or get the-hell out of the way!

"Lead, Follow or Get the-Hell out of the Way!"--Okay, you've heard that before. But I can't think of another time in my 28 years of Army service that it applies more than it does today. The Active Army (AC) and Army National Guard (ARNG) always have looked for ways to transform into a more lethal and effective fighting force and have constantly changed during the past 229 years; however, at no time in our history have we been asked to change as many things that affect Soldiers and families as quickly as we are today and while executing a war.

We are in the process of rapidly redesigning and restructuring our Field Artillery formations across the Army to be lighter, more expeditionary and more modular to face contemporary operational environment (COE) threats. That affects how you operate in those units.

We are changing the way you are trained and developed in the NCO Education System (NCOES), both in terms of length, contents and numbers of courses.

The Army is changing the way and length of time you will serve tours in one unit or at one installation, also affecting your career development. This stabilization of Soldiers and leaders for longer tours for more in-depth experience is changing the opportunities you will have to serve in leadership positions. (For more information on stabilization and its affects on you, read the article "FA Branch: Manning a Force in Transition" by Lieutenant Colonels Dennis J. Jarosz and Raymond L. Bingham in the July-August edition.)

If you are uncomfortable with change, then you can hardly stand yourself now. If you are comfortable with change, then you are flexible, have positive energy and are open to ideas that will meet the challenges of rapid change--see those challenges as opportunities to improve the Army and the Field Artillery. Although there will be some "growing pains," Artillerymen should be excited about, not scared of, where these changes and transformation will take us.

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New FA Units. Most of you have served in brigade combat teams (BCTs) at one time or another in the past few years. The BCTs, recently reconfigured as units of action (UAs) in the 3d Infantry and 101st Airborne Divisions, are the new fighting formations in our Army. Other AC divisions will follow suit. When all is done, the number of BCTs configured as UAs in the Army, both AC and ARNG, will be more than the number of BCTs in the Army today.

To fully man and equip these new FA units in the BCTs, called fires battalions (cannons), we are reorganizing Field Artillery units--reorganizing AC FA units rapidly with ARNG FA units reorganizing over time. Although there will be more ARNG BCTs and each will have a fires battalion, overall the number of ARNG FA units will decrease with a decrease in ARNG multiple-launch rocket system battalions and some converting to other branches, such as Military Police.

When it is all done, the target is for the remaining ARNG FA units to have the same equipment and weapons as their AC sister units--be fully modernized and combat ready at C-1 status. So for the first time, the AC and ARNG FA truly will be "A branch of one."

All BCTs will be capable of deploying either independently or as part of larger formations. To achieve that level of modularity, fires battalions (those cannon battalions in the division artilleries, or Div Artys) are becoming organic to the BCTs and belong to the BCT commanders--that is a "done deal."

To accomplish our mission, we, the Field Artillery Senior NCO Corps, must ensure we train and certify all FA crews, sections and individuals at all levels of delivering FA fires and fire support as part of the fires battalion and BCT. And to do this, you won't have the Div Arty command sergeant major (CSM) to provide the standardization and evaluation guidance that you've become accustomed to.

Battalion CSMs assume that role within fires battalions. You have an opportunity for greater impact on your Soldiers, but you also have greater responsibility to be technically and tactically competent to train, develop and protect them.

In the future, a unit, known as the fires brigade, will serve in a unit of employment (UEx), which will be roughly the size of a division, with BCTs subordinate to it. Some of the fires brigades will not reside with their affiliated UExs; all fires brigades will be tailorable and modular, able to be weighted by weapons systems and assigned to whatever UEx needs them. The fires brigades can add FA battalions, based on their missions.

The first fires brigade to stand up will be the one in support of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, on 16 December.

New Missions, New Training. Historically, as the first-line leaders of Redlegs, NCOs have ensured cannons, rockets and missiles engage and destroy our enemy at great distances and in close combat, helping to set the conditions for fires and maneuver to defeat the enemy decisively. You still have that mission; but you also must be prepared to execute more nonstandard and joint fires missions than in any time in US history.

Artillerymen are executing nonstandard missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Bosnia and other places around the world. Redlegs are being called on to patrol, secure checkpoints, control riots, secure convoys, search houses, arrest fugitives, serve as town stewards and many other nontraditional tasks. At the same time you are executing these new tasks, many of you are required to maintain a capability to respond quickly to counterfire threats as well as protect the force in other ways. In fact, for Redlegs, our "standard" mission requirements now encompass many more of what we used to consider "nonstandard."

These are all changes we have adjusted to in the past two years. Most of you have lived with these realities on a daily basis. As the Command Sergeant Major of the Field Artillery, I fully understand we must better prepare you, our enlisted Artillerymen, to handle these missions.

The NCOs of the Field Artillery have a window of opportunity to influence change. I and the Chief of Field Artillery are prepared to support the FA NCO Corps to ensure its quality remains and capabilities expand. Here are some initiatives at Fort Sill to support you and other FA NCOs worldwide.

* Improvements in the NCO Academy (NCOA). One of the first things the new Chief of Field Artillery did was to instruct the NCOA to become completely automated by FY06. That will allow every student to have a computer at his workstation and all classrooms to be linked into a central network.

The networking of systems, in turn, will allow the NCOA programs of instructions (POIs) to integrate students into collective training with the FA Officer Basic Course (OBC) and Captain's Career Course (CCC). Tying training together at multiple levels ensures you not only know how to operate the individual systems, but also how they work with other systems and their effects on today's battlefield.

* Joint Fires Training. In the COE, you must know joint fires. Fort Sill's mission is to train all fire supporters to understand how to integrate and execute joint fires. To do that, you first must understand the joint battlefield and the impact of lethal and nonlethal fires and effects in a given battlespace.

At Fort Sill, we are developing a Joint Fires and Effects Trainer System (JFETS) that will incorporate both live and virtual joint fires training. (See the article "Joint Fires and Effects Integration Center: Fort Sill Initiatives for the Joint Force" by Colonel John L. Haithcock, Jr., in the July-August edition.)

JFETS is a major investment in cutting-edge technology to train and certify joint fire supporters. This training will ensure you remain combat-focused and continue as the best trained and most flexible NCOs in our Army.

* Improvements in Other FA Training. We are rewriting POIs for every FA military occupational specialty (MOS) from advanced individual training (AIT) to the advanced NCO course (ANCOC). The new POIs will incorporate instruction on MOS operations in a COE as well as lessons learned in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).

* NCO Education System (NCOES) Revisions. The Army will change NCOES dramatically during the next three years. For example, as of this October, the FA ANCOC will no longer teach common core tasks. By October 2006, ANCOC will merge with the basic NCO course (BNCOC) to become one level of training.

The current four-tiered NCOES will become a three-tiered system. The new levels will be the Warrior Leader Course (Primary) (E-4/E-5), Intermediate Leader Course (E-6/E-7) and Advanced Leader Course (E-8). Among other things, the changes will eliminate redundant training of tasks at the different levels yet teach all the required subjects.

The three-tiered structure will allow you to attend courses within the training window of opportunity of your unit's 36-month management lifecycle. (This lifecycle is explained in more detail in the article "FA Branch: Manning a Force in Transition" in the July-August edition.)

Lead the Change. Change is inevitable. I have discussed only a few changes and improvements to meet the challenges of those changes. More of both are coming.

You have choices. One is you can stand around and wring your hands and decide you are set in your ways or just let the changes pass you by while you are busy wringing. But the best choice for you, the FA and the Army is for you to lead the change.

You lead change by becoming informed about how each of these changes affects your Soldiers, your families and yourself; by ensuring your training and expertise prepares you for the changes in your units; by shepherding your Soldiers and units as they go through these changes; and by ensuring you provide feedback on these changes to the senior NCO leadership--which is your opportunity to influence changes ahead.

At the DA staff and at Fort Sill, we do our best to take into consideration the impact of major decisions regarding FA training, organizations, doctrine, personnel and leaders. But I need your feedback to improve and fine tune our support for you. Email me with your feedback at [e-mail]; mark the "Subject" line "NCO Feedback."

Today, your opportunities to excel as an NCO or be promoted to our most senior grades have never been better. We are adding new fires battalions to the total force and growing the number of 13F Fire Supporters in our formations over the next couple of years. These are good news stories--the Field Artillery is alive and well.

You, FA NCOs, must be catalysts for change--take advantage of the opportunities that change brings and lead your Soldiers and units into the future. Thank you for what you do for our country and our Army. Thank you for what you do everyday for our Field Artillery.

By Command Sergeant Major Tommy A. Williams

Command Sergeant Major (CSM) Tommy A. Williams has been the CSM of the Field Artillery, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, since 20 January. During his 28 years of service, he was CSM of the 25th Infantry Division (Light) Artillery, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; CSM of the 3d Battalion, 7th Field Artillery (3-7 FA), also in the 25th Division; and CSM of 3-29 FA at Fort Carson, Colorado, part of the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized). He served as the First Sergeant for A Battery, 1-8 FA, 25th Division, and C Battery, 4-29 FA, 1st Armored Division in Germany. Also in the 1st Armored Division, he was the Division Artillery Operations Sergeant and Nuclear Weapons NCO-in-Charge (NCOIC). CSM Williams has held every position from Gunner through CSM.