Photo By Sgt. William Rogers | Retired U.S. Army Capt. Paige Lanier poses with Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 77th...... read more read more
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FORT CARSON, Colo. — The sharp crack of artillery echoed across the range, rolling over the Colorado foothills like distant thunder. A plume of smoke and dust marked the blast as the round roared downrange.
With a steady pull of the lanyard on an M777A2 howitzer, Vietnam veteran and retired U.S. Army Capt. Paige Lanier helped close the book on more than 30 years of the United States Army’s Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS) as the 4th Infantry Division transitions all of its fires capabilities to the new Artillery Execution Suite (AXS), September 17, 2025.
The Last Fire Mission
On a warm September morning, Lanier returned to Fort Carson at the invitation of 4ID to serve as an honorary gunner during a live-fire demonstration. Soldiers gathered around the gun line, eager to see a Vietnam veteran pull the lanyard.
The crew loaded the M777A2 howitzer, stepping back as Lanier took position, a young private handing him the cord. For a moment, Lanier stood still. He thought of the gun pits of Vietnam, the comrades he lost, the Soldiers he trained, and the countless fire missions in between. Then, with practiced precision, he pulled.
The thunder rolled once more. Dust kicked up, cheers broke out, and Lanier lowered the cord slowly, almost reverently.
“I like being with the troops, that's when I feel at home, being from a large military family,” said Lanier.
As Ivy Soldiers packed up the M777A2 howitzer and the smoke cleared, Lanier lingered for a final glance. The thunder of artillery had marked his youth, shaped his career, and tied him to generations of Soldiers before and after him.
With that, he turned from the gun line, his service complete but his legacy enduring—etched in steel, smoke, and the traditions of the U.S. Army Field Artillery.
The Battle of Suoi Tre
Lanier’s legacy of service began in 1966 when he was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Infantry Division after graduation from the Field Artillery Officer Candidate School. Less than four months after commissioning and arriving at his unit, the battalion received orders to deploy to Vietnam.
“I had been a forward observer for six months in country, and when we got there, we ended up right away going into the field in an area no American Soldier had been before called the Iron Triangle,” Lanier recalled.
Lanier said the area contained obstacles and tunnels filled with hazards, from weapons to snakes ranging from six to eight feet in length. On March 20, 1967, the Ivy Division came under direct and indirect fire, thus beginning the Battle of Suoi Tre.
For six hours, as lethal fires covered the battlefield, Paige resupplied the battalion with over 2,000 rounds of 105mm ammunition, 41 beehive rounds, and 140 crates of small arms ammunition.
Lanier’s memories of Suoi Tre highlight the significant changes the battlefield has undergone since the 1960s. Just as artillery shaped combat then, today’s Soldiers are preparing for a new era of digital fires.
“It's important to update our systems, dating back to the 1960s when we used the Field Artillery Digital Automatic Computer,” said Lanier. “That system was so slow that two Soldiers could calculate faster than the electronics; today our electronics are working faster and faster than before.”
The Prototype Division
The Army’s transition from AFATDS to AXS represents a critical step in modernizing fire-support operations for the Next Generation of Command and Control (NGC2). AFATDS, while effective for decades, was built on legacy architecture that limited speed, adaptability, and integration with emerging technologies.
AXS provides a modular, open-architecture solution that enhances operational agility, interoperability, and user experience.
As the Army’s Prototype Division, 4ID is actively evaluating and refining NGC2 concepts in realistic operational environments to ensure the system meets the needs of the warfighter.
1st. Lt. Tyler Thomas, platoon leader for 1st Platoon, Charlie Battery, 2nd Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment, Division Artillery Brigade, 4ID, said updating systems is important for sustaining the lethality and survivability of the force. This shift ensures that fires units can keep pace with rapidly evolving threats, synchronize effects across domains, and deliver precision fires with greater speed and accuracy.
Ultimately, the move to AXS supports the Army’s transformation priorities by leveraging the lessons learned from 4ID’s NGC2 prototype activities to integrate multiple warfighting functions and provide commanders with the data they need to make more informed, better, and faster decisions.
As the 4th Infantry Division leads the Army into its next generation of command and control, Lanier’s steady pull on the lanyard symbolized more than the end of AFATDS—it marked the passing of tradition, resilience, and artillery’s enduring thunder to a new generation.
| Date Taken: | 09.19.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.19.2025 16:01 |
| Story ID: | 548789 |
| Location: | FORT CARSON, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 73 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, From Vietnam to the future: Veteran fires last round as Army transforms Field Artillery, by SGT William Rogers, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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