By Spc. Erin Robicheaux
256th Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs
CAMP LIBERTY, Baghdad -- It has been said that the "King of Battle," also known as the field artillery, is made up of many parts. The Fire support teams (FIST) are considered the "eyes," the fire direction center (FDC) is the "brains," and the gun crews are the "muscles." It takes all of these pieces working together to make a mission successful, and the Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 141st Field Artillery are above and beyond the rest when it comes to their job performance.
The history of the New Orleans unit is a long and distinguished one that dates back all the way to Sept. 7, 1838. Beginning as the Washington Artillery, the 1-141st FA is the oldest militia unit in the state of Louisiana, as well as the oldest field artillery battalion outside of the original thirteen colonies.
Still considered the Washington Artillery, the servicemen of the battalion served under Zachary Taylor in the Mexican War, both as infantry and artillery. During the span of the Civil War they were involved in over 60 battles, including Shiloh, First Manassas, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg.
In 1917 the Washington Artillery was redesignated as the 1-141st Field Artillery Regiment and in 1979 was assigned to the 256th Infantry Brigade. Today, they are joined in the fight against global terrorism, and are playing a vital role in making the lives of the Iraqi people better.
The process of the artillery missions runs like a well-oiled machine when the steps are accurately executed, and the 1-141 has a glowing reputation for accuracy.
Maj. Harry "Hank" Pezold is the fire support officer (FSO) for the 256th Brigade Combat Team (BCT). He said the mechanics of field artillery are an exact science of meteorology and accurate computational data.
Everything has to be taken into consideration when setting up a target, from the speed of the round going downrange to the rotation of the earth on its axis.
"Because of where you're positioned on earth, you're going to have some type of correction for some reason," he said. "It's stuff that you can't measure like temperature or the gun's location on the globe."
There are five requirements of accurate and predictive fires: target location; gun location (firing unit location); accurate computational data; accurate meteorological data; and accurate ammunition and weapon data.
The fire support's main mission is to work with the maneuver elements, specifically, the infantry and armored battalions. They determine all target locations and initiate missions.
The fire support is the center of activity and his mission is to synchronize all fires with other assets, such as the Air Force and Army aviation, as well as indirect artillery fire, if it is needed.
Artillery fire is an indirect fire system, which means that the gun crew does not have physical eyes on the target. The forward observer (FO) is the only one who actually sees where the round will hit, before and after the fact.
After the call for fire is initiated by the FO, headquarters checks the activities to ensure that there are no friendlies in the kill zone.
After it is confirmed, the fire direction center (FDC) decides how the target will be engaged. After the computations and configurations are complete, the personnel on the M109A6 Paladin actually pick up the 100 pound round, then loads and fires the weapon.
Though they cannot see the target, based on the information that is sent to them by the FDC, they know exactly where the weapon should be aimed. After the round is sent and the target is engaged, the FO assesses the outcome and determines if the mission was a success.
Pezold admits that the process of an artillery mission is an involved one.
"It's a lot of math, trigonometry and algebra mostly," he said. "It can be difficult because there are so many people involved."
He compared artillery to an M16A2 rifle. When someone is shooting a direct fire weapon, the same person who is shooting also does the loading and aiming.
Artillerymen do not have the luxury of the simple control of a single shooter. Being well rehearsed, the field artillery provides accurate and timely fires.
The crew in the Paladin is the nuts and bolts that hold the artillery mission together. Sgt. Cory Brandt from New Orleans has been a member of Battery B, 1-141 FA for ten years and knows the ins and outs of the system. He said it's not only the level of damage that intimidates the insurgents, but also the level of noise.
"One round is the equivalent of about seven hand grenades and the kill zone is about fifty meters," he explained. "It's also psychological because it's so loud, and they think twice after hearing it."
Brandt said the FDC is equipped with radars that will track incoming rounds, and before that round hits, within seconds he and his team will receive a mission and get their own round in the air. Before the insurgent could make it off of the mortar tube or away from the rocket launcher, he has fire coming right back at him.
"It doesn't take much for them to realize that we're going to shoot back," said Brandt.
| Date Taken: | 02.11.2005 |
| Date Posted: | 02.11.2005 11:22 |
| Story ID: | 1148 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 304 |
| Downloads: | 6 |
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