Can you tell us a little more (public domain stuff, of course) about what you & your unit did specifically -- i.e., were you basically coordinating all the artillery fire for the brigade? That's sort of what it sounds like but I'm not familiar with the nuts & bolts of USMC force structure.
John
Answer from Shane:
John,
The artillery organic to the Brigade was all in Direct Support of 2d Marine Regt. and was coordinated by them. They used the arty in what we call the "close fight".
One echelon up at the Task Force level, where I'm at, we fight the "deep fight" with longer range fire support. In this case, mostly fixed-wing and rotary-wing Marine aviation. Our primary job is to set the conditions for the success of our grunts. We want to make the close fight a very "unfair" fight, with our guys having the advantage. We do this by destroying enemy command and control nodes, fire support, armor, maneuver, and logistics. By doing this it becomes nearly impossible for the enemy to mount an effective, coordinated defense or counterattack. isolating the front line enemy from these things also diminishes his will and means to fight.
I cannot go into details on our intel sources, or specifics on our targeting methodology. We get input from many levels, ranging from word of mouth from locals, to intel gathered from outer space, and many sources in between.
In the Marines, it is all about the infantry. Either you ARE infantry, or you support the infantry, directly or indirectly.
Shane
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