"For a King to be merry, he has to have a Queen" .In the battlefield, if the Infantry is the King, the artillery is the Queen. Without them, grunts would'nt be merry. They may not have the taste of victory.
For the Philippine Army like any other army in the world, it is the artillery that provides the massive firepower to win battles in modern warfare. Philippine Military history is rich in using them. From World War II, to Korea, to the present time. Their officers and men, the artillerymen are the ones that "fight with fires" and have integrate it all. From the 88mm mortar to the 105mm battlefield cannon known as the howitzer. It is they that put "Steel on Target" in the right place, in the right time to decimate the enemy and crumble their defenses. At times, they can be called by beleaguered field commanders for "danger calls", the nigthmare of every artillerymen asked to drop rounds in the company of their comrades as requested. In peacetime, with their gala uniforms, they can be called to sound the 21-gun salute. They are here and there, in war and in peace.
Though the Philippine artillery units are not in the headlines, they have their own share of gallant history. During the Bataan Campaign, Mess Sergeant Jose Calugas of the Philippine Scouts 88th Field Artillery manned an artillery gun after its crew were disabled by enemy fire. Leading his fellow "cooks", they manned a Howitzer and pounded the advancing Japanese stopping them on their tracks and made one of those heroic acts in the Defense of the Philippines. His presence of mind and able leadership during that act earned him the United States Congressional Medal of Honor, personally pinned by General Douglas MacArthur. The only Filipino soldier ever to received such an honor during the Bataan Campaign and the one of the two Filipinos during World War II. In the Korean War, the Philippine Expeditionary Forces to Korea (PEFTOK) artillery unit went to action and in one encounter pounded the Regular Chinese Army with pin point accuracy and by the second. The sounds of their guns were likened to a .30 caliber machine gun which eventually earned them the title " The Machine Gun Artillery" unit. One of those acts that helped turn the tide of the war. Off course , there are also the unheard scenario's on how the artillery units supported the Armed Forces of the Philippines in their campaign against the communist and muslim rebels.
Today, Philippine artillery units are everywhere. Trained in the spawling acre lands of Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija province, probably South East Asia's largest military reservation . They are assigned by battalions to different areas in different infantry units to support combat missions all over the country. Indeed their presence is crucial to such many operations. As mobile battle wagons, they are likened to airborne units sent to places when the their need - their service - arises.
It takes a well trained team of soldiers to send 96-pound shells miles away at 400 meters per second. Its not the punch, the boom, or crash; it is the rumble that moves the earth beneath their feet. The energy of a firing howitzer is unimaginable. "fire mission, fire mission, drop marking rounds at coordinates . . . fire for effect and expedite" are the green lights the excites and overcomes the gun crew until the round goes down the range. Indeed the beauty of their performance are like fireworks in the sky. The beauty in it makes them the Queen of Battle, ever loving and caring to their King - the entire army.
