[matthazard]

This is not a direct reply to your post. I just grabbed the last entry, and hit reply. Obviously, a lot of us here were in the Arty. Unless you have seen what well handled, massed artillery can do, you have no concept of the devastation and, more importantly, the continual support in all conditions that artillery provides. Air power is critical and irreplacable. But it is different from, and no substitute for, artillery. The Defense Department is making a huge mistake if it does not maintain state of the art artillery capability for our Army units. As another poster correctly noted, we should be upgrading and improving our Arty capability, not downgrading it. This is not outmoded thinking; it is simple reality. Lots of bang for the buck and neither rain nor snow nor dark of night can stop it.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

But howitzers weight too much. The Army has to beg a ride from the Air Force to get the guns to the war, and the Air Force would rather use that lift to move their own stuff. The Air Force does not want to haul 155mm ammo, they want to deliver JDAMs.

Killing Crusader and not bringing tube artillery to Afghanistan were grievious blows from which FA may never recover.