Field Artillery Training Command.

The FA Training Command at Fort Sill, Oklahoma--home of the "King of Battle"--heads into the 21St century on target. We continue to prepare leaders, soldiers and Marines to be the best in providing fire support.

Our vision of "Cutting Edge Fires for the 21st Century" is fast becoming a reality as we make technological advances in digital fire support, cannon and MLRS weapons systems. With the advent of HIMARS, Crusader, and AFATDS, we have positioned ourselves to provide more rapid and lethal fire support to our maneuver brethren.

Training and Doctrine Developments. The FA Training Center (FATC) will train over 16,000 soldiers this year. FATC also is making changes for the 21st century as it prepares to transition from a mix of basic combat training (BCT) and advanced individual training (AlT) units into all one-station unit training (OSUT) battalions.

FAOBC continues to provide first-class training and mentoring for lieutenants entering the artillery. Training Command has an excellent senior mentors program where lieutenants and captains interact with senior officers on their experiences and FA expectations of junior officers.

In conjunction with the Lawton-Fort Sill Chapter of AUSA, the school also sponsors a quarterly guest speaker series called "Leader's Edge," a brownbag lunch program for the professional development of our junior and midlevel military leaders.

FACCC is graduating officers trained and ready to assume command or fill a myriad of staff positions. Each course is taught in a small group format with a dedicated instructor, who also mentors and guides the group throughout its stay at Fort Sill.

The NCO Academy remains the pillar of knowledge for the artillery NCO, training more than 2,400 students this past FY and completing its tri-yearly accreditation with no shortcomings noted. Our Academy provides quality instruction in the classroom and via distance learning. In addition to the First Sergeant and Battle Staff NCO distance learning courses, we have added BNCOC and ANCOC.

The Warfighting Integration and Development Directorate (WIDD) made great strides in training and doctrine developments during FY00. FM 6-300 Army Ephemeris and FM 6-70 TTP for M109A6 (Paladin) Operations were completed while seven other FMs were revised. The seven FMs will be published this FY under the new numbering system. Experimental Force Special Text (XST) 6-20-10 7TP for Targeting for Army XXI and XST 6-70 7TP for Paladin Operations in Army XXI along with ST63-1 AFATDS Digital Leader Guide were developed for the 4th Infantry Division Artillery, Fort Hood, Texas. Also developed was the Brigade Special Text (BST) 6-20-40 Fires and Effects for the Brigade Combat Team in support of Army transformation efforts at Fort Lewis, Washington.

We enhanced unit training support by developing 10 training support packages (TSPs), including operations orders (OPORDs), map data, scenarios and task data, that is deliverable via the WIDD home page. Several of these TSPs include drivers to run the digital systems test and training simulator (DSTATS), enabling IFSAS and AFATDS training with little overhead and preparation.

The WIDD home page includes total Army training system (TATS) courses, TSPs, doctrinal publications and revised MTPs: http://155.219.39.98/widd.

Fire Support Innovations. Crusader, ATACMS, HIMARS and SADARM are still at the forefront of our new fire support systems. Although prototypes for Crusader have been built and delivered, discussion is still ongoing concerning fielding.

A highly successful ATACMS Block II/BAT development test flight was conducted at White Sands Missile Range in August against a moving armored column. The 13 BATs delivered by the ATACMS Block II missile hit eight armored targets, greatly surpassing the test's operational requirements. Five of the BATs contained live warheads; the remainder had flight data recorders in lieu of warheads.

The HIMARS platoon from the XVIII Airborne Corps Artillery participated in a joint exercise with the 2d MEF at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in July. This marked the first time HIMARS launchers were transported by C-141 aircraft. A live fire took place on the last day.

The Marines will field two Army HIMARS launchers for user experimentation and evaluation in FY02 before they begin fielding HIMARS in two battalions of the 14th Marine Regiment, Fort Worth, Texas.

As the Army wrestles with transformation, so does the institutional training base. We are analyzing critical tasks, revising courses, streamlining the way we do business and improving our digital and technological capabilities, all to ensure... Fires--On Target for the 2lst Century!