28th Division Artillery (DIVARTY)

Commander: Col. Ellis S. Stokes
Senior Enlisted Advisor: Command Sgt. Maj. Robert M. Poloka

The 28th Division Artillery (DIVARTY) is the force field artillery headquarters for the 28th Infantry Division and establishes the standards of training and certification and advises the division and brigade-level commanders on the employment of fires. DIVARTY provides oversight of training and readiness in order to provide the division commanding general an accurate assessment of the division’s organic fires capabilities, while also serving as the proponent commander for leader development of all fires leaders.

The 28th DIVARTY was established on Sept. 1, 2025, as part of an Army-mandated organization. It assumed the lineage and honors of the the 1st Battalion, 109th Field Artillery Regiment, which was deactivated on Aug. 31, 2025. The 109th's origins can be traced to Oct. 17, 1775, when it was constituted as the 24th Regiment in the Connecticut Militia, operating within Pennsylvania's Wyoming Valley region, a territory then claimed by Connecticut. The unit participated in crucial Revolutionary War campaigns such as Brandywine and Germantown and was one of the units that encamped at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-78.

During the Civil War, the unit fought in the brutal campaigns at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg and the Wilderness. At the Battle of Gettysburg the unit – then designated the 143d Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry – fought at McPhersons Ridge, prevented the flanking of the I Corps and helped cover the withdrawal back through the town on July 1.

In 1917, as the United States entered World War I, the unit was officially designated the 109th Field Artillery Regiment. As part of the 28th Division, the unit deployed to France and saw heavy combat, contributing significantly to major offensives like Oise-Aisne, Ypres-Lys and the Meuse-Argonne. The regiment's legacy of valor continued into World War II, where it once again deployed to Europe with the 28th Infantry Division. The 109th participated in the Normandy landings, the liberation of Northern France, the grueling fighting in the Rhineland and the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes-Alsace. The unit's actions in the Ardennes earned it the Presidential Unit Citation. More recently, elements of the unit have served in the War on Terrorism, including deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.