ARNG battalion annual training rotation at Fort Sill

FA Journal, Jan, 2002 by William J. O'Neill

FA Army National Guard (ARNG) units comprise almost 70 percent of the branch, and the Army is relying more on ARNG FA to accomplish its missions. With this expanded role, it is imperative the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, play a more active role in ensuring all ARNG FA units maintain their skills, readiness and professionalism.

This article provides a blueprint for ARNG FA units to coordinate and prepare for annual training (AT) at Fort Sill on a rotational basis, making the most of the Home of the Field Artillery's professional resources.

Currently, ARNG units travel to the same local training areas to conduct AT year after year--which does not challenge their FA skills, such as terrain association, calls-for-fire, fire solution problems, etc. In many instances, ARNG soldiers completed their latest NCO educational system (NCOES) course 10 or more years ago and have not had the opportunity to return to the schoolhouse for refresher training.

A parallel issue concerns training with new equipment fielding and updates--the initial fire support automation system (IFSAS), gun laying and positioning system (GLPS), etc. Many times this training is accomplished on alternate weekends, further spreading the unit thin and diminishing its most precious resource: time.

Vision for Training at Fort Sill. The section capabilities of the 2d Battalion, 110th Field Artillery (2-110 FA), MDARNG, part of the 29th Infantry Division (Light), were meeting the standards. However, the gunnery team lacked the ability to synchronize the fire support element (FSE), fire direction centers (FDCs) and batteries to provide timely, accurate fires.

Based on this lack of synchronization, we developed a plan for the battalion to deploy to Fort Sill for schoolhouse instruction and a 72-hour live-fire exercise (LFX) during the two-week AT. The plan called for sending each section to it respective part of the FA School for a week of refresher training from the experts. After the refresher training, the battalion then would certify the FSE, FDCs and gun crews. Finally the LFX would be a practical exercise for battalion collective tasks that also would indicate areas in which to focus future training.

The FA School said that a mobile training team (MTT) could help with training at home station; however, we decided the size of an MTT was not large or diverse enough to provide the comprehensive training this program entailed. So planning and coordination for the battalion's AT in April 2001 at Fort Sill began, the battalion's first full deployment outside of the Mid-Atlantic region in 25 years.

Planning and Coordination. In September 2000, the battalion commander, executive officer (XO), logistics NCO and the headquarters and headquarters battery NCO went to Fort Sill to coordinate with post agencies: the Directorate of Logistics (DOL), Range Operations, Fire Support and Combined Arms Operations Department (FSCAOD), the various military occupational specialty (MOS) advanced individual training (AIT) instructors, OKARNG Mobilization and Training Equipment Site (MATES) and Directorate of Plans, Training and Mobilization (DPTM). Once the FA School agreed to the battalion's AT at Fort Sill, we tasked the battalion staff elements and began the coordination process.

In January 2001, the XO, S3 and the logistics and operations NCOs returned to Fort Sill for the Reserve Component (RC) Resource Conference. This allowed the battalion to revisit the coordination agencies, check on the status of our Fort Sill Forms 104 Request for Support and resolve any open issues.

In the same time frame, the battalion staff submitted requests for military aircraft to transport the battalion from Martins State Airport in Maryland to Fort Sill. We also requested military ground transportation; however, due to AT scheduling conflicts, we had to use commercial transportation.

The S3 section tracked the status of all Fort Sill 104s and air and ground transportation requests every two weeks, starting in January. The regular updates allowed the staff sections to react in a timely fashion to issues that presented themselves.

The S4 section was in contact with Fort Sill DOL agencies, the OKARNG and our Virginia State Transportation Office weekly to ensure we had adequate assets for movement. The S4 section also submitted ration requests to Fort Sill and requested catered meals for deployment and redeployment.

Battalion staff and training meetings were every two weeks during drill and on alternate Tuesday evenings to ensure each staff element remained focused and engaged.

Our close coordination with the FA School ensured the battalion's AT was successful. The level of detail of the coordination and questions that arose from the battalion staff drove additional coordination with Fort Sill that proved significant. For example, the staff at Fort Sill knew the battalion was deploying the single-channel ground and airborne radio system (SINCGARS). This led to discussions about SINCGARS versions, ensuring Fort Sill loaded the proper version on the classroom radios to make the most of the training. The same discussions took place with respect to which version of IFSAS the battalion used.