You know, anytime the U.S. tries to predict its future wars and threats it usually gets it wrong. All thru my short time in the military all you hear is "the cities will be where the fight is" and so forth . Expecting nothing but a MOUT scenario. Well holy shit, there's not too many cities in Afghanistan are there? Kinda like there not being any more wars after WWl, or the Air Force declaring in the 50s that all air to air would be limited to missiles in the future, and that new fighters didn't need guns.
On the battlefield, HE (artillery) is what kills the enemy. Nothing else comes close. And if it doesn't kill him, it keeps him disorganized as hell,unable to fight effectively. And if war happens, this infantryman would like the best arty available covering my ass,not some underranged pre Vietnam system.
It's always nice when we get a pay raise, but I would rather not have it at the expense of equipment. Besides ,Joe's just gonna spend all the extra money on beer anyway.