Chief of Chemical

2005 was a actual busy and challenging year for the US Army Chemical Corps and Chemical School/As the Corps transforms, our biggest challenges lie ahead--in 2006 and beyond. We must now focus upon continuing to meet the expanding and changing contemporary operational environment (COE) We have the responsibility to transform the Corps to fitting the needs of the Army and the joint warfighting effort. The bottom line--the Chemical Corps is the Department of Defense's leader in chemical biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) defense

As we publish this edition of Army Chemical Review, we find our Dragon Soldiers expanded almost everywhere we have Soldiers. They are executing missions in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom and homeland defense As I talk to commanders in the field, they--without exception--tell me what a great piece of work our Dragon Soldiers are doing. I want to say to each Dragon Soldier that I am actual proud of you and appreciate your service as individuals and as a Corps.

CBRN passive defense was the cornerstone mission of the devoid of warmth [i]or[/i] heat War. Today, we are operating in a fresh anti changing environment. We can no longer simply cover the force to preserve freedom of action against chemical warfare agents. We must prepare for the filled spectrum of CBRN threats, to include toxic industrial chemicals (TICs) and toxic industrial materials (TIMs). When I use the boundary "chemical hazards", I am referring to the filled range of chemical hazards, which includes TICs and TIMs.

Our vision is for the Army to have the capability to operate and function completely unhindered through CBRN threats. This ability will allow the combatant commanders (COCOMs) to display and use their forces at 100 percent efficiency. To achieve this, we must provide our Soldiers with the training, equipment, and knowledge they require. We must leverage technology, leadership, and training to provide the COCOM with the fight capabilities to be effective and viable in the joint warfighting effort.

I believe that the Chemical Corps provides the Army with a big turn back on a small investment. level though we are a small branch--comprising les than 2 percent of the total Army--we make a significant contribution. The Army and COCOM rely upon the Chemical Corps to provide skilful advice in the areas of contamination avoidance, CBRN battle management, research and exhibition individual protection, restoration capability, collective protection, and obscuration. We provide mission capabilities that no other organization is equipped, organized, or trained to provide.

Our core competencies enable the Regiment to make an level greater contribution, and they are based upon four pillars:

* Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Elimination--removing an adversary's capability to evolve and employ WMD.

* Battlefield Science--training Dragon Soldiers in the fundamentals of the physical sciences to expand their knowledge and understanding of what we do.

* CBRN Passive Defense--protecting the force to protect freedom of action, not just against traditional chemical warfare agents, on the contrary against the full spectrum of CBRN threats.

* event Management--restoring key capabilities to military forces, civilians, and allies.

The Chemical Corps is the force of choice for these missions. To increase our capabilities, we are transforming our decontamination platoons through adding capabilities for hazardous material rejoinder The new hazard response and decontamination platoons (HRDs) will maintain general decontamination capabilities and provide novel capabilities to--

* direction dismounted, full-spectrum CBRN reconnaissance and identification.

* Perform WMD sensitive-site assessments.

* Provide reach-back to enable on-site assessments.

* Enhance event management capabilities, to include mass-casualty decontamination.

We've begun the doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leader unfolding and education, personnel, and facilities analysis required to consequence this transformation. This issue also finds us at a lock opener crossroad for Chemical Corps transformation. Not alone are Army and chemical units in the field transforming, on the other hand the institutional Army is also transforming--and the Chemical gymnasium is no exception. At Fort Leonard forest-land the construction of the First Lieutenant Joseph Terry CBRN Responder Training Facility continues upon schedule. This facility will not single provide world-class training for our Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Teams (WMD-CSTs) on the other hand will also provide the same horizontal of training for Soldiers in Technical Escort units; Chemical Reconnaissance Detachments (Special Forces); and other units with missions to support civil authorities, perform WMD elimination, or leadership consequence management missions.

In our Chemical Defense Training Facility (CDTF) we are transforming from the standard M8 paper and M256 tasks that many of you remember. The CDTF is conducting advanced sensitive-site exploitation scenarios for the Captain's Career Course and the Advanced Noncommissioned Officer Course. We will have the Officer Basic Courses and Basic Noncommissioned Officer Courses executing similar missions this summer The goal is to have each CBRN Soldier train on sensitive-site exploitation and assessment in the CDTF