 Why do you keep cleaning it all the time? Have it, I guess. You always were a great one for spitting solids. You even had the shiniest pants in the regiment. All part of soldiers, Uncle. I know. But what's the point of keeping up with it all here in this place, that? Sergeant Pipe. Uncle. The name is Sergeant Pipe. Sure, son, anything you say. And button up that tunic. Him, we're in the army. Remember? I'm not likely to forget. Say, that was one whale of a battle, wasn't it? They were at us like flies on honey. And I guess we never should have rode out of still. That old 12 ponder had held out a little longer. We'd have blasted the whole caboodle of them right out of Oklahoma. I can still see you ramming the powder down old Bessie. It's a fast look like you had a dozen arms. Speaking of stills, I wonder what it's like back at the old Fort now. Hope they have some bigger cannon than we had. Now, that's something we'll never know. Perhaps you will troopers. Who are you? An old friend. You from the 4th Cavalry? I've served with many regiments. Hey, it didn't happen to be a little big horn. Yes, I was there. Exactly, was it the horn? What was it like? I've heard it. How come we haven't run into you around here before? Well, I've got a lot of chores to take care of. But I've been watching you two for a long time. Would you really like to see what's happened at Fort Still since you left the place? We sure would. All right then. This way, please. Let's begin our Fort Still visit here, troopers. Recognize this place? Sure do. Look over there, Zach. It's Signal Mountain. Well, I'll be. We are back at Still. And it's a time I should watch there. You could see the whole country from miles around. Sure could. Good afternoon, gentlemen. The mission of the Field Artillery is to use its firepower in support of the ground-gaining arms. This requires complete coordination of the full artillery team. What the funderation was that? Who's that talking? If you look that way... These are students of the U.S. Army Field Artillery School. This is their first introduction to their functions as artillery men, and the weapons they will operate is part of the Field Artillery team. The full artillery team consists of four main elements which work together to accomplish the artillery mission. Let's look briefly at what each one does. The artillery survey locates gun positions and targets. The forward observer adjusts fires on targets of opportunity, advises the commander on how to make efficient use of field artillery, plans artillery fires to support the operations of supported units, and reports all activity within his zone of observation. The Fire Direction Center evaluates information received from the forward observer, determines firing data, and furnishes this data in the form of fire command to the firing battery. The firing battery applies firing data to the weapons and fires. All these elements must coordinate their actions for a successful mission. Well, don't that beat anything you've ever seen? I'm thinking what we could have done if we had a bunch of cannon like that. What's happening at Fort Sill today began a long time ago, in the days when you two rode the planes. This was the country you remember. A vast, untamed frontier under which a great nation was to move and a mighty surge of growth. Your first assignment as troopers here was to pacify the warring Indian tribes. The old post guardhouse where many chiefs were detained is now part of the Fort Sill Museum. But your mission was one of protection too, protection for the tribes who made peace. Men from the Fort Sill garrison kept watch over the Indian settlements near the Fort and saw that the Indian agencies operated without interference. Comanche, Kiowa, Cheyenne, Apache, these were familiar names to you and the troopers of the fort. From this post you went out to patrol the great trails leading out of Texas. You watched the steady procession of settlers moving hopefully across the land. You were field artillerymen as well as troopers and you carried your powder and shot and caissons like this one. You'll see a lot of familiar sights on the Fort Sill Museum buildings. You probably took a field piece just like this one individual. Many of these weapons will look strange to you. They weren't developed until long after your time. In Fort Sill's Hall of Blanks, glowing chapters in America's military history are kept alive. Years past, Fort Sill met the military challenges of a growing nation. It became a center for field artillery and the training of horse-drawn artillery units. The United States Army Field Artillery School known as the School of Fire was established at Fort Sill in 1911. From here on, warfare was to become a lot more complicated than the kind you knew and field artillery techniques changed along with the times. Fort Sill became the first training center for U.S. Army infantry and aviation and home of the first air unit in U.S. military service. Air operations were to become an important part of the artillery mission. For some years, observation balloons were used in artillery operations to spot targets. Today, observation planes give the artillerymen eyes in the sky. These men in the artillery aviation training course are learning how to rig a field artillery piece for airmen. U.S. Marines receive their artillery training at Fort Sill and a number of Marines are on the faculty at the school. And form a choker hitch. Early by passing one end of that sling to its other loop end and we have to slip out of our choker hitch now that we'll be placed around the tube and recuperator over that padded surface. The next step to rigging is to take two 11-foot air delivery slings and place them around the trails over these heavily padded areas here and here by means of choker hitches. And today, thanks to the development of fast, heavy-lift Army aircraft artillery can be carried to position and ready for combat in a very short time. Your feet all in them with horses, isn't it, Jim? Buy them guns! Sir, you ain't putting this on, are you? That was a real field piece, wasn't it? Real is that building behind you. What does that be? We call it Snow Hall and it's the headquarters of Fort Sill's U.S. Army Field Artillery School. Can we go in? Sure can. But you said this was a school. Yeah, where is everybody? Learning, gentlemen, learning like this. We have already discussed the first two elements of the gunnery team that of the forward observer and the fire direction center. We're now going to discuss the third element, the firing pattern. This is where the guns are located. This is just one of many classrooms at Snow Hall where students learn the principles of gunnery. Computing firing ranges for modern field artillery requires knowledge of the most complex gunnery mathematics. In order for the executive officer to lay these guns he will, using an aiming circle in conjunction with the gunner using the panoramic telescope of the weapon actually lay each gun by giving each other the instrument reading thereby forcing the interior angle to read the same. The executive officer, together with the gunner can determine a direction, a common direction for all six weapons in the firing battery. Gentlemen, we have already discussed the two basic classifications of field artillery ammunition which we have in use today. At Knox Hall, field artillery students get acquainted with the components of field artillery. We have some semi-fixed ammunition which is characteristic of the 105 millimeter howitzer. On the left, we have the high-explosive round which utilizes a filler of composition B. To the right of that, we have two smoke rounds. The first is the base ejection site. The second is a buster site which has a filler, a flight phosphorus and a center core of a high-explosive material. Next to this, we have a high-explosive anti-tank round. Let's see how the three basic characteristics of field artillery weapons applies to the M-102 105 millimeter howitzer. The first of these is mobility. The weapon itself is mounted on a towed carriage and is pulled by a prime mover, either a truck or a tractor. The weapon is also transportable by air. Today, U.S. Army field artillery men are trained by highly skilled instructors. Many of them combat veterans. This is achieved by raising the wheels on the weapon until it is resting on the ground on the octagonal firing platform. A crank handle is attached to the actuator assembly on the front of the weapon. By rotating this crank, the wheels are raised and the weapon is lowered. Classroom instruction provides each man with a working knowledge of the weapons he will use in the field. The weapon can now be rotated to any direction, simply by one man picking up on the rear of the box trail and swinging them to the desired direction. I've entered into the computer three of these requirements. Accurate battery location, meteorological data, and weapons and ammunition information. Special classes in fire direction control use actual field equipment to train students. This portable fire direction center is called FEDAC, one of many devices used in computing ranges for modern artillery weapons. 1-0. 4-4, 2-1-0. Enter it. Alpha-3. Target, Northing. Northing, 5-0-5-1-0. 5-0-5-1-1. Correction. Clear this. Press the clear key on the keyboard. This data will be erased. The new Northing can be typed in. 5-0-5-1-0. 5-0-5-1-0. Check. Enter it. Target altitude, Alpha-4. Classes are held in many subjects related to field artillery operations. This group of soldiers is learning how to perform automotive maintenance on a self-propelled 155-millimeter Howitzer. It's a weapon which is going to actually put the force behind the track itself in order to move our vehicle. What I've been trying to tell you, Zach, is that things have changed a lot since you and Jim first came out before itself. For instance, modern combat is likely to be fought over much greater distances than in your day. That means getting artillery information quickly and accurately to gun batteries spread out over a wide area. Some of this radio is issued to the Fort Observer. It's called a VRC-46. You have a range of 1-5 to 2-0 miles. You're frequency coverage on it is 3-0-0-0 to 7-5-0-9-5. Built into the set, we have the old-on, the old-off, new-on and new-off squelch. The reason this was built into the set is it has to work with the old series. To do his job effectively, today's field artillery student learns communications electronics, which is a fancy name for the way modern army elements keep in touch with one another during battle. Today's field artillery man has many different ways of getting his target intelligence. He is able to use a variety of complex electronic equipment to gather the information he needs in order to fire his weapons accurately. I know what you're thinking, Zack. The old signal flags seemed a lot easier way to spread the word, but we had to move along. In our time, military communications must be able to reach army units not only in one widespread combat area, but around the world if necessary. Maybe you and Jim used to dream about ammunition so big it would be more powerful than hundreds of thousands of rounds of your ammunition. Well, this ought to fill the bill. It's called the Pershing-1 missile system, 34 feet long and can unleash nuclear blasts out to a 400-mile range. A new Pershing-1A system was introduced in 1970. The 1A system will provide improved mobility by conversion to wheeled vehicles. It's one of a whole family of missile artillery with students at Fort Sill learn how to fire. Fort Sill rocket crews hold regular dry-run firing exercises on missile ranges in remote parts of the country. Move and communicate. Here at Fort Sill, U.S. Army field artillerymen learn to do them all and do them well. And this gentleman is a sight that ought to make you feel at home. Horses played an important role at Fort Sill. As an old cavalry post, the tradition of a man on horseback is still preserved here. He takes all kinds of activities to support artillery training programs. In this department, artists and technicians make the training aids that are used in the different types of instruction. These training aids, many of them working models made in the Fort Sill shops, help the students understand how complicated artillery components actually operate. Also supporting training at the school is the most complete technical library on field artillery and missiles in the world. On these shelves, the student can find out anything about cannon and the art of gunnery from ancient days up to the present. That includes many volumes on the guns of your period. Afternoon, gentlemen. You are forward observers with Bravo Battery, Bird Battalion, 42nd artillery. Throughout the history of gunnery, field artillerymen have always searched for ways to hit their targets with greater accuracy. These students from Fort Sill's Artillery Officer Candidate School are learning how to call for accurate fire by attending a course on observed fire procedures. Again, we will use the right edge of reference point bunker. Is there anyone who does not identify reference point bunker? The direction to reference point bunker is a direction of 5962 to identify an infantry platoon in trenches from Fall Red Central to the left, one mill and down from the skyline, one two mill. This will place you on a piece of white junk forward slope of a mound. Target intelligence is quickly passed along by the student observant to the Fire Direction Center, where it is converted into firing data and sent to the gun batteries some distance away. Fire squadron, and 5-0, squad of infantry in trenches, BT in effect, just fire. And the machine, mission of an infantry platoon in trenches was accomplished in a satisfactory manner. I have the following comment. Gentlemen, be very aware of the terrain in front of you. Each officer candidate at Fort Sill must be familiar with basic field artillery procedures so he can command with assurance in a military art that requires a high degree of skill, intelligence, and discipline. Since its organization in 1941, Fort Sill Artillery Officer Candidate School has provided more than 45,000 junior officers for leadership in firepower in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Good afternoon, gentlemen. Welcome to T-3849, Artillery in support of the mobile offense. Today's class will begin with a film. For field artillery officers who have already held command assignments, the Field Artillery Officer's advanced course at Fort Sill trains them in operations under all conditions and equips them for higher artillery and other army assignments. Fort Sill has become the field artillery center not only for the United States Army, but for allied armies all over the world. Officers from many nations study field artillery techniques which have proved effective in past combat. Lessons learned here by foreign officers help improve the firepower of their own armies. At Fort Sill, military planners consider not only the needs of today's field artillery men, but the requirements for combat of tomorrow. The Combat Development Command Field Artillery Agency at Fort Sill is responsible for planning future concepts for the use of firepower in battle. Artists' conceptions of the shape of future weapons point the way toward lighter and more mobile firepower. Under supervision of the U.S. Army Materiel Command's Field Artillery Board, test models of proposed weapons are given full field evaluation to determine their efficiency. In tribute to the military skills and the courage that have defended our nation in its critical periods, Americans gather each year on Armed Forces Day at various military installations. This Armed Forces Day celebration at Fort Sill is a salute to one of the nation's most distinguished outposts. A cavalcade of American history has moved beneath the stars and stripes that have floated over this encampment. Along these paths came the homesteaders, settlers, cattlemen, prospectors, generations that have left an imperishable mark upon our heritage. Today, modern artillery and missiles tested at Fort Sill help ensure the preservation of that heritage against any aggressor. All of this is possible today because men like you stayed with a job of building a nation. You kept your rounds handy and your powder dry, and you laid down fire where it had to go. That's a good enough example for any field artilleryman. And now I'd like you to meet Honest John, an Army missile for tactical combat use. Zack, do you see what I see? Yep, I see it, but I don't believe it. I don't blame you, Zack. It's quite a history, Fort Sill through the years. From the horse-drawn field piece to the most powerful some-hand missiles, the Fort Sill story is one of dedicated service in defense of our nation.