[swaghauler]

I've posted this once before but I'll post it here again.

An Artillery Battalion consists of 3 Gun Batteries, 1 HQ Battery, and a Service/Support Battery. The Standard Gun Battery is equipped with the 155mm (6"). The standard gun for Armored and Mechanized Infantry units was the M109 SP gun. The Standard Infantry Division was equipped with the M114 Towed Howitzer until the 80's. It was then replaced by the M198 Towed Gun/Howiter. Light Batteries would possess the M102 Towed 105mm until 1990. The British 105mm Light Gun (designated the M119) replaced it after 1990. These are almost exclusively attached to air mobile or airborne units after the Army disbanded all of its light infantry divisions (with the exception of the 10th Mountain and the Arctic Division). The Heavy Batteries were attached to Armored and Mechanized Divisions at the rate of ONE per division. They used the 203mm M110 SP gun. The standard compliment of a Gun Battery before the 80's was two "Smokes" (platoons) of 3 guns each for 6 guns per battery. When the Army reorganized the Field Artillery in the 80's; The 155mm and 105mm Batteries got 8 guns each in 2 "smokes" per battery (this was part of the "Division 86" protocol). The Heavy Batteries kept two (6) Gun Batteries as standard but added an MLRS Battery consisting of 9 launchers (with 3 "smokes") in addition to the guns (for a hybrid 3 Battery configuration of 9 launchers and 12 guns).

Mechanized Batteries contained (in addition to their guns):

1 FASV Ammo Carrier per gun (heavy gun units used M548? cargo variant of the M113). MLRS had their own specialized ammo vehicle.

1 M577 Command Vehicle for Fire Direction and control. Later versions in the Army were equipped with Radar for threat detection and counter battery fire.

1 Command Humvee
2 Utility Humvees (1 for advanced party, 1 for XO/Commo)

1 NBC Humvee complete with M8 Chemical Detector and Fire Fighting gear (specialized for WP rounds)

1 Tracked Recovery Vehicle Detached from Service Battery and under orders to service emergency needs of the gun battery.

1 Supply/Utility 5-ton
1 Advanced Party/Utility 5-ton (for the advanced party)
1 HEMMETT heavy Utility transport or 5 ton (for the Battery mechanics)

The 155mm Towed battery made the following changes:

1 5-Ton per gun
1 HEMMETT ammo carrier per gun (later versions of these were lightly armored)

1 HUMVEE FDC vehicle (later there were 2; one with counter battery radar)
1 Command HUMVEE
1 Commo/XO HUMVEE
1 NBC HUMVEE (with M8 detector)
1 Utility HMVEE (for advanced party)

4 5-ton trucks for 2 Maintenance, 1 Supply, 1 Advanced Party/utility.
1 HEMMETT Recovery vehicle detached from Service Battery.

Light Gun Batteries had the following vehicles:

2HUMVEES per gun (one for towing, one for ammo)

1 5-ton Wrecker/Recovery in place of HEMMETT wrecker.

The Army began operating Gun Batteries as "Autonomous Units" in the 80's Both HQ and Service batteries would detach important personnel among the batteries. Each battery could operate "without support" from other members of the battalion. Service Battery had a dual role. Service and recovery of breakdowns/battle damage AND supply of the forward batteries with fuel and ammo. The Battery's Recovery section moved with their assigned Gun Battery. The Supply section had dedicated Tankers and HEMMETTs for each Gun Battery that would move "beer, bullets, and beans" to that battery from the rear areas. This way, a Gun Battery could concentrate on Fire and Displacement.

The Army would have one Gun Battery Displacing while the other two Gun Batteries provided fire support. This allowed [8 guns X 2] to "respond" to calls for fire support. Since a battery only had 1 FDC team; Each Gun Battery would respond to only one call for fire support.

When a Battery (any battery) displaced; It would send an advanced party to survey and prep the area it was displacing to. This was known as an Advanced Party or RSOP (Recon, Survey, Occupation, & Preparation) Team.
HQ would have a survey crew with each Gun Battery who would mark its location with a Transit (for surveying). When the Guns arrived they would "Lay" using a device called a Collimeter. This telescopic like device was used to determine a gun's Deflection (horizontal Arc) and quadrant (vertical Arc/Range to target). If a gun was doing a "hip shoot" (an unsurveyed shoot) off of just "Aiming Stakes" (2 colored poles which fix your position in the world) or a DAP (distant aim point- a pole, tree, or structure); The difficulty would be one level greater.

Batteries which receive "casualties" would be reorganized into smaller 6 or 8 gun batteries. This is because of the nature of fire support. When support is called; 3 guns will fire forming a triangle in the impact area. The idea is to overlap each gun's CEP (circular error, probable) to enhance damage in the "kill box." The Army went to 4 gun "smokes" to increase the lethality of the "kill box" by putting 1 round on each corner of the impact area (giving a 4 CEP overlap).

By the time of the Twilight War. Individual units would be able to call for fire support from any available Artillery Battery without the need to "go through channels." The only issue would be what support was available.

Availability of Support (1D100):

Item Available:
Nothing Available: 71-100 (US), 81-100 (PACT)
60mm Mortars: 51-70 (US)
81mm/82mm Mortars: 41-50 (US), 61-80 (PACT)
105mm/120mm Mortars: 31-40 (US), 46-60 (PACT)
105mm Howitzer 26-30 (US)
122mm Rockets: 41-45 (PACT)
122mm Howitzer: 31-40 (PACT)
152mm/155mm Howitzer: 5-25 (US), 10-30 (PACT)
203mm Howitzer/MLRS: 1-4 (US)
Soviet 203mm Howitzer/Rockets: 5-9 (PACT)
240mm Mortar: 1-4 (PACT)

This is just an example chart of the availability of Artillery on a major front.