By MG Howard B. Bromberg, Chief of Air Defense Artillery

Soldiers from Launcher Platoon, C Battery, 6th Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery (C/6-52 ADA), run down range after hearing the horn signaling the start of a drill during a mission rehearsal exercise on 10 February, Fort Sill, Oklahoma. (Photo by SGT Scott E. Smith, 6-52 ADA)

The Air Defense Artillery (ADA) Soldiers of past and present have plotted the course of ADA—from the Cold War to watching the skies over Korea and to keeping our troops safe on the battlefields of the Middle East. Your efforts have saved lives and made our world a safer place.

It is a great time to serve as an ADA Soldier, and I am honored to have the privilege of serving as the Chief and Commandant of such an illustrious branch. I am very proud of what our Branch accomplished during the last year and is preparing to accomplish throughout the current year. Your contributions are enormously important as we continue to provide our Army and nation with the best air and missile defense (AMD) capabilities.

ADA is on the verge of dramatic change not seen since the early 1940s when the US Army introduced missiles and radars to the anti-aircraft mission. Undertaking change of this magnitude would be a tremendous accomplishment by itself, but doing it while we continue to support the War on Terrorism (WOT) and execute missile defense missions around the globe, is unprecedented.

Command Sergeant Major (CSM) Robert S. Rodgers and I have travelled to almost every ADA unit this past year, and we continue to hear nothing but accolades about ADA accomplishments from senior Army leaders. We are tremendously proud of our Soldiers, NCOs and officers. On behalf of every senior leader in ADA—thank you for what you and your families have accomplished. Air Defenders always have been flexible, comfortable with decentralized execution and possessed with tremendous initiative. These attributes serve our Army and our Branch very well today and will continue to serve the Army well into the future.

The Move. Final preparations for the move of the US Army Air Defense Artillery School (USAADASCH) from Fort Bliss, Texas, to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, seemed to take center stage in 2008. In short, preparations are complete, and we are ready for execution. Although ADA will leave part of our 40-year legacy at Fort Bliss, plans for moving courses, instructors, students and equipment are complete and have been rehearsed. Thousands of museum memorabilia pieces are catalogued, packaged and ready to go. Our “Torch Party” and advanced echelon from USAADASCH has begun the move to Fort Sill and is assimilating into an integral part of the Fires Center of Excellence (CoE). By the summer of 2009, the main body will follow and relocate to Oklahoma.

The CSM and I can report, if you are going to Fort Sill, you are going to be very impressed with what you find there. The local area around Fort Sill is growing quickly, and it will be an excellent location for ADA’s new home. The community outside the gates, Lawton, is the third largest city in Oklahoma and is growing while maintaining the country charm of small town living—where your new neighbors soon become your best friends. There is a lot to do, it is a beautiful area, and the community has excellent schools, job opportunities and an affordable cost of living. I am confidant you will find it a great place to call home and a wonderful place to bring your family.

The facilities under construction for USAADASCH are second to none. Thanks to the hard work and diligence of the Fort Sill leadership, our new buildings and facilities are on track and look magnificent. The Air Defense School will occupy the most modern and state-of-the-art training facilities. The three general instruction facilities will offer the most modern classrooms in Army history. We will be able to conduct training in ways we have never been able to do at Fort Bliss. For example, all classrooms will be networked, allowing instructors to present instruction or command information simultaneously to all classrooms at once. However, all of the facility improvements are only a small part of the changes and improvements that our Branch is about to undergo.

Transition. We are preparing to field three, potentially four weapons systems within the next four to seven years, beginning a new era of unprecedented fires capabilities. We never have fielded three weapon systems simultaneously in the Branch, nor do I believe has any branch in the Army. If you consider the depth of development, testing and training each system requires, this fielding is unbelievably fast. And our innovation is tied into what we learn from Air Defenders on the ground. Your lessons learned are key to developing superior fires capabilities and are essential to establishing the Fires CoE at Fort Sill.

Of course, there are some growing pains inherent to the transition, but we are moving on to better times. Reuniting the Artillery Branches—not as one, but rather geographically, so we can train side by side—will increase our effectiveness to the force. Establishing the Fires CoE will bring greater synergy to the Branches. Together, they will attain better airspace management and do an even better job of defending our forces and going on the offensive. We must align our defensive and offensive fires so we can continue to defeat all adversaries.

One challenge we see approaching is the need for cultural change within the Branches, and the leaders of ADA and Field Artillery (FA) are coordinating very closely to find better ways of working together. We have to overcome these challenges by learning about the missions, capabilities and limitations of both branches. We need to explore ways we can work together to capitalize on our strengths and do it in an atmosphere of respect for each other’s contributions.

I know Air Defenders can adapt to those cultural changes because in our 40 years as a branch we already have had to adapt to meet the changing threat. As a branch, we are moving fast, bringing technologies to the battlefield far sooner than initially planned.

Your hard work, dedication and your efforts in theater are helping to build a stronger ADA Branch and guiding our Branch into the future. It is an extremely exciting, pivotal time for ADA. We are in the midst of transforming our weapons systems, our training and our organization so we can remain an integral and relevant part of the current and future force.

New Technologies. The Army is strongly and firmly committed to providing our nation with a robust AMD capability and has invested billions of dollars into the missile defense mission area (spread over the next several years). This includes developing new weapon systems, new technologies and new capabilities. Starting in 2009 and continuing over the next three years, our Branch will field tremendous new capabilities.

This August, we will begin testing Surface-Launched Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (SLAMRAAM) and will field the first unit in fiscal year 2011 (FY11). Our engagement range against targets with small radar cross sections will increase by more than 400 percent. At the same time, we are developing a comprehensive training strategy that will provide our Soldiers with 21st century training devices.

After all the projected transformations are implemented, ADA forces will have cutting-edge shooters like Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), SLAMRAAM and Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. Lessons learned from WOT are being integrated into every piece of our new systems and sensors, like the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS), Multi-Mission Radar (MR), Forward Based X-Band-Transportable (FBX-T) radar system and battle command. We are heading toward having the firing capabilities of 16 active Army composite battalions, one SLAMRAAM battalion and six Army National Guard SLAMRAAM battalions.

The THAAD modified table of organization and equipment has been approved, and Soldiers already are being assigned to A Battery, 4th ADA Regiment (A/4 ADA), 11th ADA Brigade, 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command (AAMDC). Our second THAAD battery, A/2 ADA, 11th ADA Brigade, 32nd AAMDC, will activate in FY10.

Accomplishments. Our congratulations go out to you great men and women who are cementing the already outstanding reputation of ADA for the future. Everywhere you look ADA Soldiers are accomplishing amazing feats, such as the following contributions accomplished during 2008.

In the Pacific, the 94th AAMDC is leading the way by building our current and future AMD capabilities. The command has moved forward with building stronger coalitions and joint capabilities throughout the region.

The 35th ADA Brigade continues its superb partnership with the Republic of Korea, as our allies begin to procure and field its first Patriot units. Members of the brigade participated in two major joint/combined training exercises (Ulchi Freedom Guardian and Key Resolve), conducting kill-chain operations using fiber optics that enable centralized command and control. They also conducted relief-in-place/transfer of authority from 1-7 ADA to 3-2 ADA in May and from 1-44 ADA to 4-5 ADA in October, while sustaining a transparent, seamless 24/7 theater missile defense capability to the US Forces, Korea commander.

At Fort Bliss, the 32nd AAMDC continues to support multiple combatant commanders, meeting both planning and current operational needs in the European Command and Central Command (CENTCOM) areas of responsibility. Also, as the senior AMD command in the US Army Forces Command, 32nd AAMDC is the driver for all Army Force Generation actions.

The 11th ADA Brigade continues to support CENTCOM with Counter-Rocket, -Artillery and -Mortar (C-RAM) sense and warn capabilities and Patriot forces deployed in support of OIF and OEF. This continual presence ensures our historic mission of providing a credible deterrent. Supporting the division and brigade combat team commanders’ sense and warning needs solidifies ADA’s reputation across the Army. The 11th ADA Brigade deployed three battalions and almost 2,000 Soldiers and Sailors to six different CENTCOM countries in support of OIF and OEF. Their mission set includes Patriot missile defense, C-RAM, airspace management and combat patrols. The brigade also redeployed three Patriot battalions and helped in the relocation of one battalion to Fort Hood, Texas, and one to Fort Sill.

Outstanding leadership is proven once again, as the 108th ADA Brigade manned, trained, equipped, validated and deployed two battalions in support of OIF. Currently, 2-44 ADA is executing a 12-month C-RAM and Security Escort/Detainee Holding Operations mission, and 3-4 ADA (battalion minus) is executing a 15-month nonstandard mission for Detainee Operations. The brigade executed both 1-7 ADA’s (Tactical Control System) redeployment from Korea to Fort Bliss and immediately restationed the battalion (equipment and people) from Fort Bliss to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, completing its reception and integration in late summer.

The 69th ADA Brigade, after completing its historic relocation to Fort Hood from Germany, builds AMD combat forces and supports rotating forces both in the Pacific and CENTCOM areas of responsibility.

The 6th ADA Brigade, “the heart of the branch,” continues to deliver the best trained Advanced Individual Training graduates in our Army—no easy task in the midst of conducting the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) move to Fort Sill, while supporting our Army at war.

The 31st ADA Brigade has completed its BRAC move from Fort Bliss to Fort Sill. The great 31st team is paving the way for the arrival of other ADA Soldiers to Fort Sill with high standards and superb team work with our FA brothers.

The 357th AMD Task Force continues to participate in exercises with NATO members and other partners. Most recently it supported combat skills training as part of Joint Task Force East in Novo Selo, Bulgaria.

In the midst of a busy year of deployments, redeployments and intense training missions, you—ADA Soldiers—accomplished the standard ADA missions and took on missions beyond your core skills in support of the WOT. Air Defenders led Infantry, Armor and Scout elements; patrolled alongside infantrymen; worked with military police; supported detainee and convoy operations; improved our own weapon systems; promoted greater capabilities; exhibited unmatched fires power; and introduced airspace awareness technology to the battlefield.

People. There is no question ADA has a strong team and a great reputation. The best part of my job is having the opportunity to get out and meet the Soldiers who make up our Branch and our great Army. Occasionally, I even get to meet the spouses and other family members who support you through it all. Deployments are never easy, and your generation of Soldiers has been asked to carry the burden of seven years of war; and you have done it with honor and at great personal sacrifice.

NCOs. In “The Year of the NCO,” it is enormously important that we recognize the importance of our NCOs—their mission, their ability to lead and their direct impact on Soldiers.

Secretary of the Army Preston M. “Pete” Geren said this about NCOs, “At the front of every Army mission in the United States or overseas, you’ll find a noncommissioned officer. They know their mission, they know their equipment, but most importantly, they know their Soldiers. If you want to see what right looks like, ask an NCO. Or better yet, watch an NCO. They are the keepers of our standards.”

There is no doubt about it—I have seen the power of ADA NCOs everywhere—you represent the very best. It is exciting to see NCOs being acknowledged for what you do and recognized for the tremendous amount of responsibility you take on for the welfare of your/our Soldiers. You are leading at a time of enormous change and multiple demands, both within the Army and in ADA. We stand proud with you and look to your individual unit websites to read about your accomplishments.

Soldiers and Families. You, as Air Defenders, make a difference in keeping ADA a vital part of the force. During the past year, you made significant strides with smooth restationing from one part of the world to another—from Germany to Fort Hood and Fort Sill; from Fort Bliss to Fort Bragg and Fort Sill; numerous deployments to Southeast and Southwest Asia; as well as support of Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Enduring Freedom (OEF).

As hard as a deployment is on a Soldier, it is just as hard or harder for the families who are waiting at home, acting as both mom and dad for the kids, waiting for the phones to ring and praying for their Soldier’s safety every day. The unwavering support and strength you give to our troops keeps them focused and battle ready.

In ADA, we talk a lot about weapons systems and fires capabilities, but we all know that the Branch is not great because of missiles, launchers or radars—it is our people who make us great. Hard working, dedicated people who never fail to fulfill the mission, take on new challenges. Many people have devoted their life’s work to ADA—Soldiers, families, volunteers, civilians and contractors—and it took all of them to make ADA great. They are selfless servants of our nation and Army, and we are indebted to them for the proud history and the bright future of our branch.

The CSM and I are confident that as we move forward into the next chapter, our Branch will remain the pinnacle of the world’s Air Defense forces. Keep up the great work. You make ADA a vital part of the force. We are “Air Defense Artillery Strong,” and that makes us Army Strong.

First to Fire!