The 56th Field Artillery Command was a brigade size element of the United States Army. The unit was constituted in 1942 with the last period of active service being 1970 through 1991. It was the only unit to field the nuclear Pershing missile system. This unique mission required an almost "Super Brigade" status which the Army accommodated in several regards. Their inactivation in June 1991 was in some measure a consequence of their own success. The culmination of their duties was to act, as directed, in accordance with the INF Treaty, as the United States eliminated her intermediate range nuclear forces. The Command also provided some personnel to participate in supervising the Soviets as they upheld their agreements as well. Fifteen systems were exempted by the INF Treaty, made inoperable, and authorized for historical reference, such as a museum display. The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution exhibits such a display, for example.
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Famous quotes containing the words field, artillery and/or command:
“And they wonder, as waiting the long years through
In the dust of that little chair,
What has become of our Little Boy Blue,
Since he kissed them and put them there.”
—Eugene Field (1850–1895)
“Another success is the post-office, with its educating energy augmented by cheapness and guarded by a certain religious sentiment in mankind; so that the power of a wafer or a drop of wax or gluten to guard a letter, as it flies over sea over land and comes to its address as if a battalion of artillery brought it, I look upon as a fine meter of civilization.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The Modernist’s command was Pound’s “Make it New.” The postmodern imperative is “Get it Used.” The more used the better.”
—Andrei Codrescu (b. 1946)