Divarty: Restoring Higher-Quality Field Artillery to the U.S. Army

Although the Field Artillery branch has demonstrated competence and effectiveness in a diverse mission set, the expertise came at a cost. The Field Artillery branch has seen the atrophy of its core competencies due to modularization, in-lieu missions, and counterinsurgency operations. To reverse the negative trends in the fires warfighting function, the US Army returned DIVARTY into the Armys force structure and organization design. The implementation of the DIVARTY allows for the execution of operational and tactical-level fires in support of Unified Land Operations (ULO) and provides mission command for the training and readiness of attached FA units. A key aspect of the implementation order is the ownership of command authority and the funding of attached BCT FA battalions. Currently, the parts of the implementation order have been rescinded, suspending the attachment of FORSCOM BCT FA BNs to several divisions and abolishing the transfer of command authority to the DIVARTY commander. These actions have stalled progress in reversing negative trends seen in the fires warfighting function. As the Army looks to increase its readiness, US Army must standardize the implementation of DIVARTY across the force with full command authority given to DIVARTY commanders over attached BCT FA battalions.