Cannon Corner June 2008

CannonArtillery.com caught up with Sgt. First Class (SFC) Robert M. Castillo at the 2008 Fires Seminar in Fort Sill on June 3. SFC Castillo recently returned from his fourth tour in Iraq where he served as the Multi-National Corps-Iraq (MNC-I) Counter Rocket Artillery Mortar (C-RAM) NCOIC for III Corps Artillery. Hear SFC Castillo give a shout-out to his buddies who are still overseas and discuss with CannonArtillery.com the important role III Corps Artillery played by firing more than 70,000 rounds in support of operations across Iraq.

CannonArtillery.com: Sgt., Why don’t you tell us a little about what your experience was over in Iraq. I know you guys fired a bunch of rounds. I know you’ve had several tours yourself over there but just talk a little about what artillery has meant to the current fight and what your experience was over there.

SFC Robert M. Castillo: Well I think that overall the Corps shot well over 78,000 rounds and what I saw this time that I didn’t see in the past was the freedom to shoot artillery back at the enemy. What we really did was we concentrated on using our fire support skills and our technical data and computations and went through the process of; is artillery the best thing to shoot at the time? And I think that we learned from, from my experience, is that integration of this C-RAM thing – the Counter-Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar program. It gave us the ability to clarify our fires a little bit quicker. But at the same time it meshed what we are doing now, the artillery and the ADA that we use together. They brought the innovation of the sensors which gave us a lot less false targets. And overall I thought we did a very good job as a Corps shooting. I thought we did a great job of integrating the Excalibur and using GMLRS and, it boils down to soldiers in those hot platoons doing the right thing every time. And making sure we have the fire requirements correct and then making the call to shoot back. Overall it really goes back to the leadership. I think (Lt.) General Odierno as an artillery guy really understood what we brought to the fight and he was able to articulate to the higher levels what we could do and what we couldn’t do. And I really think overall we made a tremendous impact which we have not seen in the past. The integration of these new technologies, the Excalibur most specially, is a force multiplier. We can hit now where we say we are going to hit. It was a good experience I think, good artillerymen. The first few months of 07 were probably the largest indirect fire fight that we have had.The enemy was shooting a lot at us, we shot a lot back and because we did that, we saw a lot of success.

CannonArtillery.com: In what areas was III Corps involved? When you say you were doing a lot of firing and they were firing back and counter fire, where exactly were you guys doing those operations and what impact did they have on those specific operations?

SFC Robert M. Castillo: Well I think what we did was a lot more really tied our plan with regular patrols, so, I can’t really name specifically what areas we went to. The Baghdad area we improved, we shot around. I think down south we made some really good strides but overall I would say that the real success story was in Baghdad and then out west. What they did out west was they shot back. Every time that they shot at us the Marines said we are going to shoot back at you and that was our guys and Marines shooting artillery back at them and it made the enemy change. There were some other things we’ve done to assure them we were there for them but a lot of it had to do with us shooting back. The success the vehicle had was, as I said, we were helping out, well the leadership of at III Corps was not tying the hands at the division level. They were telling us we had to shoot and there were many people saying “we want to shoot, we want to shoot and we’re going to do whatever it takes to make sure that our guys can shoot back.” And that’s what the Corps did. At the end it goes back to direction of our Sergeant, the platoon and our line doing the right thing because we could turn and say “I am going to shoot and I am going to hit it where I said I am going to hit it”. And that is what success is about. It was just a mandate that clearly said we are going to shoot.

CannonArtillery.com: Now comment a little about how artillerymen pride themselves in being excellent in what they do. Just comment a little bit about how your men performed over there, what guns they were using and how they and their technology performed.

SFC Robert M. Castillo: My guys were ADA guys. I had the FOBs (Forward Operating Bases). What my guys did was worked very closely with the field artillery general parts of each FOB, and so there were some FOBs that we were shooting Paladin, there were some FOBs that we were shooting GMLRS. And there were some light guns and mortars that we were shooting. So when I talk about my guys, what we were doing is the C-RAM. Guys were mixing with the artillery service and we were together, because we were integrated, we had the ability to shoot more. And so at every FOB my guy would look at the field artillery guy and say, "here is what I bring to the table." And then in turn they would say "well I need that, you know I need those sensors."

It was really a big step for us as a fires center of excellence, that was a huge step for us, this program was because it integrated what we are trying to do with the ADA. We are going to mix them together. We are going to be together. We are going to be one and that was the starting for us. It’s a good start. It’s not the end all be all but it’s a good start and I am an FA guy and my Soldiers were all ADA Soldiers and it took both of us to make this successful. If you look at what we did as a Corps, that was important. This integration of FA and ADA down at the section level to shoot cannon fire was a phenomenal step for us as a Fires Center of Excellence.

CannonArtillery.com: I know you probably still have some friends and comrades still over in Iraq right now in the artillery branch. For those listening in at CannonArtillery.com, anything you want to say to those guys over there?

SFC Robert M. Castillo: Well I think most of us are always here to do the right thing. I wish them a lot of luck and I can tell you that we here are thinking about you and we are trying to make it better. Things like this that you are doing, you here, are kind of a tribute to what they are doing in theater. Just the fact that you are talking to guys that have had experience, and they ought to do the same. We need articles written, we need all those things done and we need them to come back and want to work in the schoolhouse. That’s where we are going to make money. God speed, good luck and we'll see you in the high ground.