Talk:Artillery observer

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[edit] History of

The History Channel recently aired a documentary on Forward Observers. Lots of info there.

Speaking of the history of...My article on the Union Army Balloon Corps tells about Prof. Lowe being used to direct arty fire in on an unseen encampment of Rebels at Falls Church VA. The whole caper was the arty commander's idea. Lowe was up in the balloon and would wave signal flags to Camp Advance, the firebase, all the while telegraphing results to headquarters at Fort Corcoran. It was a proud moment for field artillery to be able to fire unseen on the enemy. Lowe was only used to observing the enemy's activity. He was very self-conscious about firing on the camp early morning while the Rebs were asleep. He was relieved when the first shot fell long thereby waking the camp before the arty fire was called in hit after hit.--Magi Media 03:18, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Intellectual requirements of FOs as opposed to FDC members

While an good FO has to be quite intelligent, in terms of selectivity, the tested intellectual aptitude requirement for soldiers and marines working in the Fire Direction Center, (FDC), is actually higher - 120 on the Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test. This is because of the mathematics aptitude required of FDC members. ASVAB score of 120 is also the standard score required for enlisted to be accepted to attend officer candidate school (OCS). SimonATL 01:25, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] International article

I've moved this to artillery observer, and made the introductory line more generic, so that this article can cover the various FOs, FOOs, FEDs, and JOSTs of all nations (although the US versions are almost ready to break out into their own more specific articles).

Or should it have been moved to artillery controller? —Michael Z. 2006-07-14 22:39 Z