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...January-February edition.

Editor

Back the Future

I was involved in the Crusader program from 1991 until its cancellation last year. watched Louisiana Maneuvers, Army After Next, Army XXI, digitization, etc., come and go. I sat in hours of briefings and watched millions of dollars spent trying to fit this cannon system into each new "paradigm," and I could never understand why nobody "Got it."

I participated in innumerable discussions about the esoterica of precision and accuracy, cannons versus rockets, counterfire, target sets, fractional damage--you name it. And while Crusader always provided incredible battlefield results no matter the scenario, none of us ever got it quite right.

So, I was astounded when I read the letter from LTC Jenkins and the article by COL Cheek. The juxtaposition of those two pieces in one issue was brilliant and provided me a crystal clear vision of why we, collectively, got it all wrong about what is so important about cannon fire support.

COL Cheek was perfect in his description of what is really missing from the heart of cannon artillery direct support [DS]. You can't automate emotion, you can't automate urgency, you can't automate dealing with the incredibly rapid and unpredictable environment of the DS mission (if that is an acceptable term) in close combat. Can you imagine an FO's [forward observer's] having...

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