"You can't describe the moral lift,when in the fight your spirits weary, hears above the hostile fire,Your own artillery. Shells score the air like wavy hair from a forward battery. As regimental cannon crack While from positions further back, in bitter sweet song overhead
crashing discordantly Division's pounding joins the attack;
Mother like she belches shell; Glorious it flies, and well,
As, with a hissing screaming squall, A roaring furnace, giving all,she sears a path for the infantry...."
- Aleksandr Tvardovskiy, from the poem "Vasily Tyorkin" 1943REQUIREMENTSCannon Crewmembers constantly lift heavy objects and perform strenuous activity for long periods without rest. Being in top physical and mental shape is definitely a plus. Normal color vision is also required in order to read color-coded ammunition, maps, and charts.
well what can i say, im about to spend 3 years and 2 weeks at the big red one 1st ID in kansas for those that dont know. iam in 3rd brigade alpha battery 4-1 FA. iam a gun bunny, redleg aka artilleyman. yes im use to the comment of artillery oh pull string and make gun go boom but come on now there is way more to that then you none gun bunnys know. artillery is actully a job in the military (making this out so civilians can understand) where you need to actully know your shyt. one slight mistake and someones going to jail. besides were king of battle hooah. most of you are thinking infantry is the best ha dont make me puke, yeah i give em credit since there brothers in arms and will fight beside em but you can learn infantry in a day. artillery actully takes some time to learn your shyt. so before you go off thinking its a easy MOS, think about it first.i love artillery. i swear artillery was made just for me. from the rush i get from every boom and from fdc coming over the radio yelling fire mission. it really warms a person up. if you dont have a passion in what you do, then your never going to enjoy it.i went to fort sill oklahoma on feb 21st of 2006 and came home a soldier on june 9th 2006. from then i stayed in the national guard til i relized it sucked, that i wanted to be playing with my gun 24/7 and besides only way to be a soldier is by doing so 24/7 or unless you have put your time in for active duty and then went to national guard.(thats not really the reason why i want to go active,its just that its really to personel to tell you the truth) in other words im to young ha for the guard. so ive went through tons of crap to be approved to active duty and of course i was upset when i found out they wouldnt send me to the 10th mountain division and i did not want to goto fort hood because i hate the heat which i know is gonna drive me nuts when i goto the sandbox. last but least i was sure as hell not going back to fort sill oklahoma so they gave me the next best thing, fort riley kansas the neighbor of oklahoma how goodie.i feel bad sorta going active like im leaving all my friends and family to do this but if the army has taught me one thing its to suck it up and drive on with the mission hooah.after reading some of the history about the big red one iam proud to follow in the footsteps of that history hooah.
