1966 US Army Vietnam War ARMOR ... - Survival Books

WWW.SURVIVALEBOOKS.COM124upon the designated target. Thetask force. Additionally, he superforwardobservers may call for firevises the preparation of all otheron their own initiative on targetsfire plans and formulates the firethat affect the actions of the corn-support plan.pany. They locate themselves where(b) The fire support plan normally intheycan best observe and adjustcludes the fire plans for the employfire.They must maintain communi-ment of the supporting artillery,cation wiand boththbot he itactical supportedair support, and organiccompany and the supporting fire diweapons.rection center. When the commanderdesires supporting fire, he (c) As the fire support coordinator, thewill normally request the fire liaison officer insures that targetsthrough the forward observers whothat would affect the accomplishwilltransmit the request direct toment of the mission are attacked asthe supporting fire direction center.rapidly as possible with the bestIf the company commander cannotfire support means. If sufficientcontact the forward observers, hemeans are not available, he will remaysend his request to the battal-quest additional support throughion fire support coordinator artillery channels.(FSCOORD) by using the battalion (d) When the fire support plan and alltask force command communicationsupporting fire plans are completed,net. The FSCOORD will then they are sent to the artillery liaisontransmit the request to the support-officer at brigade if time permits;ing fire direction center. A platoonotherwise, they may be sent directleader should send his request forto the supporting artillery fire direcsupportingfire direct to the for-tion center.ward observers with the company. (e) The artillery liaison officer is assist-If a platoon leader cannot contacted by representatives of other firethe forward observers, he shouldsupport agencies available to thesend his request to his companybattalion.commander. In either case, thecompany commander and the for-1. When tactical air support is availawardobservers, if practical, willble, a tactical air control partdiscuss all requests for fire before(TACP) is furnished the unit bysending them to the appropriate the Air Force (para 235-240).headquarters.2. The battalion task force S3 air(c) For details of field artillery employ-represents the battalion staff onment, see FM 6-20-1 and FM this fire support coordination6-20-2. team. He formulates and pre-(2) Battalion (task force). The artillery pares the air fire plan.liaison officer at battalion task forceS. The tank battalion heavy mortaris the fire support coordinator. Asplatoon leader advises on the emsuch,he is the principal adviser to theployment of the heavy mortars.task force commander on all fire sup-In conjunction with the artilleryport means.liaison officer and battalion com-(a) Based on the supported com- mander, he prepares the heavymander's concept of the operationmortar fire plan for the battalandthe fire plans or request re-ion.ceived from the artillery forward (f) In a battalion-size task force, theobservers with the companies, hefire support coordination personnelprepares the artillery fire plan towill be present at the commandsupport the actions of the battalionpost or at a designated location