by Michael Yon
Download the full article: Dispatch: Big Guns
The intention was to write a detailed dispatch on the 3-17th Field Artillery. Unfortunately, I won't be embedded with 5/2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team until they leave Afghanistan, so the research on this dispatch was not completed. However, there are some nice nighttime photos and so this dispatch is more about Canons than cannons.
The cannons are ultra-accurate. The commanders are careful with their fire because the guns are also very powerful. When a "fire mission" comes in, the soldiers use the computer to calculate the shot. When you watch the soldiers in action, you can see that they must have practiced this a thousand times. Or more. They just can't afford to be wrong, and the people who depend on the cannons sometimes cannot wait - so the soldiers must fast and accurate.
Download the full article: Dispatch: Big Guns
Michael Yon is a former Green Beret who has been reporting from Iraq and Afghanistan since December 2004. No other reporter has spent as much time with combat troops in these two wars. Michael's dispatches from the frontlines have earned him the reputation as the premier independent combat journalist of his generation. His work is published at Michael Yon Online and has been featured on Good Morning America, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, CNN, ABC, FOX, as well as hundreds of other major media outlets all around the world.
About the Author(s)
Michael Yon is a former Green Beret, native of Winter Haven, Fl. who has been reporting from Iraq and Afghanistan since December 2004. No other reporter has spent as much time with combat troops in these two wars. Michael’s dispatches from the frontlines have earned him the reputation as the premier independent combat journalist of his generation. His work has been featured on “Good Morning America,” The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, CNN, ABC, FOX, as well as hundreds of other major media outlets all around the world.