 This is firepower. Firepower for the defense of our nation and of the free world. Here is a demonstration of massive firepower staged by the United States Army Artillery and Missile School at Fort Sills, Oklahoma. This week's big picture shows one part of Fort Sills mission, training in cannon artillery. Let me present the big picture. An official report produced for the armed forces and the American people. Southwest Oklahoma. A hundred years ago, this was the country of Sherman, Sheridan, Custer, McKenzie, of Geronimo, hunting horse in Big Tree, the frontier of America, man by the soldier on horseback who followed a bugle call to fame and glory in the shadow of medicine bluff. These hills echo with a different sound. On the firing ranges of Fort Sills Artillery and Missile School, new frontiersmen, men of United States artillery, learned gunnery techniques, which are vital to the combat effectiveness of your army. One of the Army's earliest cavalry outposts, Fort Sills today, has become a dynamic military training center. Within its modern facilities, a comprehensive program of training in artillery skills is carried on. Vital military gunnery are carefully studied under the supervision of experts. In today's versatile modern Army, both cannon artillery and missiles play a vital role. Here at Fort Sills, field artillerymen are trained in both and leave with a realization that each is essential to our military power. From Thailand, Vietnam, Iran, South Korea, and other United States allies come military personnel to study at the training schools of Fort Sills. One of Fort Sills most important training programs is conducted by the Army's Artillery and Missile Officer Candidate School. Since its inception in 1941, the school has produced over 30,000 lieutenants of artillery, providing firepower leadership in World War II and in the Korean War. Today, as weapons grow even more powerful and complex, the mission of artillery and missile OCS is more important than ever to provide junior officers who have mastered critical artillery skills and can efficiently direct artillery forces in combat. Candidate Clay Madden, Battery A, Artillery and Missile Officer Candidate School. One of the first things we do here at Fort Sills OCS is get acquainted with the family of cannon artillery, backbone of the Army's firepower. It's an impressive family with an important combat assignment. These hard-hitting, fast-moving weapons are hard to beat when it comes to supporting our troops in any combat situation. While our school commissions officers for duty and missile units, our courses emphasize that cannon artillery is the most accurate and economical way of pinpointing fire on individual enemy targets within its range. School buildings at Fort Sills are the last word in modern educational structures. We begin our artillery orientation with the shells, all shapes and calibers, what they're made up of, what they're designed to do. Fuses, the intricate mechanisms which control the exact moment of a shell's detonation. After a rundown on the various types of artillery ammunition and fuses, we get a closer look at one of the weapons we'd seen on parade, the 8-inch Howitzer. This is the most accurate of artillery weapons. When mounted on a full-track vehicle, it is 29 tons of pure disaster to any enemy. Now to the gun sheds, where we really get to know the weapons and procedures for operating them. Each battery is broken down into small groups for individual instruction. Right off, we learn to have a healthy respect for our weapons. This 105-millimeter Howitzer is a lot of gun. Our instructor makes sure we'll know how to lay on fire where it counts, with a lesson in sight test and adjustment. The most accurate means of bore sighting is by use of the test-target method. While this method is the most accurate, it is time-consuming and not practical under combat conditions. In combat, the best method of bore sighting is the distant aiming point. Learning to line up a target in the gun sights is about as important to the artillery man as breathing. In combat, these weapons would be towed into firing position. In the gun shed next door, we learn the ABCs of weapons which are self-propelled. Models, mock-ups, the very latest in training aids help us understand how intricate artillery components actually work. Whatever the size of the weapon, whether it is towed or self-propelled, the artillery objective is always the same. Swiftness of operation and accuracy of fire. Most of the academic classes in artillery are held in Snow Hall, one of Fort Sills' most modern training buildings. Classroom work gives us a solid foundation in gunnery techniques. Here's where we work out the arithmetic of artillery. And this is one time we all wish we'd paid a little more attention to our math. But even while we're learning the fundamentals, what we're really looking forward to is getting some practical experience out in the field. Our first step in that direction is practice on punch-bowl firing range. A training problem in positioning an artillery battery for combat and aiming at distant targets. It's a dry run. No ammunition is fired. But here for the first time we get a chance to try out some of our classroom and gun shed work under field conditions. Students at the officer candidate school are divided into three classes. The lower or beginning class includes the first six weeks of training in basic gunnery. From the seventh to the fifteenth week of the course we become middle classmen with the responsibilities of non-commissioned officers. Here we get supervisory experience such as gun crew leader. As upperclassmen in the last eight weeks of the course we become executive officers for the battery. Here the accent is on leadership, most important of all the elements that go into the making of an officer. At every step of the way the candidate is carefully observed and his performance evaluated. There's no such thing as a trial period. From the beginning to the end of the course we've been on trial. Whenever there's some question about a candidate's progress he's called in for a counseling session and his weak spots are pointed out. A progress file is kept on each candidate, a critique on his technical skills, his personal adjustment to OCS training and his leadership ability. Here's one place where none of us like to play a return engagement but we are grateful for the chance to make good on our mistakes. At artillery OCS the first seven days are made pretty tough for the lower classmen to see if they can take it. This may be doing it the hard way but self-control is something we'll all need in our future as military leaders. Many procedures at Fort Sill are patterned after those of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Living quarters are assigned so that lower classmen are placed next to middle classmen. This big brother system provides a helping hand when it's needed. Candidate Madden has advanced to middle classmen. More responsibilities bring more privileges and now he has time to look around this historic post. The Fort Sill Artillery Museum keeps alive the glory of a great tradition from our country's earliest days. Hamilton Hall, named in honor of General Alexander Hamilton who commanded an artillery company in the Revolutionary War, houses early American cannon. Deployment of a Continental Army artillery battery is vividly recreated in a diorama of the Battle of Yorktown. Remembrances of a nation in the making. McClain Hall, honoring one of Oklahoma's great citizen soldiers, records American artillery history from World War I to Korea. The stone walls of the old post guard house, now a part of the museum, stand as a memorial to the blue-clad troopers of early Fort Sill. Here too are housed memories of the American Indian who played a critical role in the destinies of the Army cavalrymen. Wichita Indians established the first known settlement at Fort Sill about 1770 and Fort Sill's almost 100 year history as a military establishment is closely interwoven with Indian life. Many tribes and tribal customs are represented in the Indian exhibits. PFC Benjamin Clarke, a Fort Sill museum guide, is a great grandson of the famed Comanche Chief, Kwanah Parker. Other Indians of the Kiowa and Comanche tribes are employed on the post. Another picturesque museum area is the original quartermaster corral built in the summer of 1870 as a protection against Indian raids. The old stone corral features various frontier exhibits, replicas of old Indian dwellings. Artillery and quartermaster vehicles of another era. The traditions of Fort Sill and the many historic figures and events associated with his frontier outpost impress the modern artillery student, while the memory of the past is everywhere on this plane. One of our most important courses at Fort Sill OCS is observed fire procedures. The forward observer is the eyes of the artillery. He must locate the target and quickly convey information back to the gun battery. Take his reference point, the block house on Signal Mountain. Go 150 miles to the right of block house. Down from skyline 20 miles, this will put you on red material object. Battery adjust, shell HE, charge 5, fuse quick, right, one round. Deflection 2824, elevation 252. The precise language of gunnery, no wasted words here. Time between the initial request for artillery support and actual fire on target is precious. Readings of observation instruments must be interpreted with pinpoint accuracy. Each of us must be familiar with all basic artillery procedures, and there sure are a lot of them to learn. A high point in the artillery OCS course is our first field problem. This is a three-day bivouac when we put everything we've learned into actual practice. Our battery is made up of 155-millimeter self-propelled howitzers. Plenty of room to give them a workout on Fort Sills' big artillery and missile firing ranges. It seems a long way back since we were newcomers to OCS and watched from the stands as these powerful weapons passed in review. This time it's our show. As upper classmen now, my assignment for this problem is acting battery commander. At the firing site, the convoy is guided off the road and into position for the exercise. Guns will be spaced for maximum operating efficiency. Range areas are clearly marked to help ensure safe gunnery. The weapons are arranged so that their massed fire will converge on the distant target. Ever possible, cannon artillery communication is done by wire, which offers less chance of interference and a deception by the enemy. When terrain and distance make the laying of wire impractical, radio communication is used. By now we know these tubes like we know our own names. Parts, operating procedures, we've been through the works. But that was in the gun sheds, classrooms and out on dry runs. This is the real thing. Out here we've got to prove it and communicate. That might well be the motto of the field artillerymen. I'll quickly to the next position and another firing exercise. Later our score will be tallyed. We know battery A is on target. Graduation, a job well done. For some candidates there is further training ahead in advanced artillery specialties and in the ever expanding field of missile rate. But for the vital job of laying fire on individual enemy targets with field artillery, cannon or missile, these men are superbly prepared. Say dot fortuna paritas. Let luck give way to skill. This is the legend on the artilleryman's crest at artillery and missile OCS, as well as in all of Fort Sills training programs, nothing is left to luck. Operation of electronic artillery fire control computers demands the highest order of precision training. No place for luck in operation of the Army's powerful long range weapons. Experienced hands are needed here too as artillery goes to battle through the sky. Lieutenant of artillery, United States Army. In him and in others who have mastered the cannon and missile arts, America places a sober trust. A trust handed down by men who helped carve the path for our country's future. Through the years only their weapons have changed. Their mission remains fixed and never ending to provide massive firepower for United States forces, neutralizing or destroying the enemy's facilities. The big picture is an official report for the armed forces and the American people. Produced by the Army Pictorial Center. Presented by the Department of the Army in cooperation with this station.