MG Ralston becomes 36th Chief of Field Artillery.

On 4 August Major General David P. Valcourt, the Commandant of the Field Artillery School, Commanding General of Fort Sill and 35th Chief of Field Artillery, gave up command to Major General David C. Ralston. General Ralston's most recent assignment was as the Director of Force Management for the G3 of the Army at the Pentagon. The change of command was conducted by the Lieutenant General (Promotable) W. Scott Wallace, who is designated to become the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Commander, and took place at the Old Post Quadrangle on Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

General Valcourt has been the Chief of Field Artillery since December 2003. During his tenure, his first priority was to support the FA and Army at war. He initiated programs to rapidly incorporate counterinsurgency lessons learned into training schoolhouse-wide, including warrior battle drills for new Soldiers and redefining the role of the drill sergeant. In conjunction with other TRADOC schools, he established the Army's CounterStrike Task Force in support of servicemen deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also accelerated the fielding of the guided multiple-launch rocket system (GMLRS) unitary and Excalibur unitary projectiles in Iraq.

As Chief of FA, he was instrumental in refining the FA design of the modular force, including the design of the fires brigades, the consolidation of fire support teams (FISTs) at the maneuver battalion level in the brigade combat teams (BCTs) and the design and functions of the fires and effects cells (FECs).

One of his initiatives was to designate the battlefield coordination detachments (BCDs) as Department of the Army-selected brigade-level command positions and increase the number of BCDs to five in the Active Component (AC) with an additional two BCDs in the Army National Guard.

General Valcourt actively progressed joint interdependency in the Army and was instrumental in reinstating joint close air support (JCAS) training and securing an Air Force presence at Fort Sill. He defined and initiated training for joint fires observers (JFOs), including 13F Fire Support Specialists, and established the eligibility of 13Fs to train and qualify as joint terminal attack controllers (JTACs) to terminally control Type 1 CAS.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Major General Ralston, originally from Madison, South Dakota, served as the Assistant Commandant of the Field Artillery School and Deputy Commanding General of Fort Sill from October 2001 to June 2003. Prior to that assignment, he was Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations for the Kosovo Force (KFOR) in Pristina, Kosovo, and Chief of Staff of Fort Sill.

In his other commands, General Ralston was Commander of the 1st Cavalry Division Artillery at Fort Hood, Texas, the Div Arty in which he also had served as Executive Officer; Commander of the 3d Battalion, 1st Field Artillery (3-1 FA), 1st Infantry Division in Germany; and three batteries, including a Lance firing battery.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

He was the S3 of the 2d Armored Div Arty and S3 of 3-3 FA, also in the 2d Armored Division, Fort Hood; and Brigade Fire Support Officer (FSO) in the 1st Armored Division in Germany. He was an FA Assignments Officer at FA Branch in the US Army Personnel Center, Alexandria, Virginia; and, as a colonel, was in the Military Personnel Policy Division of the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon.

General Ralston completed an Army War College Fellowship at Harvard University. He holds an MA in Personnel Management from Central Michigan University. He is married to the former Stephanie Smith, and they have four children: Amanda, Mark, Lindsay and Logan.

Fort Sill ceremonies often include Fort Sill's icon Half Section that flies the guidon of the first command of the Commanding General. At the 4 August ceremony, the Half Section exchanged General Valcourt's B/2-37 FA guidon for General Ralston's C/6-33 FA guidon to fly as long as he commands Fort Sill. Both Chiefs of Field Artillery first battery commands were formerly in the 212th Field Artillery Brigade in III Corps Artillery at Fort Sill.