Training Circular (TC) 3-09.81, "Field Artillery Manual Cannon Gunnery," sets forth the doctrine pertaining to the employment of artillery fires. It explains all aspects of the manual cannon gunnery problem and presents a practical application of the science of ballistics. It includes step-by-step instructions for manually solving the gunnery problem which can be applied within the framework of decisive action or unified land operations. It is applicable to any Army personnel at the battalion or battery responsible to delivered field artillery fires. The principal audience for ATP 3-09.42 is all members of the Profession of Arms. This includes field artillery Soldiers and combined arms chain of command field and company grade officers, middle-grade and senior noncommissioned officers (NCO), and battalion and squadron command groups and staffs. This manual also provides guidance for division and corps leaders and staffs in training for and employment of the BCT in decisive action. This publication may also be used by other Army organizations to assist in their planning for support of battalions. This manual builds on the collective knowledge and experience gained through recent operations, numerous exercises, and the deliberate process of informed reasoning. It is rooted in time-tested principles and fundamentals, while accommodating new technologies and diverse threats to national security.

Training Circular TC 3-09.81 TC 3-09.81/MCWP 3-16.4 Field Artillery Manual Cannon Gunnery March 2016 Training Circular (TC) 3-09.81 sets forth the doctrine pertaining to the employment of artillery fires. It explains all aspects of the manual cannon gunnery problem and presents a practical application of the science of ballistics. It includes step-by-step instructions for manually solving the gunnery problem which can be applied within the framework of decisive action or unified land operations. It is applicable to any Army personnel at the battalion or battery responsible to delivered field artillery fires. The principal audience for ATP 3-09.42 is all members of the Profession of Arms. This includes field artillery Soldiers and combined arms chain of command field and company grade officers, middle-grade and senior noncommissioned officers (NCO), and battalion and squadron command groups and staffs. This manual also provides guidance for division and corps leaders and staffs in training for and employment of the BCT in decisive action. This publication may also be used by other Army organizations to assist in their planning for support of battalions. This manual builds on the collective knowledge and experience gained through recent operations, numerous exercises, and the deliberate process of informed reasoning. It is rooted in time-tested principles and fundamentals, while accommodating new technologies and diverse threats to national security. Commanders, staffs, and subordinates ensure their decisions and actions comply with applicable United States, international, and, in some cases, host-nation laws and regulations. Commanders at all levels ensure that their Soldiers operate in accordance with the law of war and the rules of engagement. (See FM 27-10.)

This US Army publication, Field Manual FM 3-09 Fire Support and Field Artillery Operations April 2020, is the Army's capstone manual for fire support and field artillery operations. It provides principles and functions for fire support elements (FSEs) and field artillery (FA) units conducting large-scale ground combat operations as a part of unified land operations (ULO) in contested multi-domain environments. It establishes the basis for understanding fire support (FS) and field artillery (FA) as critical components of the Fires Warfighting Function tasks. FM 3-09 establishes for the Artilleryman the core competencies, functions, characteristics, and principles of FS and FA.The principal audience for FM 3-09 is all commanders and their staffs. This publication is intended to provide guidance for echelons above brigade for the planning, preparing, execution, and assessment of FS and the employment of FA in large-scale ground combat operations. Trainers and educators throughout the Army will also use this manual. This manual should be studied by those members of the combined arms team or other services who are responsible for the delivery of fires in support of ground combat operations. The aim of this publication is to establish the functions and principles of fire support planning, coordination, execution, and assessment and to describe the FS system in terms of its major components, functions, and required products. This publication describes the FS system as a complete entity and gives equal treatment to all of the diverse assets and capabilities that are designated as elements of the fire support system. The theme of this publication is that the successful delivery of fires depends on the rapid and continuous integration and synchronization of all forms of FS assets with all elements of combat power, and across all domains for one purpose. This is to place the correct types and volume of fire at the right time and on the right targets, across all domains to ensure the success of the supported maneuver commander's concept of operations.This publication provides the foundation for the development of subordinate FS and FA doctrine, force design, materiel acquisition, professional education, and individual and unit training. Fire support and field artillery techniques manuals go into further detail to explain specific duties for those individuals who actually work within the FS system.

After the end of World War II, General George Patton declared that artillery had won the war. Yet howitzers did not achieve victory on their own. Crucial to the success of these big guns were forward observers, artillerymen on the front lines who directed the artillery fire. Until now, the vital role of forward observers in ground combat has received little scholarly attention. In Bracketing the Enemy, John R. Walker remedies this oversight by offering the first full-length history of forward observer teams during World War II. As early as the U.S. Civil War, artillery fire could reach as far as two miles, but without an “FO” (forward observer) to report where the first shot had landed in relation to the target, and to direct subsequent fire by outlining or “bracketing” the targeted range, many of the advantages of longer-range fire were wasted. During World War II, FOs accompanied infantrymen on the front lines. Now, for the first time, gun crews could bring deadly accurate fire on enemy positions immediately as advancing riflemen encountered these enemy strongpoints. According to Walker, this transition from direct to indirect fire was one of the most important innovations to have occurred in ground combat in centuries. Using the 37th Division in the Pacific Theater and the 87th in Europe as case studies, Walker presents a vivid picture of the dangers involved in FO duty and shows how vitally important forward observers were to the success of ground operations in a variety of scenarios. FO personnel not only performed a vital support function as artillerymen but often transcended their combat role by fighting as infantrymen, sometimes even leading soldiers into battle. And yet, although forward observers lived, fought, and bled with the infantry, they were ineligible to wear the Combat Infantryman’s Badge awarded to the riflemen they supported. Forward observers are thus among the unsung heroes of World War II. Bracketing the Enemy signals a long-overdue recognition of their distinguished service.

This paper focuses on the formulation of doctrine since World War II. In no comparable period in history have the dimensions of the battlefield been so altered by rapid technological changes. The need for the tactical doctrines of the Army to remain correspondingly abreast of these changes is thus more pressing than ever before. Future conflicts are not likely to develop in the leisurely fashions of the past where tactical doctrines could be refined on the battlefield itself. It is, therefore, imperative that we apprehend future problems with as much accuracy as possible. One means of doing so is to pay particular attention to the business of how the Army's doctrine has developed historically, with a view to improving methods of future development.