Artillery paratroopers return thunder to JBER

Published March 18, 2011
By David Bedard
JBER PAO

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- A voice from the fire direction center crackled over the radio, spurring the 3rd Howitzer Section crew into action.

"No. 3, cancel do not load. No. 3, quadrant 358."

"Gunner's quadrant," the chief of section said under his breath, reaching for a nautical looking device resembling a sextant.

"One round," the FDC directed, following the instruction with short, curt commands.
"Deflection, quadrant."

"Deflection 3173, quadrant 358," the FDC concluded.

The howitzer's gunner furiously input the numbers into his sight, then cranked on the traversing and elevating handwheels to align the gun to his inputs.

"Deflection 3173!" The chief of section barked.

The radio operator verified, "Check!"

"Quadrant 358!"

"Check!"

The gunner craned his body away from the sight to allow the chief of section to verify his inputs and sight picture before stepping back, arm raised.

"Standby ... fire!"

The exchange sounds alien to outsiders, merely a jumble of numbers and geometric sounding terms. But to an artilleryman, the discourse includes the commands and data which allow an M119A1 105 mm towed howitzer crew to accurately hurl an explosive projectile up to 19 kilometers without ever seeing the target.

Army Capt. Derek Reeves, A Battery commander, 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, said last week's gunnery live fire exercise was the first at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson since the brigade began deploying in support of contingency operations.

"This is the first time this battery has done it in about five years, though we've shot other places," The Edmond, Okla., native said. "We've got to maintain our artillery proficiency and transition back to M119, the 105 towed howitzers that we're scheduled to take to Afghanistan in a couple of months."

Reeves said A Battery trained on the much larger M198 155-mm howitzers often used in Afghanistan, before a change in their mission order returned the unit to their assigned M119A1s.

The commander said there are many considerations when firing artillery at JBER.

Beluga whales following salmon migration into installation wetlands currently limit artillery fires in the summer. Five inches of ice is also required to act as natural protection for the environment.

Though sometimes converted into infantry, Reeves said A Battery deployed as a M198/M119A1 hybrid firing battery during their last rotation to Afghanistan, offering accurate, predicted cannon fires to the brigade.

"Artillery gives the maneuver commander firepower," he explained. "It's an all-weather asset. (Close air support) is great, but if the weather's bad, sometimes they can't fly. As long as it's in range - rain, sleet or snow - we can fire artillery."

Reeves said delivering rounds on target requires a diverse range of field artillery disciplines.

Forward observers assigned to infantry battalions identify targets and relay their location and engagement criteria to the fire direction center at the battalion or battery level dependent on protocols.

Army Staff Sgt. Zachary Salter, A Battery FDC chief, said his section's job is to translate the FO's requirements into fire commands.

"Our job is to coordinate fires with the observers on the ground," the St. Petersburg, Fla., native said. "We compute technical data and we send that data to the (cannoneers) and they fire that data on target."

In addition to the relative locations of howitzers and the target, Salter said the FDC also has to take into account weather conditions, the rotation of the earth, ballistics and even the wear of each howitzer's rifling.

Though the FDC uses the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System to compute fire solutions, they also rely on the analog "charts and darts" system in use since World War I.

"We have two independent means of computational data, so what we do is verify independently with the AFATDS computer system against the manual version of the chart," Salter said. "If they match up, we know the data we're sending is correct."
Sgt. Paul Jette, field artillery surveyor, said it is his job to provide the FDC and the howitzer crews with accurate coordinates.

"Survey is basically establishing a common grid for the battlefield," explained the Nashua, N.H., native. "The importance of it is laying everyone on the same grid and ensuring that they maintain accurate predicted fires."

Survey uses the gyroscopic Improved Position and Azimuth Determining System to accurately orient firing batteries, providing them accuracy to within one meter compared to 10 meters for GPS.

Sgt. Jordan Malbrough, meteorological section chief, said he provides the FDC with the weather data necessary to account for atmospheric conditions including wind direction, wind speed, temperature and pressure.

Because an artillery round travels through varying altitudes, Malbrough said he provides data for 27 weather layers from the surface to 20,000 meters.

"Where all of that mainly affects the round is when it is transitioning from its ascending end to it's descending end is when it's most vulnerable to be affected by the weather," the Marrero, La., native said.

At the end of the field artillery chain is the howitzer section. Army Staff. Sgt. Stephen Brock, 3rd Section chief, said a howitzer crew is a culture of accountability.

"In the artillery, we check, we re-check and we double check," the Cape Coral, Fla. native said.

Brock said his section consists of five artillerymen.

The gunner inputs deflection (direction) and quadrant (elevation) into his sight and reorients the howitzer tube to correspond with the data.

The ammunition team chief manages the ammunition, ensuring the proper use of projectiles and fuses as well as the proper amount of propellant.

The "fifth man" takes the assembled round from the ATC and hands it to the "number one man" who loads the ammunition into the howitzer's breach.

The chief of section verifies the ammunition is properly configured before allowing the number one man to load the round.

He then double checks the gunner's deflection and quadrant inputs as well as his sight picture before issuing the command to  fire. For his part, Brock said he is glad to transition back to the smallest cannon in the Army's inventory which is best suited for airborne operations.

"We can drop these out of a C-17 (Globemaster III), we can drop them out of a C-130 (Hercules)," he said. "They can also be picked up by (UH-60) Black Hawks, whereas a 198 can't. It's just a lot more versatile. We can go places a 198 can't."