A Conversation for The Barracks

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Post 1

nuts2you

I am currently a serving member of the Australian Army. I am serving in the Royal Australian Artillery and would like to join this crew you have established here.


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Post 2

Two Bit Trigger Pumping Moron

Welcome.

A cannon cocker huh. In the American Army each part of artillery is divided up into separate jobs. The cannon crew only works the artillery piece. The Fire Direction Center folks, only do that. Then the forward observers just observe. It makes it kind of odd, because the FO's are some of the smartest guys you'll come across in the Army. The gun bunnies are less so.

Do you divide it up like that too?

I was a mortarman in the infantry, and we had to know how to do it all.


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Post 3

nuts2you

The Australian Artillery is very different from your system. I have worked several batteries of USMC Artillery, A 1/11, A and B 1/12, during various exercises and didn't rate their drills at all.

Our system is based on the UK system.

Soldiers will start as gun numbers on the gun line then as they get courses they will become CP (FDC) operators, signallers, FO assistants, and gun 2IC and Comd. They can go through every job from the FDC to the Hill to the Gun line ain any order and into any job depending on their courses and seinority.

Officers will start on the gun line as Sect Come, responsible for half the Bty for local defence and tech drills (Recon of the new posn etc). Then to the Bty CP as a Gun Position Officer (FDO) then they can go the Regt (Bn) HQ like me for a yeay or to the Hill as an observer (as I will next year).

This system works well because every one, officer an soldier alike starts on the guns which is where the work is done. Then they go on to the other jobs so when they call for fire or order something they know what it takes at the gun line to achieve that and their expectations are realistic. It is very easy to see the difference between people who have spent little time on the gun positionas they do not know what the guns are capable of and cant get the best from them.


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Post 4

Two Bit Trigger Pumping Moron

That makes sense. I don't have a clue how the Marines do it. In the Army, the combat arms generally enlist for a branch. Then they decide which job you get at basic training, generally by standardized test scores.

For instance, I enlisted as an infantryman. I'd seen Kelly's Heroes, and I thought it looked like what I wanted to do. When I got to basic training. They divided us up by the scores on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). The highest scores went to be mortarmen (because we were all expected to be able to do FAD work as well as the guns). The next highest were made anti tank gunners, then Bradley infantrymen and then rifleman.

Then I was assigned to mechanized infantry, so it was nothing like what I expected, but it was a good place to be. I enjoyed it.

Later I was assigned to an armour unit. They rarely paid us any attention, because tankers didn't often need support from a few 4.2 inch mortars. Then during the Gulf War, each manuver brigade had an entire artillery brigade assigned to it as fire support. You can guess how much they were used (I was detached during the ground war). They had two fire missions. In one of the missions, they were adjusting fire by grid, and they gave the TOC's grid as the target location. Luckily the lieutenant saw what was happening, and stopped it.

Out of curiosity, how many guns do you have in a battery? I think our Army has something like 6 to 8 guns in a battery. To me it seems inefficient to have a captain in charge of just a few guns. Our mortar platoon had 6 guns, 1 lieutenant, 1 platoon sergeant, 2 section sergeants, 6 squad leader sergeants or corporals (one per gun), plus the FDC crew. I never understood why they needed a whole company command layer to deal with two more guns, even if they were larger.


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Post 5

nuts2you

We have a six gun battery employing the M 198 as your USMC does. The Battery Captain on the gun line does not command the battery, he is there for command of the recon of new positions. The battery commander, a major, is off with the commander of the supported battalion or regiment.

Our ranks a re a little different to yours. We no longer use the 2LT. It starts at LT then CAPT. Battery/Company command is at junior Major level and Unit command is at senior LTCOL level. From my understanding your senior LT is like our junior Capt and a senior capt is like our junior major. It confused me seing LTs running around commanding batteries but hell, what ever works for you.

nuts2you


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Post 6

doggymad (the dog with the curly tail that just wont go straight!)

well i was a cadet when i was 10, and was brought up ith a dad in the british marines, and both my brothers went on to be in the british army, princess of wales regiment.
can i join???


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