When a military has artillery that can fire miles upon miles, there needs to be those who relay to that artillery team where to aim their weapons. It cannot be a guessing game because there are friendly troops in the field too.
This is what the Army 13F Military Occupational Specialty, Fire Support Specialist is for.
In today’s post, I am going to give an overview of this Army job. I will give you all the information I can on this Army MOS. If you are planning on joining the Army, you will understand if this is the career path you want.
Army 13F Basic Job Description
Basically, the Fire Support Specialist is the intelligence for the Army artillery units.
Army 13F Responsibilities And Duties
The Fire Support Specialist has a long list of responsibilities and duties. Actually, he/she could be asked or ordered to do nearly anything within their unit. These are the primary duties:
- The set up, dismantling and operation of communications systems.
- Encoding and decoding messages.
- Prepares and maintains daily staff journal, fire support situation map, status charts, capability overlay, and other fire support and target processing records.
- Operate laser range finders and target devices.
- Determine target location using computers or manual calculations.
- Maintenance on section vehicles and generators and participate in organizational maintenance of equipment.
- Etc…
Requirements To Become an Army 13F
There are some strict requirements to attain this Army MOS:
- Must be a United States citizen
- Secret security clearance
- PULHES 111111
- Physical demands rating of very heavy
- ASVAB score of 96 in Field Artillery
- Normal color vision
Keep in mind that this Army job will put you in the heat of battle.
Training For The Army 13F
As with all Army soldiers, you will have to first satisfactorily complete Basic Combat Training (BCT). From there you travel to Fort Sill, Oklahoma for 6-10 weeks for Advanced Individual Training (AIT). You will learn the fundamentals of Call-For-Fire techniques as well as general field craft and small unit tactics.
Many 13Fs also attend Airborne training as in many cases they will need to parachute into locations to do their job.
Final Thoughts
While there are not many civilian jobs that call for this type of experience, you will learn many leadership skills that will help you greatly after Army service.
Some of the Additional Skill Identifiers that can help immensely are:
D3—Bradley Fighting Vehicle Operations and Maintenance.
F9—Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFTDS).
J3—Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle (BIFV) System Master Gunner.
L7—Joint Fires Observer.
5A—Joint Air Tactical Operations.
5U—Tactical Air Operations.
We would love to hear from any current or former Army Fire Support Specialists. Please tell our readers more about this Army job.
All comments and questions can be posted below.
Thank you and thanks for your service in the United States Army.
Other posts you may enjoy:
- The Top 10 Army Artillery Shells Of All Time
- Army 13T MOS: Field Artillery Surveyor/Meteorological Crewmember
- Army 13R MOS: Field Artillery Firefinder Radar Operator
- Top 10 Army Field Artillery Units of All Time
Chuck Holmes
Former Army Major (resigned)
Publisher, Part-Time-Commander.com
Email: mrchuckholmes@gmail.com
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Hello to all of you ROCK HARD FISTERS. I hope you are all doing well. If you’re considering taking this job you can expect to really work your ass off. You will be the bastard child of the artillery and the infantry. You will be in the field alot. You will be grilled by your superiors testing your knowledge of the fm 6-30 or whatever they call the new manual. Don’t feel bad if you don’t make it. We’re the smartest idiots on God’s green earth. Also DON’T STEP ON THE THING!
Great comment. Thanks for stopping by.