History of Field Artillery magazine: pointing the way to the future.

The following is the history of the professional magazine for Army and Marine Field Artillerymen from the first edition, January-March 1911, to this final March-April 2007 edition. The article is written in two overlapping parts: (1.) 1911 through 1987 taken from information written by then Major David T. Zabecki for the Military Periodicals: United States and Selected International Journals and Newspapers published by Greenwood Press in 1990. (1) and (2.) 1987 through 2007 by Patrecia Slayden Hollis, Managing Editor from 1987 to 1995 and Editor from 1995 to the present.

Editor

The first edition of the current Field Artillery, subtitled A Joint Magazine for US Field Artillerymen, was January-March 1911 under the title The Field Artillery Journal, affectionately referred to as "FAJ." The publication and parent organization, the US Army Field Artillery Association (USAFAA), were the consequences of the Artillery Reorganization Act of 1907, which split the US Army's Artillery into the separate branches of Field Artillery and Coast Artillery. Both the association and the FAJ were the idea of Captain (later Major General) William J. Snow, who saw a need for some vehicle through which the relatively tiny new branch (only 180 active-duty officers) could develop an identity.

The new association and its journal had three main purposes: to disseminate "professional knowledge," promote "a feeling of interdependence among the different arms and of hearty cooperation by all" and "promote understanding between the regular and militia forces." (2) These purposes remain in the final edition as printed on the inside front cover of this magazine.

The second purpose--what currently is known as "combined arms" thinking--was fairly progressive for its day. But it was in the third purpose that FAJ was a real leader. Relations between Active and Reserve Components of the Army were shaky, at best, prior to World War I. The efforts of the FAJ to include militia participation broke new ground and resulted in favorable comment from other branch association journals. (3)

The first issue of the 1911 FAJ had Snow as the editor. Although only one of the articles in that edition carried his byline, he personally wrote all but two. (4) Between 1911 and 1950, FAJ had 19 editors, all but two of whom held the position on a part-time basis. (See the figure.) Some only served for a few months, but the average tenure during that time was about three years.

Vision for the Future. The early editions of FAJ were influenced heavily by French thought. Quite often, articles translated from French journals outnumbered pieces from American contributors. Prior to World War I, translated German articles also were used heavily.