Courtesy Photo | At the Munitions and Weapons Division, test officers must earn either a mortar or...... read more read more
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A badge of honor is something earned and cherished.
At Yuma Test Center’s Munitions and Weapons Division, the Badge of Artillery is just that. At the division, test officers (TO) must earn either a mortar or artillery firing certification to work independently and lead a test. The process involves many milestones and can take a new TO anywhere from seven months to a year explained senior test officer Richard Bloomfield.
“There’s a required number of hours for observation. It’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 hours. There’s a required number of hours for participation. Basically, somebody else watching you do the test and that’s also about another 100 hours.”
There’s a familiarization period where TO’s meet with the different instrumentation support shops to learn about their role during a test.
“We become familiar with all those areas of instrumentation so we can properly work with our customers and know what work we can supply them as far as instrumentation and data collection goes.”
TOs also have misfire training with the weapon operators better known as gunners. Plus, a lot of reading from technical manuals and Standard Operating Procedures. The requirements are lengthy, yet Bloomfield says what means more than checking off the requirements from a list is the respect from your fellow TOs.
“Doing the training is one thing. Anybody can read the SOPs and complete the number of hours. That’s not necessarily the hard part. But it’s gaining the trust of your peers.” He goes on to explain, “You have to prove that you can safely run a test downrange, and look out for all the personnel, and at the same time manage customer expectations, data collection and everything else that we have to deal with.”
Acting Artillery Branch Chief, Jorge Amaya told recipients, “This certification marks the beginning of a new and challenging phase in your careers. You are now entrusted with even greater responsibilities, and the safety and effectiveness of our artillery systems rest on your shoulders.”
You can imagine when those milestones are met it’s a momentous accomplishment. That’s why Bloomfield wanted to mark the achievement and came up with the idea for the Badge of Artillery ceremony. The inspiration came from hearing about a retirement ceremony where the person received a piece of a demilitarized gun tube. “I thought man that would be so cool to have a piece of a gun tube.”
He spoke with this branch chief, and they decided it would be an impactful way to recognize the TOs who are artillery certified.
Bloomfield got the approval to use a de-milled 155-mm gun tube, then he worked with the Metrology and Simulation and the Machine Shop to get it sectioned and inscribed.
“I came up with an inscription to put on the tube.” Each tube says “King of Battle” because artillery is king of battle. “Across the bottom it’s inscribed, mils, meters and second because those are the three most important things to an artilleryman,” explained Bloomfield. Adding, “It’s a reminder of how important it is we know where the gun is pointing whenever we shoot it.”
Lastly, Bloomfield selected a meaningful location to present the badge. He chose the memorial monument for Michael Tran, an artillery tester critically injured who later died after a testing accident in the 90s. “It’s a reminder that not doing our job correctly carries heavy consequences.”
In the two years since the ceremony began more than 20 TOs have received the Badge of Artillery. The most recent recipients are Erik Alcala, Carlos Duarte, and Hector Magana.
Acting Artillery Branch Chief Jorge Amaya told the recent recipients, “These are not mere tokens of congratulations; they are powerful symbols of the milestone you have all accomplished. Each piece is a tangible representation of the complex systems you have now mastered and serves as a lasting tribute to the expertise and dedication this certification demands.”
| Date Taken: | 03.10.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 03.10.2026 11:53 |
| Story ID: | 558015 |
| Location: | YUMA PROVING GROUND, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 19 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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