This is the first Army job I have researched recently where I found no negative comments. The soldier the lieutenant is yelling for is his Platoon Forward Observer (FO). An 82nd Airborne Division platoon FO checking assets available to him, before moving out on a patrol in Iraq. The 82 nd Airborne Division also has the highest morale of any combat division in the Army or the Marines. The 82 nd Airborne Division is the pinnacle of the United States military preparedness, subject to be called, on a moments’ notice, to run into their unit, draw gear, weapons and ammunition, get on a plane and jump into combat, and because of that mission to always be ready, they train and they train and they train. Overall, combat units have higher morale than support units, and the more elite the unit the higher the morale. However, in literally every survey conducted in the Army over the past 50 years, soldiers in combat related jobs are happier than those in support jobs. Some soldiers will love a particular job while others will hate it, we are all different. Most of the jobs, associated with the Army’s primary mission of winning in combat, do not translate to civilian jobs. Some army jobs are also well paying civilian jobs, especially in the medical and information technology fields. When an infantry lieutenant in Afghanistan looks out of his platoon’s night defensive position, at first light, lifts his binoculars and sees about 300 Taliban spread out across the side of the mountain and moving in his direction, he yells “CALL FOR FIRE”! This is about what he means and to whom he is talking. Platoon FO’s have been known to report valuable intelligence information directly to brigade headquarters. In mechanized infantry the FIST team rides in the platoon leader’s vehicle, but during an actual operation, the FIST team will probably be out of the vehicle and in a position to observe terrain and targets. In light infantry, the FIST team moves with the platoon leader. In the field a platoon FO’s boss is the platoon leader. They are assigned to the artillery, but they don’t train and travel with the Artillery, they move with the infantry. The FIST isn’t assigned to that platoon, or that company, or that battalion. In the event a unit finds itself outnumbered or surrounded, the FO is the equalizer, who can make it rain fire and steel on the enemy.
The FO has at his fingertips, not only mortars and artillery, but also, helicopter gunships, Air Force tactical aircraft, and off shore Navy gun boats. Often that FO is the most important asset that Platoon Leader has, because that FO knows every big gun capable of reaching his area of operation, including how fast they can fire, what kind of rounds they have and the effects those rounds have on targets. They are that platoon’s Fire Support Team, called the FIST team. Both are MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) 13F Joint Fire Support Specialist. One is a sergeant forward observer (FO), although often a specialist is in the job, and the other is his or her radio operator. Sometimes it do be like that I guess.When a 40 soldier infantry platoon goes to the field, and always when it goes on an actual combat operation, there are two soldiers attached. I mean would you rather reconcile with the fact that you are dedicating years of your life and subjecting yourself to endless bullshit in order to essentially develop the skill set needed to be a homeless janitor or seek validation of the fantasy that you are some sort of legendary warrior bound for greatness? We always used to say "If you ain't infantry, you ain't shit" and preferred not to dwell on the implication that we were in fact shit. Once the reality of garrison life sets in some will double down and try to identify as something super special (likely something to do with sunk cost fallacy). In retrospect I probably should have picked a desk job where I might have learned some more useful skills, but when enlisting I couldn't pass up the opportunity to (at least potentially) do hooah shit. As a former infantry private who never deployed or did anything particularly high speed I can say that a lot of folks choose combat arms MOS in search of adventure and crazy stories to tell etc.
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