The Senior Fire Support Conference and Responsive, Accurate Fires.

Last month, Fort Sill hosted its SeniorFire Support Conference, "The FA in Transformation." Many senior leaders, including the Chief of Staff of the Army, shared their insights and dialogued about the challenges we face. Active, reserve and retired provided thoughtful input and gained a better appreciation for the monumental transformation effort in which the Army and FA are engaged--thanks to conference chairman Colonel Ted Janosko and his hard-working team.

Transformation. Although the Army still has long-term decisions to make about the Objective Force, the FA's vision is on track with the Army's transformation. We remain poised to provide maneuver commanders the same devastating fires that have been our hallmark since the birth of the nation.

One highlight of the conference was the dedication of Snow Hall's auditorium to General (Retired) Walter T. "Dutch" Kerwin, Jr., former Vice Chief of Staff of the Army and Field Artilleryman extraordinaire. During the dedication, General Kerwin commented that the FA's last major transformation was when we went from mule-drawn to mechanized and truck-towed artillery--a significant emotional event for some. However, the result was a more effective fighting capability. While our 21st century transformation may still concern some, it likely will have the same result: a more effective FA as an integral part of the combined arms team.

Responsive, Accurate Fires. As I reported in my first "From the Firebase" column in 1999, the branch has a longstanding problem of timeliness and accuracy of fires. Recently in the November-December 2000 Red Book, I laid out our top priority: changing the perception that our fires are unresponsive. Since then, an article has been published in the April edition of Army: "Classical Fire Support vs Parallel Fires" by Lieutenant Colonel Robert R. Leonhard, Infantry. Although I strongly disagree with some of the author's points, he correctly says that task force and company commanders no longer enjoy the immediately responsive, dedicated artillery support necessary in close combat.

As part of the FA School's ongoing efforts to improve our close support fires, we have determined several means to meet the challenge. First, we must streamline calls-for-fire. Since the tactical fire direction system (TACFIRE), our digital architecture has routed calls-for-fire through the company, task force and brigade fire support elements (FSEs) sequentially before they reach the delivery units. In theory, a call-for-fire should pass through at the speed of electricity...but it does not.

Today's advanced FA tactical data system (AFATDS) has the same archaic digital architecture, which we are changing rapidly to route calls-for-fire to the delivery unit first. AFATDS will determine whether the target meets the maneuver commander's intent and coordinate to clear fires while simultaneously accomplishing technical and tactical fire direction.

Secondly, we will adapt our equipment to "stream" sensor information to the fire direction center (FDC). If the decision is to engage the sensor-acquired target, the target's location will be updated constantly from a named area of interest (NAI) to a target area of interest (TAI), streaming the updated location digitally through the FDC nonstop to the firing platform, creating a real-time sensor-to-shooter link.

Thirdly, we must allow the direct support (DS) battalions to take advantage of force FA allocation rules. These battalions have become utility infielders at our Combat Training Centers (CTCs), attempting to provide concurrent counterfire, close supporting FA fires, suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) and other tasks, such as delivering family of scatterable mines (FASCAM), while focusing on targets deep in the brigade area.

Our CTCs do not allow us to replicate the range and utility of two FA brigades supporting each committed division. This results in reinforcing battalion or division artillery (with some FA brigade assets) tasks being thrust upon the DS battalions. This is unrealistic. We are working to resolve this issue within the Training and Doctrine Command.

Finally, once these and other corrections are in place, we must ensure FA effects have a realistic impact on the fights at the CTCs by removing the artificial constraints in simulating the FA's lethality. It does not take 54 rounds of dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM) to kill a single tank--we have the live-fire data to support that. And a battery-one with an accurate target location should be more than "suppressive."

The FA must become a more effective killer at our CTCs; I accept that challenge. However, once we improve our timeliness and accuracy, we must get the lethality credit that live artillery brings to the fight. That might mean there's no close, direct fire laser fight some days--so be it. The combined arms must fight as an integrated team, and we must grow maneuver commanders who truly understand what the FA can do for them.

Thanks for Your Service. As Command Sergeant Major (CSM) Anthony J. Williams departs Fort Sill to become the CSM of the Sergeants Major Academy, I thank him sincerely for his tireless efforts on behalf of branch NCOs and enlisted soldiers and for enhancing the quality of the relationship between components. I welcome our skilled new leader, CSM Rodney L. Beck, the new CSM of the FA, who joins us from Fort Drum where he was the CSM of the 10th Mountain Division Artillery.

Also, thanks to all who have invested time and talents to help transform the FA and provide input on improving the effectiveness of our fires. These are challenging times, but as always, Field Artillerymen are up to the challenges.