Welcome to the Fires Center of Excellence
Fires Soldiers and Leaders are prepared to excel in a complex environment and the Lawton-Fort Sill region stands as the "Community of Choice."
1789 – The U.S. Department of State was established (it was formerly known as the Department of Foreign Affairs).
1862 – during a Civil War battle near Harpers Ferry, W.V., 2nd Lt. Frederick Fout rallied the soldiers of his artillery battery to retake their guns, which were ordered abandoned during the battle by his superior officer, to put the guns back into service and continue to fight. The battery continued to fire on the enemy until they surrendered. On Nov. 2, 1896, Fout received the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions.
1862 - The Confederate army captured 73 pieces of artillery from the Union army at the battle of Harpers Ferry, but they would not be organized into batteries in time for the battle at Antietam (Sept. 17, 1862).
1911 - The School of Fire for Field Artillery opened its doors to its first class of officers. Capt. Dan T. Moore as its first commandant.
1989 - Maj. Gen. Raphael J. Hallada, Field Artillery School commandant, advised TRADOC that taking 75 of the 81 OH-58D Observer Helicopters away from the field artillery “would seriously degrade the division commander’s ability to acquire and engage the enemy with indirect fires and maintain a current intelligence picture of the enemy situation.”
