News Copy
updated 04 February 2008
Family, friends and sworn enemies,
It's been well past a year since my last summary of noteworthy goings-on in my life. Most of you have heard from me somewhat recently and know I am at least still alive. For those that don't, this is your reminder.
Skip this paragraph if you've seen me or heard from me in the last month or two; there's nothing new for you here! To catch you up to speed: I finished my Field Artillery Basic Officer Leader's Course at the Army's Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. The most important thing I learned was never to return to Oklahoma, followed shortly thereafter by many several crucial job-related skills that I will rely on through out my time in the Army.
(Begin relevant, up-to-date information)
Roughly early December 2006 I departed for South Korea, where I spent a year at Camp Casey, a small Army post just short of the DMZ between North and South Korea. I worked as a fire direction officer and platoon leader. A fire direction officer receives requests via radio from observers to shoot artillery at bad guys. He then supervises his soldiers as they calculate a "firing solution" that the artillery (guns) use to fire the requested amount of ordnance at the bad guys. The guns can shoot very far (30+ kilometers depending on munition) and make very big explosions (a man standing up within a few hundred meters will likely become a fine pink mist). Thus, a great deal of oversight and technical knowledge is required to ensure "safe" (a somewhat silly phrase used in conjunction with explosives) firing of the artillery, ie making sure only bad people blow up.
My other job, as a platoon leader, was to supervise a platoon of said artillery pieces, 4 in total, which are self-propelled 155mm howitzers ("Paladins"). Think of a tank-looking vehicle with a much longer barrel, but slower and fatter. Surprisingly, they weigh approximately half (32 tons) of a modern Army tank (70 tons) because the armor is aluminum (quite light) instead of a highly classified composite (the line of thinking goes that artillery should never be receiving direct enemy fire; if they are, we've got bigger problems than the amount of armor!). Said platoon has a fire direction officer (a new lieutenant, the position from which I previously graduated from), as well as two senior enlisted sergeants with 12+ years of experience, and about 50 soldiers of varying experience levels to operate and maintain the platoon's Paladins.
I found a great deal of value in both positions and had a lot of fun as a young 2nd lieutenant (the rank all officers begin as). While I stayed in Korea, I did my best to experience the local culture and make friends with the natives, who reciprocated kindly and made my stay much more enjoyable than what it could have been. Seoul was definitely the best place to hang out off-duty, but was unfortunately about 2 hours by train, limiting it to weekends only. I have to say again thank you to Ted at Bar Bliss and Ocean at Syd'n'Mel's!
I did get a few opportunities to check out Seoul during the week because of my side-job as the executive officer of the USFK (United States Forces Korea) Salute Battery. Salute Batteries perform a traditional role for high ranking officials, general officers and VIPs in ceremonies that requires a "salute" of 11 or more cannon rounds (blanks from WW2-era 75mm howitzers) being fired, depending on the person's rank/standing. A single Salute Battery performed all of these functions for the entire country so we had several busy weeks from time to time. We often performed in these Salute ceremonies in the U.S. Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, which was a nice reward for the additional training, high level of discipline and esprit de corps expected of Salute Battery members.
While I was in Korea I had a chance to travel to two countries, Australia (very early in my tour) and Japan (closer to the end of my tour). Returning to Japan was great, and I got to visit several friends from my university that had either returned home or were living there as expatriates. Australia was also great, but a very short week as I got only a small taste, however it does count as my sixth, and second-to-last continent I have yet visit (Africa next). Finally, before I left Korea I reached my 18-month mark of active duty in the Army, which is the "freebie" promotion from 2nd to 1st Lieutenant. While it was essentially a guaranteed promotion, it did provide the validation for my experience and professional development gained by a year of duty in Korea.
I finished my Korean tour of duty early December 2007, one year later. I had a visit from my aunt Dicie summer 2007, but besides that I had seen none of my family for over a year! The reunion was great and I took almost a full month of vacation to enjoy being back home. While home, I had a chance to visit my grandparents in Florida and then return to Chicago with them to enjoy the holiday season. I made sure to catch up with my slow college friends still finishing their degrees at Illinois Wesleyan University, as well as take a short ski/snowboard trip to Alpine Valley in Wisconsin, which made me slightly regret not looking into U.S. Army bases in Colorado.
Shortly after Christmas I began my trek to Ft. Campbell, KY, my next duty station. Ft. Campbell lies on the western edge of the Kentucky/Tennessee border approximately an hour west of Nashville, and is about an 8 hour drive from Chicago. It's the home of the 101st Airborne, and most of you are probably familiar with the unit I am now a part of, as it was a famous participant in WW2, documented in the book/miniseries "Band of Brothers". What was once the 506th infantry regiment is now the 4th brigade combat team, or 506th regimental combat team - they refer to the same unit. My unit is Alpha company of the 1st battalion of the 506th infantry regiment.
I serve here as a company fire support officer. As I mentioned earlier, I have prior experience as a fire direction officer and artillery platoon leader. As a lieutenant in the Field Artillery, there are three main jobs one generally holds before reaching the time in service required for promotion to captain. I requested ahead of time to work as a fire support officer and was fortunate to receive the opportunity. Lucky me.
A fire support officer works along with the infantry's front-line soldiers and acts as an artillery liaison. Artillery and infantry doctrinally require careful coordination and integration; a liaison from the artillery works with the infantry to help the utilize artillery to maximum effect. If you think about it in simple terms, would you rather have to fight a bad guy with your small rifle, or have someone else first shoot 155mm wide, 100lb high explosives projectiles at him, and THEN fight him with your rifle? I thought so. Obviously it is easier said than done, but that is why my current job exists.
For those interested in the big picture, the fire support officer (and the soldiers he supervises, Forward Observers, or FOs) will find the bad guys with their binoculars, GPS and range-finding lasers and call the fire direction officer (remember Korea) and his soldiers up with information on where the bad guys are, how many they are, and what they have with them (tanks, rifles, etc.). The fire direction officer's soldiers calculate the data needed and send it to the guns (the platoon leader supervises the guns), who shoot the mission. The bad guys blow up, the infantry cheers and thanks the artillery once again for making their job easy, then "takes the hill" and proceeds to complain about how hard their lives are.
Moving on.
Of course, I can't simply be a fire support officer for an infantry company. I mean, there are two wars going on! Well, I guess it's all one Global War on Terror, but I digress. Of the four brigade combat teams in the 101st airborne division, three are currently deployed to Iraq. Ours, the fourth, is en route to Afghanistan. Our current time line places our arrival date in-country around early Spring 2008. The curious among you may be able to dig up more information via google, but there's not much value in going in to more detail. OPSEC (operational security) concerns, etc. Loose lips sink ships!
I've had a few weeks now to get acquainted with my unit at Ft. Campbell and enjoy a bit of a stable, once-again-American residential life. It will be gone again all too soon, but that's alright! I'm looking forward to the experiences ahead.
I hope this reaches everyone in sound mind and body. I look forward to hearing about your own recent life experiences, especially if I haven't been able to get in touch with you otherwise.
Take care all, and look forward to more updates from the desert!
Andrew
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Andrew H. Miller
1LT, FA
FSO, A/1-1506th IN
