Sometimes the "Can Do" attitude puts you in a bad place

Heh. Even when it's a "Must Do."

There’s a lot of email floating about in the Redleg community.  Its a discussion of where the Chief of Artillery and his staff feel the branch is, and where it needs to go.  There is much to ponder in there, for us Redlegs.  For the Army.  For whoever wins in November, for that matter.

An excerpt:

…We must improve how we prepare Field Artillery Soldiers, leaders, families, civilians, and units for the challenges they will face. This is a daunting task, complicated by the fact that we must execute it as we fight.

We've been at war, in one form or another, almost continually since Clinton sent us to the Balkans.  The next several decades will be ones of persistent conflict against determined enemies. For us to remain the dominant player in the Fires and Effects world, the Field Artillery must transform into an adaptable force capable of operating in any location and cultural environment, regardless of the where it's at. We must have the capabilities-as well as capacity and depth- to counter emerging kinetic and non-kinetic threats while simultaneously retaining our preparedness to conduct major combat operations in a manner that defeats those who threaten our nation’s interests and the interests of our allies and partners. Like the Army, our approach must be well planned, measured, and deliberate.

Emphasis mine.  You betcha it does. Why?  Consider this:

Training. Our greatest challenges, in number and scope, are in the area of training. The level of Field Artillery training in the operational forces has reached a critical stage. We are witnessing a significant degradation of core competencies with regard to the delivery and integration of joint, lethal, and non-lethal fires. Both fires battalions and fires brigades are experiencing an atrophy of conventional war fighting skills across the board in core tasks such as counterfire, fire support coordination, clearance of fires, fire support planning, and support of divisions and corps conducting major combat operations. Across the Field Artillery, units no longer have the ability to retrain themselves because this extended period has made this loss of skills permanent—outside help will be required.

This decay is the result of a number of factors, but in particular: a high percentage of fires units conducting “in lieu of” missions; second and third order effects of modularity force structure changes on training responsibilities for fire support personnel; and limited opportunity to train in core competencies (at all levels) during the reset phase of the ARFORGEN cycle. 
 

Again, emphasis mine. I've discussed that in this space before.  Part of what that’s saying is that my generation of Redlegs, the guys who mostly stood around and stared down the Soviet Bear, with diversions to Grenada, Panama, Haiti, Kuwait, Somalia and the Balkans, are  just about the only ones who remember how to do Fire Support in the Big Way.  The guys who wrote Corps Fire Support Plans that allocated the resources of hundreds of tubes and missiles.  Who planned Groups and Series and Series of Groups.  Who wrote the SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defense)  progams.  Who generated the logistics annexes to support all that.  Who have an idea of what it take to *mass* fires, in a timely and accurate fashion. 

When you look at how we are using artillery today - mostly as a long range precision sniping weapon - you see why the problem exists.  The COE, the Current Operating Environment, demands that we do so, and our current enemy doesn't present targets that are candidates for massed fires.  The reality is that if a Gunner of my era were to take a modern Officer Advanced Course tactics test - we'd fail if we gave the answers - to the exact same questions - that were correct in my era.  Just as today's Captains would most likely fail the tactics tests I administered by students, back in the day.  There's the challenge the Chief of Artillery faces.

You get the idea.

I await my recall orders to teach the youngsters how we did it old school. 

Think it’s not that bad? Can’t be? Consider this PAO announcement that I received from Fort Riley last week which prompted this post: 

`PROUD AMERICANS' FIRE ARTILLERY FOR FIRST TIME IN 23 MONTHS

FORT RILEY, Kan. - The 2nd Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division will conduct its first artillery live fire in 23 months on Oct. 20-24.  [emphasis added]

The exercise will validate the battalion's core competencies as artillerymen after training and performing infantry-oriented tasks since the last live fire. [emphasis added] Soldiers will fire the M119A2.

The two firing batteries, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery and its support battery, will deploy to Fort Riley training areas to conduct dry and live fire artillery tables. The 2nd Bn., 32nd FA, `Proud Americans' deployed in February 2008 with 4IBCT for 15 months in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom's troop surge.

Residents in the Fort Riley area should expect noise from the exercise.
 

The locals shouldn't get too upset. They haven't had to listen to as much of it as they used to, like back in the day when I was stationed at Riley.  Hmmmm.  That might be why the Fort Riley PAO sent out the note.

Look at that again:  The cannoneers of 2/32FA conduct their first artillery live fire in 23 months on Oct. 20-24.   Good luck, Chief.  Training the Cannoneers back to MTEP-standard will be the easy part.  Training the staffs will be a much greater challenge.  Maintaining that 'full-spectrum" dominance pulls you in many directions.