FORT BLISS, Texas — Across the vast, sun-soaked expanse of the Fort Bliss training complex, a thunderous bark briefly silenced the desert wind late last month as a 40-ton M109A7 Paladin rocked back on its suspension, having just sent a 155mm shell arcing downrange toward a distant target.
Inside and around the steel beast, the 4th Battalion, 1st Field Artillery Regiment Soldiers worked with focused intensity, executing the final steps to master the Army's newest and most advanced self-propelled howitzer.
Embodying their historic regimental motto, “First or Not at All,” the "Defender" battalion, a core unit of the 1st Armored Division Artillery (DIVARTY), officially completed crew-level qualifications, Feb. 24.
The successful live-fire gunnery represented a critical step in the Army's sweeping modernization strategy, a multi-billion dollar effort to plus-up its formations for the modern challenges of combat operations. For the "Iron Soldiers" of the 1st AD, this upgrade is transformative, ensuring their artillery can keep pace with the division's Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles to dominate the complex battlefields of the future.
The certification was the climax of weeks of intensive, progressive training meticulously outlined in the field artillery gunnery tables. This "crawl-walk-run" methodology is the bedrock of artillery readiness, designed to forge expert crews from the ground up.
The journey began with individual skills tests and virtual simulators before transitioning to the Paladins themselves for proficiency drills. The entire process culminated with Artillery Table VI, the final live-fire qualification where each crew, under the watchful eyes of certified evaluators, had to prove their complete mastery by executing a variety of complex fire missions.
The battalion’s senior enlisted leader, Command Sgt. Maj. Bradley Beavers, confirmed the importance of this final step.
"Crews go through and they complete an artillery Table Level VI, which is a section-level certification," explained Beavers, a career field artilleryman with more than 21 years of service. "It's basically the start that locks in all the crews for the cannon."
The success of the day was a point of pride.
"Today they went over five separate missions; each gun shot around 20-to-25 rounds, and everyone was successful," Beavers said. "Everybody's feeling pretty good here at the end of this because they're now locked in as chiefs and gunners and number one men, and they’re ready to move on with their training to the next level."
The ability to conduct such demanding training is made possible by the unique assets of Fort Bliss. The installation’s 1.12 million acres provides a premier training environment that allows units to test new equipment and refine tactics at their home station.
This advantage was highlighted by Command Sgt. Maj. Robert Theus, the Fort Bliss Garrison command sergeant major, who joined the “Defenders” in the field Feb. 28 to see the Army’s newest artillery platform in action.
"Well, it's one of the reasons ‘It's better at Bliss,’" Theus stated. "We have more training land out here than there is at [the National Training Center], and you can do things here at Bliss in a training environment you can't do anywhere else in the world. It's always great to see Soldiers out here excelling."
On a modern battlefield, survival depends on the ability to "shoot and scoot"— to fire and move before an enemy can retaliate. The M109A7 is a platform engineered for this deadly dance.
Its new 675-horsepower engine, a power pack it shares with the Army’s Bradley Fighting Vehicle, gives it the raw power and speed to keep pace with frontline tanks. This newfound agility is supported by a revolutionary leap in reliability, as the A7’s state-of-the-art all-electric turret replaces the maintenance-heavy hydraulic systems of older models.
The leaders on the ground immediately recognized these benefits.
"Oh, it's absolutely an enhancement," Beavers stated. "The vehicles are faster, they're more accurate, which gives us more accurate and timely fires; it allows us to move, get in position, and shoot faster."
Theus, also an experienced artilleryman, elaborated on the long-term advantages for the Soldiers.
"Being on the Bradley chassis makes it easier to work on because the parts are easy to get to as opposed to the old Alpha 6," he said. "So, I know the crews out here, where they spend a lot of their time on maintenance, are particularly happy about that because they're on a platform that's going to be easier to work on."
This modernization comes at a critical time, as the Army focuses on keeping pace with the capabilities of peer and near-peer adversaries.
For Beavers and the Defender Battalion, who recently returned from a nine-month Europe deployment, the arrival of the new howitzers has a deeper, strategic significance.
"I worked with a lot of European armies, and I can tell you that they're starting to acquire equipment, and they're getting better artillery equipment, and I kind of watched ours get stagnant," Beavers, who also has previously served with the 4th Security Forces Assistance Brigade, reflected. "So, it's nice for us to get a hold of something new ourselves and show that we're still the best Army in the world."
With their crews now fully certified and "locked in," the 4th Battalion, 1st Field Artillery Regiment will continue to build on this success, ready to provide the timely, accurate, and lethal fire support that the 1st AD needs to deter adversaries and prove their mettle anywhere in the world.
Social Sharing