Air Defense Artillery School Case Study

The mission of the Air Defense Artillery School is to meet the needs of Army, joint, and coalition commanders. The School leads an innovative and forward-thinking fires enterprise that provides the nation with the world's best trained, organized, and equipped soldiers and units led by adaptive and resilient leaders; develops and deploys field artillery and air defense artillery capabilities required for full spectrum operations to support current operational needs; and develops and integrates capabilities for future force warfighting concepts. These missions are achieved through engagement and world class joint and coalition exportable training.

The US Army Air Defense Artillery School (USAADASCH) established at Fort Bliss, Texas, as the home of air defense leadership and technical training. The School traced its lineage to the Artillery School for Instruction. This school, the oldest service school in the Army, laid the foundation for the subsequent system of military education in the Army. By the early 2000s, USAADASCH was one of some 40 centers, schools, and activities in the US Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). Under the functional oversight
of the Combined Arms Command (CAC), USAADASCH served as the center of excellence for all aspects of Army air and missile defense.

The USAADASCH mission at that time was to develop challenging training programs for both US and Allied personnel that would produce leaders who were technically and tactically proficient; and provide ADA units with fightable doctrine, organizations structured to support the full range of Army operations, and superior weapon systems enabling them to achieve decisive victory with minimum casualties. To achieve this mission and to support US forces worldwide, USAADASCH identified the following mission essential task list items, keyed to the TRADOC domains of Doctrine, Training, Leader Development, Organization, Materiel, and Soldiers.

The primary organizations within USAADASCH were the Directorate of Combat Developments (DCD); the Directorate of Tactics, Training and Doctrine (DOTTD); the Office of the Chief of Air Defense Artillery (OCADA); the Directorate of Total Force Integration (DTFI); 6th Air Defense Artillery Brigade; TRADOC System Manager - Theater Missile Defense (TSM-TMD); TRADOC System Manager - Short Range Air Defense (TSM-SHORAD); and the Management Support Office (MSO).
The standard pattern of organizational structure for USAADASCH was the directorate or command, the division or battalion, the branch or battery, and the section. In addition, "office" was an integral part of the organization, denoting staff elements that perform a special function or provide advice and assistance in connection with administration and
operations.

Officers commissioned in the Air Defense Artillery started their careers with attendance at the Air Defense Artillery Officer Basic Course at the USAADASCH. During this 20-week course they were prepared for their first duty assignments and became familiar with the family of air defense weapons and their tactical employment. Based on needs of the Army and their personal preference, student officers were either trained in forward area air defense systems (FAADS), which would maneuver with tactical ground units, or specialized in high- to medium range- (HIMAD) missile systems, which would defend division, corps, theater, and geopolitical assets.

The Officer Basic Course was designed to provide the newly commissioned Air Defense Lieutenant the tactical and technical skills he or she needed to assume control of a platoon sized element and prepare it to fight America's battles. The course was broken down into a common core phase and a weapon track phase. Students would attend either the SHORAD course or the Patriot course upon successful completion of the common core phase. The Common Core phase had 4 distinct segments. The Core 1A segment taught the Lieutenant skills on Military Graphics, terminology, and Organi