Researchers visit Fort Sill for fires input

By Cannoneer staffJuly 10, 2014

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FORT SILL, Okla. (July 10, 2014) -- Two researchers from the Air Land Sea Application (ALSA) Center at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., visited the Fies Center of Excellence and Fort Sill June 24-25 to talk with fires experts as ALSA prepares to revise a joint fires publication this fall.

Marine Maj. Bill Harvey and Army Maj. Blake Keil, both ALSA joint actions officers, met with leaders from the Marine Corps Artillery Detachment and the Joint and Combined Integration Directorate, as they conducted field research for the revision of the Joint Application of Firepower (JFIRE) multi-service tactics, techniques and procedures (MTTP).

"We not just looking at gaps within the fires doctrine internal to the Army or Marine Corps, we're looking at gaps in the joint force," Keil said.

Harvey said they were getting pertinent information from fires subject matter experts here.

"We've gotten some very good, useful feedback on not only the content, but the format to make it a more useful," Harvey said. "We got some good ideas about the way people are currently applying fires, and how that's changed since the last revision."

ALSA is a multi-service (joint) organization of warfighters who are governed by a Joint Actions Steering Committee comprised of senior leaders from the service doctrine centers. Its staff develops tactical-level solutions to joint interoperability issues, and it leverages service SMEs to develop a common understanding of capabilities and MTTPs.

ALSA products include Multi-Service Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures on various subjects, the Air Land Sea Bulletin (ALSB) as well as numerous ALSA studies, such as the Joint Shipboard Helicopter Integration Process.

As the Joint Staff J7 produces joint publications for the operational and strategic community, ALSA is the lead organization that provides MTTPs or joint doctrine at the tactical level. Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and coalition forces have used these products in supporting many operations and exercises.

ALSA's publications are available to the entire military community and warfighters are invited to access its website at www.alsa.mil.

ALSA is always seeking input from warfighters, Harvey said.

"We are the button to push if there's any interoperability issues any of the tenant units see in the joint community," he said.

Comments/recommendations are welcomed for future MTTP which may fill a gap at the tactical level in conducting operations. People may also sign up on the website to receive ALSA's quarterly update that provides links to the latest publications and articles focused on the joint warfighter.