Artillery chiefs refuse to become irrelevant.

• Position: Washington PULSE - Military combat and David C. Ralston - Brief article

Army officials have worried for some time that many of the troops fighting the insurgency in Iraq are losing their edge in conventional warfare areas such as artillery. A large number of the Army's artillery units have been retrained as military police and truck drivers, so their skills have atrophied. Maj. Gen. David C. Ralston, commander of the Army Field Artillery Center, is said to be alarmed by the fact that artillery units haven't fired a weapon in three years. In an attempt to try to make artillery relevant...