Killing of a King: The Increasing Marginalization of the Field Artillery Branch in Current Counterinsurgency Operations

This thesis argues that the Field Artillery (FA) branch is being marginalized in today's counterinsurgency operations. There are several key factors that have led up to this point, those being, loss of core competency within the branch causing a loss in confidence from maneuver commanders, and a lack of a clear strategy for what role the branch will play in the future. The most recent vision of the FA Commandant in the Field Artillery Strategy (2009) addresses some of these issues, but may not go far enough. This study argues that the biggest factor affecting the branch is the impact of multiple deployments in which artillery Soldiers are tasked with non-standard missions on the core competency. Many senior leaders are discussing this issue, and some are providing ways to resolve it. This thesis will address the main issues surrounding the FA branch. The majority of this research consists of reviewing FA unit actions in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past eight years, reviewing historical articles, and Combat Training Center after action reviews.