What are some of the best posts for Field Artillery in the Army? Where does a fresh butter bar want to go out of BOLC and why?

Any place where you have the opportunity to improve your skills in fire support while living with our other combat arms brothers, which has many opportunities to serve on the gun line that actually fires routinely, either for normal operational training or for displays and demonstrations; and of course, if you are providing routine fire support and fires then there is an equal opportunity for improving your skills in fire direction. Over the years every post goes through periods of being a good assignment or a not so good assignment depending on the missions assigned to the resident division(s), commanding generals and support from and to the local community. For me, it was very rewarding to serve in Germany because I was exposed to training opportunities in fire support, gun line and fire direction. Fort Bragg also offered similar opportunities in the 1990's even though my rank and assignment on staff did not allow for as much hands on training. The saving grace was that our commanders understood the importance of consistent training for all and had policies and plans to ensure our (staff) skills in operations did not decline. Fort Sill and Fort Hood offer a multitude of skill building assignments. As a former Brigade S1 responsible for recommending which battalion 2LTs are assigned to, I was very happy when a 2LT called or wrote to tell me which battalion they wanted to be in. Once you are assigned to a post, consider making personal contact with your ultimate assignment person. If the system is similar to what we had in the 90's: if you are assigned to a post, let the Military Personnel Division/Department know which Division you want to be in; once assigned to the Division, let the G1 know which Brigade you want to be in; once assigned to the Brigade let the S1 know which Battalion you want to be in; once assigned to the Battalion let the Battalion Commander and S1 know which task you want to perform first: fire support, gunline, fire direction. At the battalion level there was usually a development process in which 90% of 2LTs were assigned to fire support, then the gunline, then fire direction. Have that conversation with the Battalion Commander, ask what his policy is and let him know what your academic strengths are; for example if you are academically strong in fire direction , let him know that. He might have move a fire direction officer for some reason and maybe the other lieutenants are not ready or available for some reason. Either way, have the conversation before arrival so the battalion and battery commanders can plan for you appropriately. Again, this was valid in the 1990's and I might be far off target now based on organizational restructures and unit professional development assignment policies. I think the advice not to be afraid to talk to your future unit assignment folks is still valid.

Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii

That's your top 3

Not Fort Hood, go to an Airborne unit. Better funding, way more and better quality training, more esprit de corps, more of the soldiers put forth more effort than average soldiers. Airborne school aint hard but it does mean that every soldier there from private to general had to at one point do more than the minimum army requirements to get there.