I Found What You're Looking For

Why company grade officers should be fighting to come teach at the Field Artillery School

By MAJ Destry "Sam" Balch

Article published on: August 1, 2024 in the 2024 Issue 2 of Field Artillery

Read Time: < 6 mins

FA BOLC Class 08-22 firing illumination projectiles at Firing Point 178 as a part of Redleg War, the culminating training event for all FA BOLC students.

My role as a Field Artillery (FA) Basic Officer Leader Course (BOLC) Gunnery instructor began in the summer of 2022, following my assignment as a howitzer battery commander in the 82nd Airborne Division. For my broadening time, I wanted to effect lasting change in the FA Branch in the most influential capacity possible.

1-30th FA Battalion (BN), responsible for the education of all newly promoted FA lieutenants and captains, is home to the largest concentration of 13A company-grade officers in the Army. Throughout my time at Ft. Sill and intermediate level education (ILE), I spoke to several captains career course (CCC) students and post-command FA officers who felt they were missing something from their time served in the Army. I know where to find it.

You feel a lack of professional fulfillment: that you don’t matter in the grand scheme of the Army and that FA officers should be more technically and tactically proficient.

Most officers define professional fulfillment as making a positive, enduring and profound organizational change. It can be demoralizing as a junior officer, even as a battery commander, when we feel we cannot influence the positive difference in the operational force we think we are capable of. Being a gunnery instructor at theField Artillery Schoolpresents a unique platform to institute positive and lasting change that ripples throughout the entire Army. As gunnery instructors, we constantly innovate and improve tactical procedures, directly influence curriculum development and are vital to updating doctrine. If we identify a creative or better way to teach, train, or provide a better tactical solution for a problem in the force, we are the ones with the opportunity to implement that change. By fostering a culture of creativity and continuous improvement, gunnery instructors help shape a more capable and adaptable artillery force, vital in an era that edges closer toward large-scale conflict. If you want to work in an organization where you have the license to effect immediate and positive change for the branch, I promise you it is here.

Officers also define professional fulfillment in terms of developing others. At its core, our primary mission as gunnery instructors is to educate and train new lieutenants in the essential tasks and doctrine, they need to be successful artillery officers for the operational force. The Army also charges us with professionally developing them into the leaders our future Soldiers need and deserve. Every FA officer in the Army comes through B Battery, 1-30th FA BN and every FA officer, no matter their age or distance from their profession, can recall their gunnery instructor’s name. The potential impact we have in the professional development of new FA officers is immeasurable and if we genuinely believe the Army deserves the world’s best leaders, it is our moral obligation to influence their development as early as possible. If you think that officers don’t know enough about property management, tactical implementation of mortars, how to conduct platoon-level training management or any other shortfall you’ve identified in the force, you have the time, resources and support at the FA School to fix it. If you want to be in the best position that molds future leaders into the educated professionals you believe they should be, I promise you it is here.

Finally, officers also define professional fulfillment in terms of their own development. As an instructor, I was surrounded by the brightest minds the community has to offer. When I started my certification and on-ramp as a gunnery instructor, the tactical and technical prowess within USAFAS was inspiring. Experts in cannons, rockets, radars, mortars, joint fires and targeting share a common roof and the Gunnery Instructor Certification Program ensures that it produces the most professional and proficient officers. The institution taught me how to teach, how to learn and most importantly, it filled the unknown fires knowledge gaps to make me a more lethal fires officer. If you are still looking for the professional fulfillment you expected in the Army and want to be at the place that will make you a more tactically and technically proficient fires officer, I promise you it is here.

Your unit’s operational tempo overwhelms your time and you feel a significant lack of work/life balance.

The Army’s mission is ever-growing and our numbers are ever shrinking, increasing the workload and responsibility on individual Soldiers and leaders. Our operational force is spread thin and has variable stability, predictability, or flexibility in our day-to-day operations, resulting in a tumultuous work/life balance. In contrast, day-to-day as an instructor at the FA School could not be more predictable. As an instructor, I knew precisely which days and classes I would teach down to the minute and room number at least three months out. When rare scheduling conflicts occurred and I needed to prioritize some aspect of my personal life over my instruction, my peers and supervisors were more than accommodating to find a solution that worked for everyone. The predictability and flexible schedule within the schoolhouse allowed me to grow relationships with family and friends that I had missed for nearly eight years. If you want the predictability and space to plan your personal and professional life, I promise you it is here.

Being a gunnery instructor, I completely redefined my relationship with time. Most weeks, I only instructed for four out of five days, had a door-to-door commute of less than ten minutes and only spent a handful of nights in the field away from my family. For the first time as an officer, I did not feel like I was constantly running behind on tasks or glancing at my watch to triage my schedule and ensure I made my next hit time. It is a typical testimonial from instructors that they finally have the time to pursue their hobbies, get their pilot’s license, or take the time and recover from years of hard service to the Army. If you crave the ability to redefine your relationship with time, I promise you it is here.

Left: FA BOLC Class 03-23 students conduct a Combined Arms Rehearsal as a part of Redleg War. Right: LTG (Retired) Dave Valcourt with FA BOLC Gunnery Instructors in 2023. LTG Valcourt was a FA School Gunnery Instructor in the early 1980s.

In conclusion, serving as an FA BOLC gunnery instructor has given me the greatest fulfillment I have ever experienced in the Army. It gave me the time and predictability to reenergize my personal life and redevelop the relationships with my friends and family. It gave me the opportunity to develop the next generation of officers in all the ways I felt our branch needed to be improved. It gave me the feeling that I was leaving the FA School a more lethal fires officer and that what I did truly mattered. If this is something you’re looking for but cannot seem to find, I promise you it is here.