After being silent for nearly two years, one of 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division's biggest combat assets is back and making an explosive return. Soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment conducted an M-777 155 mm howitzer live-fire range May 20 - the first time the unit has fired the system at Joint Base Lewis-McChord since fielding it in spring 2009.

"Since, I guess, Iraq and Afghanistan have been going on, we really haven't been doing our artillery task or mission," said Sgt. 1st Class John Williams, the platoon sergeant for 1st Platoon, C Battery. "It's always (us going) out on patrols and everything."

As troop draw downs continue overseas, artillery Soldiers can focus more on what they were trained to do - put steel on target.

"Now Soldiers have a chance to learn their job as artilleryman whereas they haven't been because of everything that's being asked of us when we deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan that didn't require the howitzer systems," Williams said. "So this is the opportunity for us to get back to our roots and back to the basics of artillery."

For Sgt. Timothy Morris, who recently became a section chief, this was his first time operating the M-777 howitzer system.

"My section's comprised of a group of young Soldiers, so with me being new and them being fairly new and having to work with it ... I'm drawing from them; they're drawing from me," Morris said. "We're picking it up as we go along so we can grow together and we can get everything down pat like it should be."

Experienced with the M-109A6 Paladin 155 mm howitzer, Morris found the M-777 howitzer familiar in many ways.

"(An M-777 howitzer) has the same capabilities as a Paladin," Morris said. "I'm just trying to compare the two and get used to the (M-777 howitzer)."

The Paladin is a tracked vehicle with the howitzer system on top that fires 155 mm rounds. It is considered self-propelled because it does not need to be towed around like the M-777 howitzer.

However, Soldiers in 2-12 FA learned on their unit's most recent deployment to Iraq in 2009 to 2010, that lethal rounds weren't the only thing their artillery pieces were good for.

Sergeant Adam Decker, an ammunition chief with C Btry., was with the brigade then and knew of another battery in the battalion that used their howitzers as nonlethal enablers.

"They shot at (Joint Security Station Nasir Wa Salaam) for a few months," Decker said, explaining that they fired illumination rounds to enable friendly ground forces to see at night.

Decker said it's a good thing they're back on their guns.

"The more training we have and the more knowledge we know throughout our career in the Army, the better off were going to be," Decker said. "The more training we have, the faster we'll be ready for combat."

Through personal experience, Decker understands the importance of training on the howitzer system and taking the time to get reacquainted with it.

"By the time I got back on this gun, it's been three years later," Decker said. "I pretty much had to learn artillery again because I haven't done it in so long."

With the Soldiers in the battalion getting back to their core competencies, they are slowly returning to full-spectrum operations and confidently sending a message from the field artillery world.

"It shows not only the enemy, but the rest of the military ... that after everything that's going on, artillery will always be here," Williams said. "We will be there as support ... and that we're here to get the mission done."