FATC: Unique training for next-generation artillerymen.

The changes underway in one-station unit training (OSUT) at the Field Artillery Training Center (FATC), Fort Sill, Oklahoma, will produce soldiers who are more proficient in their FA skill level 10 tasks, making Cannoneers, FISTers and Fire Direction Specialists better prepared to perform in units from day one. The FATC trains all US Field Artillerymen: Army active and National Guardsmen, and Marine Corps active and Reservists.

This article introduces the FATC's unique design of one-station unit training (OSUT--combined basic training (BT) and advanced individual training (AIT)--that adds FA military occupational specialty (MOS) tasks early and reinforces them often throughout training. In addition, another OSUT change in FY03 will integrate the "Gunnery" MOS into one OSUT program, simultaneously training and building a cohesive team.

But first, I discuss what has not changed--the drill sergeant--and then what has changed--the new recruit.

Today's Drill Sergeant. Today's drill sergeant is a staff sergeant or sergeant first class who faces one of the most demanding jobs in the Army: transforming a volunteer civilian into a soldier. After being Department of the Army (DA) selected from the top 10 percent of their MOS, drill sergeants graduate from the nine-week Drill Sergeants School at Fort Bliss, Texas, highly motivated to train new soldiers.

A quick profile reveals that the vast majority of drill sergeants have Type A personalities, are extremely dedicated with a high sense of duty, are bright and articulate, and generally score on the extended scale of the physical training test. These NCOs face 18-hour workdays in all conditions to ensure their soldiers meet the standards and wake up the next morning ready to begin again.

Today's Recruits. Like those of the past, today's recruits are products of our society. As our society has changed, so has the typical Army recruit.

While the FATC maintains its drill sergeant strength at or near 100 percent, additional duties, illnesses, emergency leaves, DA schools and taskings (just like in other units) keep the present-for duty drill sergeant population extremely busy during their two-year tours. When these professional, dedicated NCOs return to the field, they have a positive impact on any unit or organization fortunate enough to get them.

Our recruits come from the so-called "Generation X." They are very inquisitive, more self-reliant and computer savvy.

However, generally speaking, these volunteers are less fit and less active than those of previous generations. This shortcoming provides unique training challenges in that all must rise to meet the standard. About 12 percent of male recruits fail the initial assessment of performing 13 push-ups, 17 sit-ups and a minimum of an eight and one-half minute mile.

Another new characteristic of the enlistees is the fact that the average age is creeping higher. The average age of these recruits is now 21 years old; just a few years ago, the average age hovered around 18.

Additionally, the level of education seems to be edging higher. About 90 percent of today's recruits have a high school education and about six percent of those have some college credits or degrees. This higher education level fits nicely with the Army's ever-advancing equipment technology and increasing sophistication.

Just as the Army adjusts to accommodate its new technology and weapons development advances, the Army must accommodate the changing profile of its recruits. Without question, we need to take full advantage of their talents, but we also must address their shortcomings. Overall, the recruits of today require more attention to get the job done and present a unique challenge for drill sergeants.

In IET, which includes BT and ALT, new recruits encounter the highest standards of their young lives. They come face-to-face with training professionals committed to high standards to transform them from civilians to soldiers. FATC adheres to an assist/insist philosophy during initial entry training: assisting soldiers while insisting they meet high standards. They get an unprecedented level of support and assistance from their drill sergeants and training cadre and daily gain confidence in their growing achievements.

Today's drill sergeants rely less on harassment and demeaning drills to instill discipline and place more emphasis on corrective training that suits the task being trained and (or) physical exercise. Since 1998, the requirement to graduate from basic training has increased from passing four major tasks to 11--there is no time for poor leadership techniques.

The transformation is dramatic. Between their initial oath of enlistment and their first unit of assignment, recruits rapidly progress from being physically unfit to physically fit, from undisciplined to disciplined to self-disciplined and from operating as individuals to performing as a team to becoming leaders. They are transformed from individuals with varied backgrounds and views into soldiers who live the Army core values.

IET Models. Most training today is conducted in standard BT at five training centers: FATC at Fort Sill; Fort Knox, Kentucky; Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; Fort Jackson, South Carolina; and Fort Benning, Georgia. After BT, ALT can take up to a year at one of 26 installations, depending on the MOS.

MOS with a large annual throughput, such as combat arms specialties, train in a single unit for both the BT and ALT, called OSUT. The initial nine weeks of OSUT follows a similar program of instruction (POI) as all BT. The final weeks are geared specifically toward the skill level 10 tasks trained in AIT needed by new soldiers at their first assignments.

OSUT reduces IET training time and other resources. On the average, combining BT and ALT reduces soldiers' IET by eight days. The majority of time saved is in in/out processing and other administrative necessities. The bottom line is that OSUT training is more continuous and MOS-qualified soldiers are integrated into the force more rapidly.

Ideally, OSUT drill sergeants are the same MOS. The ratio of drill sergeants to soldiers is an advantage in OSUT (17:1) versus ALT (35:1). More direct supervision by expert leaders who know what "Right" looks like is key to success in OSUT.

FATC OSUT Models. Some Field Artillery training will start in the BT phase of FATC OSUT and continue for the 15-week training--not waiting to be introduced in the "AIT" phase of OSUT.

13B OSUT Model. Starting with an FATC pilot program in February, 13B OSUT soldiers will be exposed to one or two artillery tasks each week in the first nine weeks (BT). Through reinforcement training and a building-block approach, the result will be a better-trained Cannoneer who will retain most of his newly acquired skills. In addition, he will "become" a Field Artilleryman from the beginning of IET.

This FATC 13B OSUT design--introducing trainees to MOS tasks in the first nine weeks--is a new concept for OSUT in today's Army.

For example, starting with the second week of OSUT, the 13B trainee will be introduced to tasks associated with advanced party operations or ammunition handling, some of his most challenging skill level 10 tasks. He will train on MOS-related tasks at the rate of about two to four hours per week. Throughout OSUT, the 13B will receive reinforcement training on those difficult tasks introduced at the beginning.

Gunnery Team OS UT Conversion. The FATC will expand the new OSUT model to key MOS. In FY03, we will introduce MOS 13D Field Artillery Tactical Data Systems Specialist and MOS 13F Fire Support Specialist to the OSUT model. Even though these two MOS are not high-density and would not normally fit the OSUT model, the benefit of integrating these MOS with 13B Cannoneers into a "Gunnery Team" OSUT unit is a positive step for the Field Artillery.

Under the current recruiting methodology, training as a Gunnery Team presents a challenge. Based on our divisional artillery unit composition, we need five times more 13Bs than 13Ds and 13Fs. Hence, this is how the Army recruits and, consequently, flows 13Bs into the training base--throughputting a battery fill (240 soldiers) approximately every three weeks.

In this new OSUT model, the Gunnery Team soldiers will train together from day one of LET. Each MOS will maintain platoon or section integrity, so the MOS-specific drill sergeants can continue to shape the MOS. But overall, these soldiers will gain a greater appreciation of the role that each MOS plays on the team.

We do not need the same volume of 13Fs and 13Ds in the force. At the same interval (every three weeks), we fill a platoon (60 soldiers) of 13Fs and a section (20 soldiers) of 13Ds. Additionally the size of an OSUT battalion is limited to the size of facilities and equipment available for training.

Beginning in FY03, the FATC will reconfigure two battalions to integrate the additional members of the Gunnery Team (13Ds and 13Fs) into the OSUT program. As the figure shows, the integration is accomplished at the battery level, keeping either section or platoon integrity for a specific MOS. Adjustments will have to be made in the POIs as the course lengths for 13B, 13D and 13F are different.

Integrating the three principal MOS of the Gunnery Team into the same unit for training will reinforce the concept of "train as we fight." It will be up to the drill sergeants and training cadre to instill a new culture in the Gunnery Team, one that promotes the unity of effort necessary to put steel on target.

The capstone event for this new OSUT program will be a field training exercise (FTX) in the 14th week of training designed to exercise the entire Gunnery Team. The FTX will combine and evaluate both BT and AIT tasks in a realistic artillery setting.

The first event for the OSUT Gunnery Team will be to participate in a live-fire demonstration where the new soldiers will observe the capabilities of most weapons--from the use of the bayonet to the firing of the Paladin M109A6 howitzer. They will see the tactics and techniques necessary to employ each system. In the following weeks, they will receive common core BT training, except for the two to four hours of MOS-specific training, and then move into the more MOS-intensive, AIT-equivalent training.

This new FATC OSUT will incorporate a logical progression of training to transition civilians into artillery warriors. Each OSUT recruit will be trained in those individual skills and tasks essential for developing a well-disciplined, highly motivated, physically fit and technically qualified Field Artilleryman.

Colonel Thomas J. O'Donnell commands the Field Artillery Training Center, Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Also at Fort Sill, he commanded the 2d Battalion, 2d Field Artillery, part of the 30th Field Artillery Regiment of the Training Command. In other assignments, he was the Field Artillery Officer Branch Chief in the Total Army Personnel Command, Alexandria, Virginia; Executive Officer to the Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans at the Pentagon; G3 Training Officer for the 25th Infantry Division (Light), Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; and S3 and Battalion Executive Officer for the 3d Battalion, 7th Field Artillery, also part of the 25th Division. He commanded C Battery, 1st Battalion, 22d Field Artillery, part of the 1st Armored Division in Germany. In 1974, he enlisted in the Army and attended Basic Training at Fort Dix, New Jersey. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Field Artillery in 1979 after graduating from the US Military Academy at West Point. Colonel O'Donnell holds three master's degrees, including a Master of Strategic Art and Policy from the National War College in Washington, DC.

RELATED ARTICLE: Davis Bay Named After MOH Recipient

On 19 October 2001, the Field Artillery Training Center and its 1st Battalion, 78th Field Artillery, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, dedicated its howitzer crew training bay in honor of the Sergeant First Class Sammy L. Davis, a retired Field Artilleryman who was awarded the Medal of Honor (MOH) for actions in Vietnam. This facility is the perfect match for association with SFC Davis. He often mentions the importance of his training in crew drill when he speaks, and it is in this facility that our newest Cannoneers are first introduced to crew drill.

On 18 November 1967, then Private First Class Davis distinguished himself while serving with C Battery, 2d Battalion, 4th Field Artillery, part of the 9th Infantry Division, at a remote firebase in Vietnam. Facing a reinforced Viet Cong battalion and with extensive injuries, he not only fired a burning howitzer repeatedly under a withering hail of enemy fire directed at his position, but also, unable to swim, used an air mattress to cross a deep river to rescue three injured comrades on the far side and stood against the Viet Cong while firing to protect them. Refusing medical treatment, he then joined other howitzer crews and fired until the enemy fled.

The HCT is a first in training entry-level Field Artillery cannon crewmen using simulator technology. Each HCT is a working replica of an Ml09A5 howitzer, allowing the howitzer crew to perform all tasks to fire the howitzer--no other method of training except live-fire can duplicate this training value.

Davis Bay has six of the Ml09A5 howitzer crew trainers (HCTs), two Guard unit armory device full-crew interactive trainers (GUARDFISTs) for forward observers and six sets of fire direction center (FDC) support systems. This provides the ability to train a complete gunnery team on every type of fire mission--howitzer crews, fire support teams (FISTs) and FDC sections.

The majority of training in Davis Bay is on the HCTs. The facility can train 60 soldiers at one time in the HCTs and, simultaneously, an additional 120 soldiers in classrooms on ammunition handling.

MAJ Michael J. Dvoracek, FA

Executive Officer, 1-78 FA

FATC, Fort Sill, OK

Fort Sill Now Has a National Cemetery

On 2 November 2001, the Fort Sill National Cemetery held its opening ceremonies in Elgin, Oklahoma. It is the Department of Veteran Affairs' (DAV's) 120th national cemetery. Members of Congress, local legislators, representatives of local veterans organizations, military officials and DAV employees attended the ceremonies, which included a keynote address by Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi.

The new 391-acre cemetery site is rolling prairie on land that was donated to DAV by Fort Sill. The cemetery is accessed from Elgin, just north of Fort Sill, off of Interstate 44. It will serve veterans and their family members within 75 miles of the new facility, including the Oklahoma City area, currently estimated at approximately 166,000. Burials began on 5 November in the first burial area, a three-acre section. This allowed the cemetery to serve veterans burial needs before major construction begins.

Although initial operations are being conducted from temporary facilities, a contract for $12 million was awarded for Phase 1 construction of the site, which should be completed in two years. In addition to the entrance area, a permanent administration and maintenance complex will be built in Phase 1 along with a public information center and two committal service shelters. This first phase of construction will include 10,270 full-casket gravesites, 1,000 in-ground sites for cremation remains and 1,000 columbaria niches for cremation remains. Future construction will develop further acreage, enabling the cemetery to provide for the burials needs of veterans for the next 100 years.

The Oklahoma City area was one of 10 areas identified in a report to Congress in 1987 as having a large veteran population not served by either a national or state veterans cemetery within reasonable driving distance. In addition to the Fort Sill National Cemetery, DAV is developing national cemeteries near Atlanta, Detroit, Miami, Pittsburgh and Sacramento.

For more information on the DVA's National Cemetery Administration, see the web site www.cem.va.gov. Veterans can contact the Fort Sill National Cemetery at Route 1, Box 5224, Elgin, Oklahoma 73538 or 580-492-3200; to reach the cemetery, follow the signs in Elgin.

Department of Veterans Affairs Dallas Regional Office of Public Affairs

Dallas, TX