|
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - Only seven years after the
school opened, the 17th Field Artillery Brigade was constituted on
July 31st, 1918 as an element of the 17th "Thunderbolt" Division at
Camp Bowie, Texas. The unit was demobilized after World War I, in
Feb. 1919, at Fort Sill.
In October 1936, Headquarters, 17th
FA Bde., was reconstituted and consolidated as Headquarters and
Headquarters Battery, 17th FA Brigade.
Since its
constitution, the “17th Field Artillery Brigade” was known as such
for almost 90 years.
|
Soldiers with the 17th Field Artillery Brigade, 7th Infantry
Division, participate in a change of command ceremony at Joint Base
Lewis McChord, Wash., July 17, 2013. Formerly known as the 17th
Fires Brigade, the unit was officially renamed 17th Field Artillery
Brigade by the Fires Center of Excellence, on February 19, 2014.
(U.S. Army photo by Spc. Nathan Goodall, 17th Field Artillery
Brigade Public Affairs)
|
The Army Campaign Plan, also known as the Army
Modernization Plan, facilitated discussion on the conversion
of the name from Field Artillery to Fires. By late 2004, 4th
Infantry Division was the first division to get its first
“Fires” Brigade.
"The functions of a division
artillery, a general support field artillery brigade, and
the corps artillery have all been melded into one
organization," said Col. Allen
Batschelet, commander, 4th Infantry Division Artillery, in
regards to the new transition and name change.
In the
2005 Red Book, an official and annual Field Artillery
publication, it was published that "it is clear that a new
fires organization had to be developed for the modular land
force-one built around versatile combat power units and
staffs that are more self-contained, sustainable and
organized with capabilities for the full range of missions.
It must be truly joint interdependent and contain adaptive,
competent and confident Soldiers and leaders. The Fires
Brigade was developed to fill this need."
The
transformation from the field artillery brigade to a fires
brigade took place and subordinate units moved from Forts
Sill, Bragg, and Campbell to I Corps and Fort Lewis.
Subsequently, 17th Fires Brigade was re-designated on July
16, 2007.
The mission of the Fires Brigade was
adjusted but not entirely changed in 2007.
The name
change has happened again. The construct of the brigade
remains the same but its function and support relationship
has changed.
The Field Artillery Brigade headquarters
and its task organized firing capabilities provide the corps
commander with strike and counter-fire capabilities, and the
ability to coordinate, integrate, synchronize and employ the
delivery of operational fires with joint and multinational
assets.
By February 19, 2014, ten years after the
original change from Field Artillery to Fires, the
Department of the Army has approved the recommendation from
the Fires Center of Excellence to standardize the names of
all brigade combat team fires battalions and fires brigades.
“The Fires Center of Excellence also wants to retain the
identity of the Field Artillery Branch that might have been
lost through modularity,” said Maj. Elvin Cruz, force
developer at the Fires Center of Excellence. “The proposed
reason will increase uniformity, clarity, and efficiency,”
said Cruz.
The approved recommendation has renamed
all battalion-level (BCT and EAB) Fires organizations to
field artillery battalions and all fires brigades to field
artillery brigades.
By U.S. Army Capt. Tania Donovan
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2014
Comment on this article
|
