FiST is short for Fire Support Team. Not Forward Support Team. I goofed on that, my bad. Explains why I wasn't smart enough to join you FO's out there! Check out our video on the AH-64Apache or don't it's cool kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rcybrdanmq_NoGg.html

Foward observer and artillery are basically amazon prime for the infantry

"Drop me one them thicc boi's over yonder"

I used to be a FO for 2 yrs in the Korean army and the biggest difficulty was to carry all the heavy equipment and to climb up the mountain. Physical fitness is crucial more than anything

This was my job in Vietnam. I was the 1st Platoon, Echo Company, 2nd Battalion 9th Marine Regiment, Whiskey Echo Foxtrot Oscar. I liked it because I was respected and I only had to carry a Map, Compass, binoculars, Rifle, Ammunition and my food and personals and I had my own Radioman to call in Missions. The bad news was the enemy did their best to kill me first, since I was the most dangerous.. I got the job as an E-2 because 3 FO's were wounded and they were looking for a volunteer to take the last ones place. I lasted about 6 months then was flown home in a Hospital Plane. I was hit at least twice but our platoon took Hill 861 away from the NVA. I was near the end of my 13 month tour so after I recovered I was sent to CamPen, and months later Hawaii and then back to Vietnam again with 1/27.

"artillery are ussually miles behind the lines and they usually don't have line of sight to the target" If arty has line of sight to the target, something has gone terribly wrong

1:34 "hey, artillery guys, the hills keep shooting at us and screaming in Arabic. I'm gonna need you to un-alive them and turn that hill into a valley"

When I was a FO in the late 70s in the USMC we used a map, binoculars, and the Mark 1 Eyeball. We were experts at reading a topo map, that is how we judged distance.

I was an FO from 1988 to 2007, best job in the military.

A late friend of mine was an FO in Korea. He related the uncomfortable feeling of knowing that the enemy was dedicating multiple artillery pieces to your personal destruction. From the stories he told it’s a miracle he survived. He was regularly dodging incoming artillery and mortar fire. The worst was when the only low spot was an ice cold river. A friend of my fathers was also an FO in Korea, and he remembered going to a forward position in the middle of the night with a squad of ROK soldiers to protect him. He remembered the sound of their rubber soled shoes as they scuttled away before dawn to avoid being caught out there with him. I don’t really blame them. A Marine friend was in Viet Nam and was sent with his platoon to cover an FO on a hilltop. They low crawled up to find the FO sitting out in a lawn chair under a Cinzano umbrella, craters all around him. His explanation “Ah, they can’t hit shit anyway.”

When the FO and the medic are good friends... we call it preventative medicine

"Alongside the only other asset that's not expendable, the medic" As a 68W..... awwwwww thank you! You're gonna make me blush

My grandfather was an FO in WWII. He was a captain in the army, and fought at the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of the Ramagen Bridge. At the Remagen, his team was killed and he was wounded by shrapnel, which earned him the purple heart. After spending the rest of the war in a British hospital, he assisted with rebuilding ruined buildings that were destroyed in the blitz. After that he returned to Florida and met my grandmother at UF. The rest of course is history.

I appreciate this video. I was a forward observer in Afghanistan, and the only people that ever seemed to appreciate were the infantry platoon I was attached to.

Back in my day, was attached to a mortar platoon. Spending some time as a mortarman, I also got a chance to play in the role of FC. However as a fire controller we did not have the computers you see today. Albeit we were generally working in targets 2-4km down range with the 81. Still firing over the heads of you buddies, still very important to get things right. Especially when coordinating fire at night with armoured groups. Our method was more of the last you spoke of, we took our grid reference, bino’d the target area..drawing on the map with a transparent grid/range reference overlay and call in rounds, bracketing to target. It was quite a rush. I always found it amazing, you could with 2-3 rounds, put 4 smooth bore guns on target, sending 16 rounds FFE of 81mm converging on an area not much larger than a Volkswagen ....really something to see. I recall just before getting out, they brought in a Mortar Data Fire Calculator or MDFC, which basically looked like an oversized old Texas Instruments calculator with the old red coloured single digits screen with about 50-60 multifunction buttons....generally, we could do the math in our heads faster than it took to punch in the numbers to that monstrosity of a handheld nightmare 😝 I liked you segment on language and how important it was to use it. Even though I have been out for over 25 years, I still use “say again”, rather than repeat. Old habits are hard to break.

Thanks for the love bro. It's not often we Fisters get recognition. just for knowledge purposes, we use polar CFF method quite often especially when were low on time to react. It's one of the most expediant ways of getting shells down range to suppress or destroy the enemy. Keep making killer content!

Swedish Army Selection officer: Congratulations: you get you be a FO and sit in the back of a warm and cozy vehicle playing with communications equipment. He lied.

In finnish army we have 5 man fo team in every platoon. One officer, one nco, signaller and two range finder guys. I was the nco. In the one year i was in conscript service, my team called hundreds of live rounds on practice targets. The last fire mission was 108 rounds on target in one minute. A very nice sight to behold. Our artillerys unofficial motto is piiru, metri, sekuntti, meaning milliradian, metre, second, which is the accuracy to which everything is done.

A late relative of mine was a Wehrmacht Forward Observer on the eastern front from the invasion of Russia until the end of WWII. He suffered from terrible PTSD even after he became demented, often telling how he had to direct fire by climbing into leafless trees with his radio.

I remember being told that in the military they did not ever say "repeat that" because that would repeat a bombardment, and if you, or other friendly units were in the area, that could be very bad. I was told that that is why they always said "say again" instead. That is one of those things that stuck with them even after they left the military.

Nice video! I would like to one day become one. But that means I have to leave the guns!

The most underrated mos in combat arms

There's another type of FO, the FAC (forward air controller). In the Marines, they are radio operators and assigned to infantry companies and are specially trained at Little Creek, VA, to call in air strikes on enemy positions. The aircraft being sort of artillery in the sky. The Marines perfected close air support. When I was in the Marines and was an FAC team leader as one of my assignments, the team consisted of a Marine pilot, temporarily assigned to the team, a Marine NCO in charge, and two enlisted Marines. We enlisted were communications specialists and carried an AN-GRC-9 air-to-ground radio and had direct communication with the aircraft. Secondly, there was another specialist Marine team that directed Naval gunfire, ANGLICO.

I did 13F for 10 years. If the infantry is tough, remember the FO carries that and about in addition 40 pounds of radio and Range/direction finder.

Man I hope your channel blows up and you get some serious recognition.

These Forward Artillery Observers are awesome!!! To us in the infantry we call them "Over Qualified Infantrymen". They call themselves "Artists in the Battlefield". I wish these guys could be teaching every platoon in an infantry company on the call for fire portion of the Expert Infantry Badge Test. It's not to get them out of a job. The FOs are excellent at what they do and are experts especially radios. The folks in the Army I will not piss off besides my chain of command. Number #1 is the cooks, they feed me and get me my hot chow. Number # 2 is supply and mechanics, be very pleasant to them and give them treats so you get what you need and fix your shit. Number # 3 is Doc. Never fuck with him and treat his ass nice because all infantrymen can and will get wounded in combat. Last on my list and very valuable when infantry is in combat is the FOs. Keep them like family in the platoon like Doc. The FOs will deliver hell on those who are in front of you. They know fucking radios and commo like a genius in combat. In Iraq our Commo NCO was a 13 Foxtrot in my last unit. I gave this man respect and never got on his bad side. These guys have to be respected in their abilities.

thanks

I have been out of the Army for 27 years and to this day I still say, "Say again?". No repeats... I do say, "Roger Out" a lot, and my favorite, "Roger that". EVERY once in a while I'll tell someone that I'm only going to be about 5 or 10 mikes late or that I'll be there in about 5 or 10 mikes. It never leaves you.

Without Forward Observers you would have some Private First Class calling in Artillery right on your dome every dang time.

FIST is fire support team and JTACs exist for all services.

13F here. I'm not sure who the hell told this guy what a CFF sounds like but, here's what a CFF looks like or at least how I was taught. FO: "Thunder fires, This is OP 12, Adjust fire, over." FDC: "OP12, This is Thunder fires, Adjust fire, out." FO: "Grid: CH 1234 5678 Altitude: 123 Direction: 1234, over." FDC: "Grid: CH 1234 5678 Altitude: 123 Direction: 1234, out." FO: "One M1978-koksan, in the open, over." FDC: "One M1978-koksan, in the open, out." FDC: "Message to observer, Thunder, one round, quick in effect, target number AA100, over." FO: "Message to observer, Thunder, one round, quick in effect, target number AA100, out." Also, the methods of target location are: adjust fire, polar, grid and shift from known point. Shift from known can be from your position BUT it can also be a building 1200m north of your position and you adjust your rounds from that location. And yes, regular infantry and officers like to think they can do our job. Just ask them what their six elements for CFF or the 15 subsequent corrections are.

Excellent video. That might be my old unit seen with 1st Cav patches. Circa 1987, Reagan was still my Commander in Chief. The GPS units of the era were extremely rare, and the single one I saw took up most of an entire Hummer. Our radios were Vietnam leftover POS's. Our M-113-based FIST-V held 4 radios, the most powerful of which used a cooling fan whenever it spooled up. I kept a ball-peen hammer on hook nearby, and I used it to whack the radio whenever its acted up. Which was frequently. One day, the battalion commander stopped by to use my assortment of radios, and naturally he chose the big one. As he transmitted, I heard the radio's fan stop. I drew out my hammer, whacked the radio, and it started working again. The look on the Commander's face was priceless. Then he seemed to realize that the harder you hammered that POS radio, the better it worked. Besides it multitude of crappy radios, my FIST-V had a superb Thermal Night Sight. I recall that sight cost nearly half a million dollars. With that Thermal, I could discern whether a vehicle was an APC or a Tank from 2000 meters away through smoke or through darkness. If a night-time fog set in, then that range was limited somewhat, but still awesome at 800 meters or so. It was cool to watch coyotes stalking warm bunny rabbits around our track throughout the night as the rest of my team slept. 3 decades later, I still remember the serial number of my FIST-V (#C3219). With all the innovations since, I have often wondered what being a 13-Foxtrot is like now. GPS's are now ubiquitous, and drones are a mainstay. And I wonder how many FISTER's of today could truly use a map, compass, and visual distance estimation like I had to do, in the bad-old pre-GPS Cold-War of Reagan's Army. Sometime during my Army days, the Berlin Wall fell, and we won the Cold War. Had we needed to fight the Russians, my life expectancy was said to be 13 seconds in combat. Currently I have a few Russian emigres as friends, and I am ashamed to admit they are better people than many so-called Americans in my midst. And yet I spent most of my young life hating the USSR. For what? In the words of Smedly Butler, "War is a Racket." There are no good wars. Only good soldiers.

Because if we had back observers, they'd be called a pervert.

My grandfather was an FO with the 1st Light Airlanding Regiment. He fought at Arnhem, or more specifically at Osterbeek, during Operation Market Garden. He swam across the Rhine to reach safety when they evacuated. He was a lovely, kind man. I still miss him.

9 yrs of service as a 13F. i never, not once, said, "repeat."

Damn Chris you explain things so incredibly well! I love the humor, amazing historical facts, & just all around great presentation! Thanks for making me smile while educating me at the same time :)

The Most dangerous man on the battlefield- The guy with a radio... Hehehe

This is one of the best military channel I've seen. It's very entertaining to see this knowledge in depth with some humors.

When I was in mortars in the Marine Corps, we didn't have FOs for the 60mm mortar section in the rifle company, but the 81mm mortar platoon in the battalion's H&S company (they hadn't created Weapons Company yet) attached an FO to the company command element of each rifle company - we also had an independent FO, a job I had at one time. It was a one-man job - I carried my own radio and rifle; no team involved. I had to know how to call in artillery and air, and I was even expected to be able to adjust naval gunfire. Being an FO is a mind game. You're trying to find a place to set up where you can see the area you need to see, but that isn't where the enemy would look around, expect you to be hiding, and drop a lot of their own mortars and artillery on that spot to kill you. They, in turn, are trying to hide from you, as well as looking around and asking themselves, "If I were the enemy FO, where would I be?" and blowing up whatever place they think is the answer.

Awesome video I was an RTO on a firepower control team with 4th Anglico. FOs are definitely unsung heroes of the battlefield. "Lightning from the sky, thunder from the sea"

My roommate in Iraq was a FO and I was an Intel Analyst, it was fun how fast we demolished the landnav course at the mob site. We actually ran a second set of points and still got back before some of the other teams.

I would never use a 6 digit grid for a fire mission. That’s an infantry or cav thing. A real fister gives an 8 digit grid to get round closer on target and less room for error

My dad ran comm for a tracked 105 battalion. He ran wire across France. The fo radio would only go a very short range and the batteries died quickly. So he would string wire from the battalion hq to the companies. Then run up toward where the front was. Over the wire they used Morse code. Over the radio they used a code that changed. So he would talk, listen ,convert to Morse, then type it in. When he could they didn't use the radios and the fo just stood near dad's jeep. He memorized Morse so much he would talk in it with other old vets.

I loved working with a TACP on my special equipped M113 in the German Army. Did a lot of jobs back then as an NCO. We had to be extremely stress proof and learn a lot of stuff with a lot of different radio types and technics to get the target coordinates, weather on ground etc.

I've seen fisters work and everything, from an 11B perspective, but I never fully understood their role. Thanks for this video.

Finally someone got it right

13Fox! That was my son's job. I am so proud of him.Thank you for making this video.

Being precise in your wording is extremely important in the military. My buddy JO Griffin was our platoon radio man. He explained many of the protocols (not "etiquette") to me, and even though I have been out of the Corps for many years, I still use them when talking on the phone, or when writing notes or sending email to someone. I never say "oh" for "zero;" even your computer keyboard knows the difference.

You’re a comical genius! Honestly though ,most military focused informative channels on KZfaq have pretty dull presentation. Keep up the good work!

When I was in Recon in The Corps (2nd Battalion at LeJeune...our barracks were beachfront)...we did lots of training in the hills around Lejeune and on occasion we would run into the Combat Forward Air Observers school training Marines. I was always impressed with their training tempo and the quality of their Marines...they were very good troops and their training regimen pretty much mirrored ours, without the direct action mission elements.

Thank you so much in putting this video and very informative on the aspects of the positions involving the FO’s. I was looking for one to show family one of the many jobs/positions I had the pleasure in doing. “Make It Rain” was our tag in 5/11 Comm connected with the 5/11 Artillery in Camp Pendleton. Oorah! Semper FI Brother!

EXCELLENT VIDEO My father was a captain in the British Royal Artillery during WWII. He commanded eight 25 pounder Howitzers. He spent much of his time as an FO. Either on the ground or in a single engine Stinson L-5. It helped that he had phenomenal eyesight. In Burma.

As a 13 foxtrot from the 80s. Appreciate the video

"everyones heard of the R-deans offensive." you've never heard of the Ardennes (pronounced Are-den) lol.

Hey former FO here! thank you so much for this video! i always try and describe my old job in the Army and it doesn't really come out well. Now i am just going to link this video to everyone!

I was a FO in the marines, trained at Ft Sill, Vietnam Era, enjoyed your Video, would have loved to have the toys you have today back then. still a awesome job

Actually the 3rd method (polar) was how we received most firing missions when I was a 13E (Fire Direction Center). It was my job to make sure we took what the FO saw and make it into what the guns would "see." We dropped warheads on foreheads very accurately with that method. Now it's all GPS based and the 13E's are phased out. Hearing that ol' firing mission language got me all tingly in my nether regions though.

My cousin was an FO and medic on route clearance. He took on a HUGE IED and by some miracle, he lived. He got a purple heart. Hes a good guy and loves your channel man. Keep them coming!

This was a fascinating video for me. In the early 70's I joined the Ottawa base 30th Artillery Regement which was a reserve unit. Our primary function was to perform ceremonial salutes for dignitaries visiting Ottawa. We did a lot of those so we got very good at our gun drills. After learning to be a gunner I also learned to be a communicator (radio operator) and then an artillery technician. I hated high school so I spent every spare moment at the armoury doing any work that needed to be done. Eventually I ended up teaching classes for communicators and for Arty Techs. It just happened, honest. One other function I had was teaching new officers how to do "fire planning". In those days we called theses officers Forward Observation Officers (FOOs). We had not fancy tech to help us. It was all maps and firing tables. YUK!!! May last exercise at Petewawa was a full brigade exercise. This was a mobile infantry exercise so we had to work at the front lines preparing fire plans to hold off an attack by a beer peer adversary. During this excercise we got a visit from a German general who wanted to see how a Canadian brigade would perform in a combine operation. At some point the Regimental Commander walked over to me an asked if I would be able to directed a fire mission if my FOO was injured and could not perform his function. My answer (Forgive me but I was very young) I told him "Sure I can run a fire mission. I taught him how to do it"! So I proceeded to call a fire mission by the numbers and totally old school! I did the calcs, called in the mission, adjusted the fire and then ended it with "Three Rounds Fire for Effect". That resulted in two full batteries each with three 105s lobbing three round each on an intersection on the battlefield. It took ten minutes start to finish. The German General was impressed. At the end of the exercise the RSM asked me if I wanted to join the regiment. Not in a month, not in a day but right then and now. I refused because I had spent the entire exercice in the company of captain Bryce of the 2 RCHA talking about military history and education. When I explained that I plannned to go off to college in the fall to study exploration technology he ecouraged me to go to colllege first before joining the regiment because the skills I would learning would be very applicable in the military ( not just the artillery. After the exercise Captain Bryce was getting a promotion to Major and heading off to an assignment at Canada's National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa. He asked me to look him up after I graduated to join but I never did. I had too much fun running around the Canadian wilderness working geological exploration projects in Labrador, Quebec, Ontario and the North West Territories. Living in tents eating canned food and chasing of bears who wanted my supper. Geez! I should have just joined the artillery...Bahahaha!!!

One of the best videos I’ve seen on FO, keep up the great work.

Back in the day, I was an 11C, and our ability to send mortar rounds downrange hinged on the abilities of forward observers or scouts. I received minimal training as an 11c, and later as a 19d, in the rudiments of calling for fire.. I seem to remember 25, 27 years ago, we focused on Polar call for fire, though we had some training with grid and shift methods as well. While our range of fire wasn't nearly as great as that of artillery, this video did provide me with more than a few nostalgic moments. I'm curious as to how those call for fire missions transpire now, with better FDC computers and GPS capabilities (GPS was just starting to gain traction amongst us ground pounders when I was prepping to ETS). Thanks for the informative video!

Just enlisted as a 13F last week

Thanks Chris !! This is cool ! I was an FO in the Hawaii guard, Ft. Ruger, HQ Co. Diamond Head, Honolulu. Attached to Ft. Lewis, Wash. St. before it became JBLM. I now live in Hood River in the Columbia River Gorge. Garth Hardin on youtube. Keep up with the good sitreps !! Accurate intel is scarce and SOOO appreciated !! Peace n Godpeed !!

First i wish to say thank you for showing this film about Forward Observers. Seems like everyone forgets about him. I was a F. O. for six years, the eyes and ears for the big guns, never did like being up front alone with just a radio and a rifle, knowing the enemy was always looking to do me in. Knock out a F.O. and you knock out the big guns. The system i used to use for a Fire Mission was Iwalnut, worked for me. Being a F.O. you miss a lot of meals,sleep, and always on the move staying ahead of the Div.

I took my first step to becoming a Royal Marines Commando today! My goal is to specialise in long range reconnaissance, artic warfare and mountain climbing with Brigade Reconnaissance Troop

Iraqi FOs wore leather jackets, loafers and called in observation on a cell phone.

What a great job, Cappy! Thanks for the content. Always glad to see new vids

In 1967 I didn't understand much. Just did what I was told. You're answering some questions I had from way back then! Great stuff !!

13F was 8 years old when I joined the army in 1981. the 6-30 was maybe 3/8" thick and held together with staples. I helped with the integration of the GVLLD and the DMD, and the testing of the Copperhead rounds in White Sands, NM. When I got out Singars raidos were just coming in about 1993, the 6-30 was about 2" thick and I helped write most of it. I wrote what became SOP for the 25th (Light) and the 10th Mtn Div for call for fire.

So Awesome!! Fun, funny, and educational! So good!

Current platoon FO/JFO. This makes me happy.

Hey Soldier I'm an old retired Artillery Colonel...and that was an awesome video the best I have seen on Forward Observers! God Bless you and Go Bold!

FiSTER here 🙋🏾‍♂️

FO is the artist of battlefield. They can make masterpiece of fire anywhere, anytime. Greeting from s.korea army FO :>

Thanks for the insight, great knowledge of military logistics you never hear elsewhere.

I was in 2/12 USMC Base Camp Hauge starting out. Our F.O.'s were a pretty cocky bunch and they really took pride in doing an exact job. Did my time first in Artillery and then in Tanks. I was in Communications. Ground Radio Repairman.

Your cff was said like it was done by a 0311 that has never touched a radio lol

FIST stands for Fire Support Team, because the FO is supposed to have an RTO.......but we know that never happens lol.

I was a 0811 field artillery back in the day and worked as a forward observe for a bit of time . Loved the whole thing. God it was the most amazing time I had in the military

As a FISTer, I wanna say a cheesy, heartfelt thank you. There aren’t enough videos about us, and this is pretty damn good! Keep on keeping on, Brother.

Being a good FO is as much an art as training. You have to get the feel for the fall of shot and adjust accordingly. Well, that was before GPS and laser rangefinders. If you "felt" where the ranging shot landed you could short-cut the procedure and save one or two ranging shots. Which made the Colonel always really nervous but also happy when it worked. I got quite a reputation for being "lucky" so much that at the annual battalion evaluation tests, I got temporarily assigned to the battery being tested, so they all could profit from my luck.

The redlegs and the doc. Every platoon's best friends.

My dad wanted to be a Marine pilot and ended up in radio school and was a forward radio operator for an 81 mm mortar platoon in the 28tg rgt, 5th Marines on Iwo Jima. He said he started covering his whip antenna with his jacket because he was getting fire before he crested a rise. I’m sure it saved his life. I’m sure he would be amazed at the technology now available.

A couple years late but... As a former 13F, thanks for the shout out. It was a nice history lesson too that they should bring to Fort Sill. It's also noteworthy that they're not just calling in artillery strikes (dumb & laser guided), but we're at least basically trained in providing smoke cover, calling air strikes, naval gunfire, and guiding in Hellfire missiles off of Apaches. Not that we get to do any of that "fun" stuff often, it's there. I do have to admit that some of the best training deployments I did with with your 11Ms running mortars. Laid back, quick to fire, and I never felt like they might hit us. Usually because we'd be sitting right next to them. haha Keep up the great work.

I've been out since jan 2011 and I still say "say again" when a i don't hear correctly which is a lot bc my right ear doesnt work right ya know bc of combat

The bayonets on the artillery pieces are a hold over from the days before FOs (3:53)

My Dad did this in the Marine Corps with naval gunfire in Vietnam. They would go out in small Spot Teams with a Navy Lt JG in charge as a Naval Gunfire Liaison. Occasionally they would call in artillery for the Army if needed. Sometimes they’d work with the local ARVN. He was an instructor at the school in Coronado for a few years in the early 60’s. He said it was really good duty. They’d take foreign students out to Catalina island and call in fire on the island. They had this large wooden board that students would practice calling in rounds and they’d be under the board releasing simulated charges to mark the rounds. He often spoke highly of a Major Bickel. They worked closely with officers in the small team. As a kid, I’d carry his old map pack around when we played. There was a clear plastic grid template and a radio call sign booklet in it.

I was a Royal Australian Artillery Forward Observer Signaller for most of my career and enjoyed every minute of it except a few times when pack marching 20 kilometres at night in the rain to get to out next OP (observation point). Apart from your strange (from our methods) ratel calling in a Fire Mission that was a good explanation. Thanks.

What my sniper friend told me: "I have a way knowing who is an FO. I just look for the guy in the glasses". Take a quess who is an Fo and has glasses...

I was an FO (for 8 inch self propelled howitzers) and what you mentioned for the polar coordinates almost happened to me. To my horror, i was radio'ed back "no firing solution" as in order to the target (me!) they would have to raise the gun barrels more than the max elevation... You didn't mention that there is different training for different guns. 8 inch is different to 155mm, multi rocket launchers etc. Also, when friendly units are close to the enemy, you start firing behind the enemy and you roll gradually closer.

Nice vid... brought back memories... After winning the battalion Land-Nav compotation when with NMCB-21, I was appointed as the Battalion FO... I was USMC field and weapons trained at Camp Lejeune and had my classroom training at Camp Geiger. (Semper Fi)... it was some of the best training I ever received and thoroughly enjoyed all of it... We did not make decisions on "strikes" we just relayed the information discovered , and some zero would decide what to do...

Captain Morrie Stanley an FO with the New Zealand Army, was credited with helping save D company Australian Army at the battle of Long Tan Vietnam. The recorded radio messages will tell you what it can be like for an FO in combat. Really like this channel keep up the good work.

In the infantry everyone had to learn the basics of calling for fire. Give the grid coordinates, target i.d. then fire for effect or adjust rounds to fire for effective.

6:46 Says "Marine" Shows Canadian Army Like I know MARPAT is knockoff CADPAT, but come on...

Compass shown in much of the video were lensatic, the kind issued to infantrymen. When I was an FO in the airborne in the early ‘80’s we carried the M2. More accurate than a lensatic, plus it was graduated in mils, not degrees. Our binoculars were also larger for greater range and had a special reticle pattern that was essential for adjusting rounds to the target after the first round was fired. We received our first laser rangefinders in 1981 which significantly improved the accuracy of calls for fire. The precursor to GPS was also field during this time known as PADS-this device was carried in an old M151 jeep and used a gyroscope to give us accurate locations (useful in defensive positions) and direction. By 1984 we fielded the Battery Computer System (BCS) which permitted computers to take the call for fire digitally and compute firing data for each gun. Been retired since 99 and sure would love to play with the newest technology.

I received my enlistment date to begin training as an Artillery/Forward Observer in the Australian Army. Wish me the best of luck and I needed to hear this, I'm even more hyped now to begin training.

This video made me even more excited for my AIT. 13f is gunna be an awesome job.

"you have to be very smart" RELATIVE TERM

Observed Fire was one of my courses of study as a new 2LT in FAOBC at Ft. Sill, OK. Class 1-71. We were given an M1 lensatic compass, a pair of binoculars, a map, and a PRC-10 radio. The goal was to "bracket" the target, then "fire for effect". Depending on the nature of the target, the result was often spectacular.

good job and nice reference to primary source!