Field ArTillery - US Army Center Of Military History

TOward a new cenTUry
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well as competition with domestic requirements for declining resources, dictated an
Army for the 1990s much smaller than that of the previous decade based primarily
in the continental United States. National strategy changed from one based on a
European scenario to one of power projection in contingency operations requiring
a broader spectrum of forces than ever before. Deterrence remained the primary
objective, with deployment forces to be tailored not only from the Army but also
from the other services. New emphasis was placed on joint and multinational operations
to achieve quick decisive results under any conditions. Coalition forces, such
as those used in Southwest Asia in 1990–91, were projected to be the norm. 20 The
doctrine shifted from deep attack to simultaneous attacks throughout the depth of
the battlefield. 21 Until 2003, the precision weapons used by artillery forces in De s e r t
st o r m were rarely employed. Instead, humanitarian and peace operations in northern
Iraq, Somalia, Haiti, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Macedonia became more common, using
deterrence and local diplomacy to ease tensions rather than engaging in combat.
With the loss of a creditable enemy, the Army faced substantial reductions.
As the size of the Army decreased, so did that of the field artillery. The elimination
of nuclear requirements precipitated the replacement of 8-inch howitzers by
the MLRS and the retirement of nuclear ammunition for the 155-mm. howitzer.
Force reductions also included the elimination of signal personnel in field artillery
battalions, which resulted in the requirement for artillerymen to operate all
communications and automation equipment—tasks that also included laying wire,
installing telephones, and operating all switchboards as well as radios. Field wire
terminals and devices formerly installed, operated, and maintained by signal personnel
also became the responsibility of the artillery. All other signal soldiers in the
line batteries and service batteries were reassigned to headquarters batteries. 22
A total of 218 field artillery battalions (96 Regular Army, 17 Army Reserve,
and 105 Army National Guard) and 38 batteries, including the batteries in armored
cavalry regiments (27 Regular Army and 11 Army National Guard), existed in
1989 prior to the war in the Persian Gulf. By the end of the decade, only 141
battalions (50 Regular Army and 91 Army National Guard) and 22 batteries (12
Regular Army and 10 Army National Guard) remained (Table 26). Army Reserve
field artillery was reduced by 100 percent as a result of the “bottom-up” review
by Secretary of Defense Les Aspin in 1993, which in fact eliminated all Army
Reserve combat arms units, allowing that component to focus on support and
service organizations. 23
Further reductions were made in conjunction with fielding the 155-mm. Paladin
self-propelled howitzer to the heavy divisions, beginning in 1995; each firing battery
was reduced from eight to six howitzers per battalion for a total of eighteen
rather than twenty-four howitzers per battalion. The number of howitzers in the
20 Marty, “State-of-the Branch 1992,” pp. 1–3.
21 Romjue, American Army Doctrine, p. 117.
22 Eugene J. Cantrell, “Communications for the Field Artillery by the Field Artillery,” Field
Artillery, June 1992, pp. 50–51.
23 Wilson, Maneuver and Firepower, p. 424.