Field Artillery author's guide

FA Journal, July-August, 2004

Readership. A bimonthly magazine, Field Artillery is the professional journal for US Army and Marine Corps Field Artillerymen worldwide. Approximately 40 percent of our readership is company-grade, both officer and enlisted, with the remaining 60 percent more senior Army and Marine personnel, Department of Defense (DoD) civilians, retirees, members of other branches and services, allies, corporate executives and others.

Magazine Features. In addition to articles, we routinely print the Chief of Field Artillery's column (Crossed Cannons on Your Collar); letters-to-the editor (Incoming); interviews with Army, joint and combined leaders; news items from the Field Artillery School (View from the Blockhouse); and book reviews (Redleg Review). We primarily review books focused on Field Artillery or fire support; the publisher must send the book, and we provide the reviewer.

Subjects. The majority of the articles accepted cover subjects at the tactical level of war with some at the operational and strategic levels as long as their contents relate to Field Artillery or fire support or are of special interest to our readers.

If an author is writing about the past, he should analyze the events and show how they apply to Field Artillerymen today--not just record history. If he's identifying current problems, he must propose solutions. (An author may identify problems without proposing solutions only in a letter-to-the-editor.) In addressing the future, he should clearly explain his points and their implications.

Since its founding in 1911, one of Field Artillery's objectives has been to serve as a forum for professional discussions among the FA community. Therefore, an author's viewpoints, recommendations or procedures don't have to agree with those of the Branch, Army or DoD. But his article's contents must be logical and accurate, address disadvantages as well as advantages (as applicable), promote only safe techniques and procedures and include no classified information.

Articles must be clear and concise with the thesis statement (bottom line) up front and the body of the article systematically contributing to the thesis. When writing, authors must think like the Field Artilleryman in the field: "What is it?" "What will it do for me?" and "How do I implement it?" (or "When will I get it?").

Submissions. Include--

* A clean, double-spaced, typed, unpublished manuscript of no more than 4,000 words with footnotes and bibliography, as appropriate. Except in the case of Army-wide "news" items, authors should not submit a manuscript to Field Artillery while it's being considered elsewhere.

Email us the PC-formatted text or mail us a disk along with the hard copy of the manuscript. (We use MS Word.) Please do not layout your article with columns and graphics inserted or use the automatic footnote feature of some software programs; it causes us extra work to strip out the design before editing and laying it out.

* A comprehensive biography, highlighting your experience, education and training relevant to the article's subject. Include your full name, rank (as applicable), current job, email and home addresses, and telephone and Fax numbers; please keep this information current as long as we're considering your manuscript.

* Graphics with captions to illustrate and clarify the article. These can include photographs (preferably color), drawings, slides, maps, charts, unit crests, etc. We accept high-resolution digital photos--those are photos shot at the highest resolution (about 1 MB per photo) and largest frame size the digital camera will allow. Send the photos to us in jpg or tff.

The Field Artillery staff will edit all manuscripts and put them in the magazine's style and format. Authors will receive a "check copy" of the edited version before publication.

* Call us at DSN 639-5121 or 6806 or commercial (580) 442-5121 or 6806. To Fax, call DSN or commercial 7773. Our email is famag@sill.army.mil.

* Mail your submission to Field Artillery, P.O. Box 33311, Fort Sill, Oklahoma 73503-0311.

* Over-night your submission to Building 758, Room 7, McNair Road, Fort Sill, Oklahoma 73503-5600.

* View our homepage at http://sill-www.army.mil/famag. We have magazines online back to 1959.

2005 Field Artillery Deadlines

Edition         Deadline

Jan-Feb         1 Oct 2004
Mar-Apr         1 Dec
May-Jun         1 Feb 2005
Jul-Aug         1 Feb: History Contest*
                1 Apr: Other
Sep-Oct         1 Jun
Nov-Dec         1 Aug

*Due date for contest submissions; all other articles due 1 April.