The United States Army Field Artillery School (USAFAS) trains Field Artillery Soldiers and Marines in tactics, techniques, and procedures for the employment of fire support systems in support of the maneuver commander. The school further develops leaders who are tactically and technically proficient, develops and refines warfighting doctrine, and designs units capable of winning on future battlefields. The school is currently located at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
Be the world's premier Field Artillery force; modernized, organized, trained, and ready to integrate and employ Army, Joint and Multinational fires across multiple domains enabling victory through Unified Land Operations.
Mission
The mission of the Field Artillery is to destroy, neutralize or suppress the enemy by cannon, rocket or missile fire and to help integrate all fire support assets into combined arms operations.
The mission of the Field Artillery School: The U.S. Army Field Artillery School trains, educates and develops agile, adaptive and decisive Soldiers and leaders; engages, collaborates and partners with other branches, sister-services and other fires warfighting function proponents; and serves as the lead agent for the development of Field Artillery doctrine, concepts and dissemination of that knowledge to the Field Artillery force in support of commanders operating across the full spectrum of conflict and in the joint, inter-organizational and multinational (JIM) environment.[1]
Endstate
The U.S. Army Field Artillery enables maneuver commanders to dominate in Unified Land Operations through effective targeting, integration and delivery of fires.
Heraldry
Device
Shield: Gules, a field piece of the 16th century paleways in plan Or.
Crest: On a wreath of the colors (Or and Gules) the arm of Saint Barbara embowed clothed of the second, issuing from the upper portion of an embattled tower Argent, and grasping flashes of lightning Proper.
Motto: CEDAT FORTUNA PERITIS (Let Fortune Yield to Experience, or Skill is Better than Luck).
Symbolism:The shield is red for Artillery; the field piece depicted, having been used in the 16th century, is the forerunner of the modern artillery. The crest is the arm of Saint Barbara, the patron saint of Artillery, holding flashes of lightning alluding to the pagan idea of Jove's ability to destroy with his bolts that which offended him.
Background: The device was originally approved for The Field Artillery School on 8 April 1926. It was redesignated for The Artillery School on 19 May 1954. On 11 September 1957 the device was redesignated for the U.S. Artillery and Missile School. On 13 February 1969 it was redesignated for the U.S. Field Artillery School.[2]
Shoulder sleeve insignia
Description/Blazon: On a scarlet shield edged with a 1⁄8 inch (0.32cm) yellow border, 3 inches (7.6cm) in height and 2 inches (5.1cm) in width overall, a yellow field piece.
Symbolism: The ancient field piece is taken from the device of the Field Artillery School, as well as the colors scarlet and yellow which are for Artillery.
Background: The shoulder sleeve insignia was originally approved on 17 July 1970 for the U.S. Army Field Artillery School. It was amended on 9 June 1981 to extend authorization for wear to include personnel assigned to the U.S. Army Field Artillery Center. (TIOH Dwg. No. A-1-188)[2]
Distinctive unit insignia
Description/Blazon: A gold color metal and enamel device 1 inch (2.5cm) in height overall on a shield Gules, a field piece of the 16th century paleways in plan Or.
Symbolism: The shield is red for Artillery; the field piece depicted, having been used in the 16th century, is the forerunner of the modern artillery.
Background: The distinctive unit insignia was originally approved for the Field Artillery School on 29 March 1930. It was redesignated for the Artillery School on 19 May 1954. On 11 September 1957 the insignia was redesignated for the U.S. Army Artillery and Missile School. The distinctive unit insignia was redesignated for the U.S. Field Army Artillery School on 13 February 1969. It was amended on 9 June 1981 to extend authorization for wear to personnel assigned to the U.S. Army Field Artillery Center.[2]
The origin of USAFAS can be traced back to the 1907 reorganization of the Artillery Corps and to the character of Fort Sill at that time. The 1907 reorganization created Coast and Field Artillery Branches. In the process of this reorganization, the Field Artillery was deprived of its former home at Fort Monroe, Virginia. Fort Sill was considered the best location for a Field Artillery school, since its 15,000-acre (61km2) reservation allowed ample room for target practice and its great variety of terrain offered an excellent area for different types of tactical training. In addition, the post had already assumed the character of the home of artillery with a large number of artillery units assigned.
The first artillery school, the US Army School of Fire, was organized in 1911 by Captain Dan Tyler Moore. With the exception of a brief period in 1916 when school troops were used as frontier security guards during the Mexican Revolution, the School has operated and expanded continuously. Hundreds of thousands of artillerymen have been trained at Fort Sill since the inception of the School.
After the United States entered World War I, the school reopened in 1917 with Col. William J. Snow as commandant. The Field Artillery School, as it was now known, added more courses. After the war, school commandants began a long-range program to improve field artillery mobility, gunnery and equipment. Budget cuts during the 1920s hampered their efforts, but innovative directors of the Gunnery Department, with support from school commandants, helped modernize the field artillery in the 1930s. Maj. Carlos Brewer, director of the Gunnery Department in the late 1920s and early 1930s, introduced new fire direction techniques so fire support would be more responsive. Maj. Orlando Ward, the next department director, developed the fire direction center to centralize command and control and to facilitate massing fire. Brewer, Ward, and Lt. Col. H.L.C. Jones encouraged replacing horses with motor vehicles for moving field artillery guns.
During World War II, to best use new long-range guns and better response times, the Field Artillery School championed the use of air observation to control artillery fires. The War Department approved organic field artillery air observation in 1942. The artillery air observers adjusted massed fire and performed liaison, reconnaissance, and other missions during the war. Following the war, the school adapted to the atomic age and the Cold War. The War Department consolidated all artillery training and developments under the U.S. Army Artillery Center at Fort Sill in 1946. At that time, the center included the Artillery School, the Antiaircraft and Guided Missile School at Fort Bliss, Texas, and the Coast Artillery School at Fort Scott, Calif. The air defense artillery became its own branch in 1966. In 1953, school personnel fired the first nuclear-capable fieldartillery gun (the 280mm gun known as Atomic Annie) at Frenchman's Flat, Nevada. During the 1950s, school personnel also helped develop rocket and missile warfare (The U.S. arsenal included the Honest John rocket, Corporal missile and Redstone missile) that could carry a nuclear warhead.
In 1963, the school tested aerial rocket artillery, which equipped helicopters with rockets. As demonstrated in the Vietnam War, aerial rocket artillery was effective. The school cooperated in the development of the Field Artillery Digital Automated Computer, commonly called FADAC, to compute fire direction data. Introduced in 1966–67, FADAC made the field artillery a leader in computer developments for the Army. After the Vietnam War, the school participated in the introduction of the Multiple-Launch Rocket System, the Army Tactical Missile System, the Paladin 155-mm. self-propelled howitzer, and other field artillery systems.
The field artillery's performance in military operations in Operation Desert Storm in 1990-91 and Iraq and Afghanistan from 2001 to today validated the school's modernization efforts. Field artillery officers and soldiers can do complicated logarithmic calculations to fire a mission in one moment or they can escort a supply convoy, secure prisoners, patrol a village or any other mission the next.[3]
Commandants
Commandants of the Artillery School include John Patten Story, who commanded from 1902 to 1904.[4]
Fort Sill is a United States Army post north of Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles (137 km) southwest of Oklahoma City. It covers almost 94,000 acres (38,000 ha).
The 56th Artillery Command is a two-star command of the United States Army that serves as the Force Field Artillery Headquarters for U.S. Army Europe and Africa, with a mission to synchronize, integrate, and control fires and effects in support of the theater land component. The unit was originally formed on September 14, 1942, as the 56th Coast Artillery Brigade and has been reorganized and redesignated several times until its inactivation on June 30, 1991, following the reunification of Germany and the end of the Cold War.
The 214th Fires Brigade is an inactive field artillery brigade in the United States Army. The brigade inactivated on May 21, 2015, at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
The 12th Field Artillery Regiment is a unit of the United States Army.
The 5th Field Artillery Regiment was constituted as part of the Regular Army in January 1907. Individual battalions have lineages which date back further. Currently, it is a parent regiment under the U.S. Army Regimental System, with a single active battalion, the 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery, which is assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kansas.
The 2nd Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment in the United States Army. Currently a parent regiment under the U.S. Army Regimental System, the regiment has a single active battalion, the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Field Artillery, assigned to the 428th Field Artillery Brigade at the U.S. Army Field Artillery, Fort Sill, OK. Their long history is currently represented by the 2nd Field Artillery Mascots
The 9th Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army first formed in 1916. The regiment served in Hawaii during World War I, 3rd, 4th, 7th, and 9th Divisions between the world wars, and with 3rd Infantry Division during World War II and Korea. Since 1957, the regiment has been a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System and the U.S. Army Regimental System, with regimental elements serving with the 3rd, 4th, 10th, 25th, 79th, 83rd, and 96th Infantry Divisions and various field artillery brigades and groups. The regiment's single active component, the 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment, is assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division and stationed at Fort Stewart, Georgia.
The 14th Field Artillery Regiment is a parent field artillery regiment of the United States Army, currently represented in the Regular Army by its 1st Battalion, a HIMARS unit with the 75th Field Artillery Brigade at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
The 17th Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army first formed in 1916.
The 18th Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army first formed in 1916.
The 22nd Field Artillery Regiment is a Field Artillery regiment of the United States Army.
The 26th Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army first constituted 5 July 1918 in the National Army (USA).
The 32nd Field Artillery Regiment is a distinguished and highly decorated field artillery regiment of the United States Army, first Constituted in 1918.
The 40th Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army, first Constituted 5 July 1918 in the National Army (USA).
The 77th Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army. First constituted 1916 in the Regular Army as a cavalry regiment. Reorganized in 1917 as field artillery and given its current designation.
The 79th Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army. First constituted 1916 in the Regular Army.
The 44th Air Defense Artillery Regiment is an Air Defense Artillery regiment of the United States Army, first constituted in 1918 in the Regular Army during World War I. During World War II the unit served as the 54th Coast Artillery Regiment
The 84th Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army.
The 333rd Field Artillery Regiment is a regiment of the Field Artillery Branch of the United States Army.
The 2nd Battalion, 2nd Field Artillery Regiment is the United States Army’s Direct Support field artillery battalion; assigned to the 428th Field Artillery Brigade and stationed at Fort Sill, OK. Founded in 1775 as the Second Artillery Regiment, the Battalion now carries the lineage of the 18th Battery, Artillery Corps, and carries campaign credit for the Philippine Insurrection, World War I, and World War II.
↑ Association of Graduates of the United States Military Academy (1915). Annual Reunion Proceedings. Vol.46. Saginaw, MI: Seemann & Peters. pp.52–55 – via Google Books.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
