Home station fire direction training for more autonomous POCs

Reintegrating the 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Battalion (4-27 FA), 1st Armored Division (1st AD), into the cool green hills of Baumholder, Germany, from the hot dusty roads of Baghdad began several months before it left Forward Operating Base (FOB) Thunder in Iraq. This early reintegration plan included training fire direction Soldiers to conduct more autonomous operations.

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Training fire direction Soldiers and officers in a direct support (DS) battalion is a difficult job because of the level of technical expertise required. Today's Military Occupational Specialist (MOS) 13D Fire Direction Specialist must be well versed in a variety of tasks, such as advanced FA tactical data systems (AFATDS) operations, gunnery troubleshooting, digital communications, FM radio operations and basic automatic fire control system (AFCS) operations.

About two-thirds of the battalion's fire direction center (FDC) Soldiers had been involved in Hot Platoon operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) II. The nature of the mission called for fire direction NCOs (FDNCOs) and fire direction officers (FDOs) to work autonomously with the brigade fire support element (FSE). Therefore they had to articulate their needs to meet the five requirements for accurate predicted fires and understand how each of the five requirements affected their ability to place timely, accurate fires on the enemy.

However, upon returning from Iraq, most of the senior fire direction Soldiers and section chiefs were lost to permanent change-of-station (PCS) moves. In addition, many of our senior lieutenants who would become platoon leaders had not been FDOs in Iraq; instead, for the most part, they had been infantry platoon leaders or had manned the battery command posts (CPs) on our FOB.

Before deploying to OIF, the battalion had fielded AFATDS followed by a rotation to the Combat Maneuver Training Center (CMTC) in Hohenfels, Germany, as well as participation in several digital communications exercises (COMEXs). However, many of the battalion's hard-fought lessons had been set aside when our Soldiers conducted infantry operations in the center of Baghdad.

The battalion experienced a great deal of success as a maneuver task force and in Hot Platoon operations in support of the 1st Division's 2d Brigade Combat Team (BCT). Hot Platoon operations in OIF gave us a new perspective on training our platoon operations centers (POCs).

Our strategy was to integrate the lessons learned from our Hot Platoon operations in Iraq into a program to develop our fire direction leaders and Soldiers. The Hot Platoon afteraction reviews (AARs) provided lessons about what FDC Soldiers needed to know to operate a battalion FDC, both tactically and technically.

In the program, we revised our battalion safety program, conducted mandatory professional development classes for FDOs and FDNCOs, introduced a fire direction leader's book, taught basic AFATDS classes and reintroduced skill-level testing for all FDC Soldiers.

Revised Safety Program. We revised our safety program to produce fire direction Soldiers who can meet the needs of autonomous operations. The battalion safety test is the "alpha" of the fire direction program with the "delta" a test for fire direction Soldiers on duties once considered the sacred domain of the battalion FDC. Therefore, the revised test included more real-world gunnery troubleshooting techniques and scenarios that tested the FDNCOs' and FDOs' (in some cases, computer operators') abilities to explain the steps in solving gunnery problems.

Professional Development Classes. To reach the required level of expertise, FDOs and FDNCOs had to attend professional training for FDOs and FDNCOs in the form of brown bag lunches and classroom instruction. The classes were on basic gunnery, troubleshooting techniques, platoon operations and basic safety. The purpose of the classes was to ensure the POC leaders could pass the new battalion safety test.

This program was successful due in large part to the battalion commander's and the command sergeant major's total commitment and allotment of time on the training schedule.

Fire Direction Leader's Book. This book provided a quick reference for all fire direction personnel and allowed the battalion to standardize a few of the basic POC crew drills. The book was based on the "Rosetta Stone CD" provided by the Fire Support and Combined Arms Operations Department (FSCAOD) in the FA School several years ago that addressed issues, such as shell/fuze combinations, gunnery trouble-shooting procedures, AFATDS operations and muzzle-velocity variation (MVV) management.

AFATDS Training. The introduction or, in some cases, the reintroduction of basic AFATDS classes ensured that new Soldiers understood the capabilities of the system and that the more senior Soldiers who conducted infantry operations in Baghdad were brought up to speed. The classes were initially taught in a classroom and then moved into vehicles to provide a more realistic setting. At this time, the gun crews were added to the training to continue to reintegrate all digital systems.

Soldiers Skills Test. Finally, a skills test was devised for all MOS 13D10 FA Tactical Data System Specialists to determine their abilities to conduct future combat fire direction operations and to provide training feedback for the battery commanders and the battalion command group.

This reintegration training for fire direction Soldiers provided the battalion six certified POC crews that are up to the task of providing fires.

SFC Robert M. Castillo

Former FCNCO, 1st Armored Division, Germany

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