Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

228 The OrganizaTiOnal hisTOry Of field arTillery
and administra tive personnel, thus allowing it to operate separately from its battalion
headquarters, but it had no target acquisition element. Although the equipment was
deficient in many respects, the Ser geant was the first missile system to have a degree
of automation designed into it for test ing, firing, troubleshooting, and maintenance.
The strength of the battalion was later increased with the reorganization of the headquarters
battery as a headquarters and service battery. There after, the authorized aggregate
strength of the battalion was about 370, although actual strength was usually
about 300. 44
On 23 June 1970, four U.S. Army Sergeant battalions in Germany were reduced
to two double-strength battalions (four firing batteries instead of two), which lessened
personnel requirements by 268. This action was taken to save over $1 million
in personnel and equipment costs. Besides these two battalions in Germany, one
Sergeant battalion was serving in Italy, one in Korea, and one in the continental
United States. Four double-strength battalions were also deployed in Germany
through the Military Assistance Program. 45
Even though the Lance missile was being developed as a replacement for
both the Sergeant and Honest John, a definite retirement schedule for the Sergeant
was not established until the 1970s because of uncertainties in the Lance missile
program. In the meantime, the Sergeant’s ground equipment was becoming obsolete
and replacements were more difficult to procure, making support of the aging
missile a serious problem. 46
Little John Rocket
Along with the Sergeant, two other short-range systems were operational in the
mid-1960s, the Honest John noted earlier and the Little John. 47 The Army deployed
both divisional and nondivisional battalions worldwide. In 1965, it reorganized
the nondivisional Honest John battalions with three firing batteries, each with two
launchers. This reorganization did not affect the firepower of the battalions serving
in Europe, for they had earlier been authorized three firing pla toons (two launchers
each) in their single-firing battery units. At reduced strength, the battalions were
authorized four launch ers in two firing batteries. The authorized aggregate strength
of the battalion rose from about 250 to 350. 48
44 Cagle, “History of the Sergeant,” p. 204, AMCOM files and copy in CMH files; Herbert B. Powell,
“More Power for the Army in the Field,” Army Information Digest, January 1962, pp. 4–8; TOE 6–555T,
1 Dec 1961; TOE 6–555D, 1 Aug 1966; TOE 6–555G, 30 Apr 1967. See also unit folders of individual
battalions in CMH files.
45 Msg P 191703Z Jun 1970, CINCEUR to JCS, 19 Jun 1970, sub: Sergeant Battalion Consolidation,
copy in CMH files; Cagle, “History of the Sergeant,” p. 243, AMCOM files and copy in CMH files.
46 Cagle, “History of the Sergeant,” p. 244, AMCOM files and copy in CMH files; Walter Andrews,
“Pending Lance, MARS, Decisions To Shape Army’s Missile Future,” Armed Forces Journal, September
1968, p. 20.
47 The official name of the missile, according to the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command is
Littlejohn. When the weapon was fielded, however, the TOEs and other Army documents, as well as those
generated by the field artillery units themselves, identified it as Little John, which is the usage followed
in this volume.