Field Artillery Tactical Data Systems Specialist
Field Artillery Tactical Data Systems Specialist
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I was thinking a few weeks back at what sort of changes has happened in the 20 years since I was the Lead Personnel working with Raytheon Contractor Rick Plater on the Marine Corps and Army use of the AFATDS.
In 1995, I joined IMEF in the G3 section, and we had just started a new field testing of some computers called AFATDS that the Army had acquired and sent 4 boxes to the IMEF to field test as well. Myself and a few other Marines worked with Rick to test and develop new software and would work with the 13th Marine Reserved Artillery battalion out of Ft Sill as well. Before I got out of the Marine Corps, me and Rick had cowrote an Ops Manual for the AFATDS because before that time frame, there was nothing in writing besides mine and his notes on how to work it.
After a few years, Rick and me were in Kuwait for some joint training missions with all branches and other countries involved as well. The Army's CoC area was directly across from the Marines CoC area and one night, one of the Army's SFC saw me and Rick using our AFATDS talking over the wires to the USS Arleigh Burke, USS Bonhomme Richard, an Air Force AWAC, and a squadron of Apaches coordinating attack patterns and dissemination G2 intel down our AFATDS had received from the IAS intel system. The SFC was stumped and dumbfounded that the AFATDS system could do anything that we were doing. In fact, he showed me their AFATDS system which was sitting back in the corner and literally used as a table for their coffee maker. He told us that their AFATDS was basically kept there as a pretty toy if the General came in and wanted to look around and see a screen with lots of charts and maps sitting still. I received a Navy/Marine Corps Achievement medal for that training mission we did, because I ended up showing the Army guys there how we were working with it and would get calls from them at my unit if they had questions.
Long story short, that was 20+ years back and I was just wondering what exactly happened with the AFATDS. I seen a few posts about 13D, but seeing as that MOS was made after my time in the Corps and even the Army reserves, I was just wondering about the system I spent 7 years of my life helping to field test. Look at it like I'm wondering what my baby has grown to become and if it did actually get used like me and Rick had designed for it to do.
In 1995, I joined IMEF in the G3 section, and we had just started a new field testing of some computers called AFATDS that the Army had acquired and sent 4 boxes to the IMEF to field test as well. Myself and a few other Marines worked with Rick to test and develop new software and would work with the 13th Marine Reserved Artillery battalion out of Ft Sill as well. Before I got out of the Marine Corps, me and Rick had cowrote an Ops Manual for the AFATDS because before that time frame, there was nothing in writing besides mine and his notes on how to work it.
After a few years, Rick and me were in Kuwait for some joint training missions with all branches and other countries involved as well. The Army's CoC area was directly across from the Marines CoC area and one night, one of the Army's SFC saw me and Rick using our AFATDS talking over the wires to the USS Arleigh Burke, USS Bonhomme Richard, an Air Force AWAC, and a squadron of Apaches coordinating attack patterns and dissemination G2 intel down our AFATDS had received from the IAS intel system. The SFC was stumped and dumbfounded that the AFATDS system could do anything that we were doing. In fact, he showed me their AFATDS system which was sitting back in the corner and literally used as a table for their coffee maker. He told us that their AFATDS was basically kept there as a pretty toy if the General came in and wanted to look around and see a screen with lots of charts and maps sitting still. I received a Navy/Marine Corps Achievement medal for that training mission we did, because I ended up showing the Army guys there how we were working with it and would get calls from them at my unit if they had questions.
Long story short, that was 20+ years back and I was just wondering what exactly happened with the AFATDS. I seen a few posts about 13D, but seeing as that MOS was made after my time in the Corps and even the Army reserves, I was just wondering about the system I spent 7 years of my life helping to field test. Look at it like I'm wondering what my baby has grown to become and if it did actually get used like me and Rick had designed for it to do.
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13D: Field Artillery Tactical Data Systems Specialist
13D: Field Artillery Tactical Data Systems Specialist
Posted 3 y ago
Responses: 1
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I would say that it is used bare bones at best. Most of the time our only connectivity was with the howitzers in our section, and occasionally with BN. I recall doing one field problem where BN would send missions to our box. Other than that, it was always us inputting where the FOs were located as we didn't have them digital. Hell we even struggled with receiving MET data at times because a lot of them didn't know how to do it, so we would have to input that as well. The system was good, but not utilized to its full capability.
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