Army Chemical Review presents professional information about Chemical Corps functions related to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, smoke, flame, and civil support operations.
Issue link: https://chemical.epubxp.com/i/141522
Our current situation mirrors that faced by the Army
and the U.S. War Department beginning in the winter of
1918. We would be well served to review the history and
events of the interwar years, from 1920 to 1940, as we
prepare to confront many of the same challenges faced
by our forebears.
The current Army focus for force structure and
operational planning is Army 2020. Staff offcers at
all levels are busily churning out projections and plans
across the force in an attempt to understand the threat
scenarios that we may potentially face throughout the
next 7 years. Others are working to structure the future
force to defeat those threats—and then to resource
that force with properly trained personnel and the This World War I offcer's tunic bears the standard blue and
right equipment to fght and win America's wars. The yellow shield of the CWS and a set of French-made CWS offcer
Chemical Corps will likely continue the struggle to crossed retorts.
ensure that the Army has the right chemical, biological,
Like today, the Army of the interwar years placed renewed
radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) capabilities in the active
emphasis on refning doctrine, making limited investments in
force; properly trained personnel at all levels; and the ability
to surge resources from the Reserve Component in the event new technology, and providing structured training for Army
of contingency requirements. As was the case with Charles personnel. The interwar Army made use of extension courses
Clifford, we will need to rely heavily on our ability to reach to ensure that Reserve Component personnel could access the
out to citizen-Soldiers with the right skills—and to bring them most current training. In spite of the directed mass exodus of
into the Army to support requirements for specifc technical veterans from Active Army service following World War I, the
expertise. We will also need to ensure that those individuals Army created and facilitated personnel management systems
have access to the training necessary for them to retain their that allowed those skilled veterans to return to their civilian
technical and leadership skills while they are out of uniform vocations while remaining linked to their technical military
and pursuing their civilian vocations. Much of that training felds.
will be in the form of distributed learning.
As we juggle the transition ahead, we must learn from our
collective history. We must take a look at the innovative techFollowing World War I, the War Department sought to
rapidly reduce the Active Army from its wartime peak of niques that our predecessors employed to maintain a credible
almost 3.7 million fghting men back to its prewar strength of force in spite of manpower and resource constraints.
about 200,000.4 As the Army executed this massive reduction
in strength and capabilities, the architects of the National
Defense Act of 19205 sought to retain an active military force
that possessed all of the capabilities necessary to respond to
national emergencies. Those who were charged with the Army
restructuring a century ago recognized the need for a complete
Regular Army force that was capable of rapidly acting to defeat
the Nation's enemies and protect critical interests; however,
Army planners rejected the idea of an "expansible Regular
Army." After studying the concept in great detail, the Army
staff could not support the notion of an Active Army force that
was missing key structural elements, such as the supporting
arms and services. Instead, the offcers focused on the three
component structures that we recognize today, with the intent
that—while the Regular Army could independently engage
in combat operations on a smaller scale—it would share the
burden of future, major national emergencies with the Army
National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserves.6 In the same way
that the Army reached out for the CWS Reserves during World
War II, we will need to be able to reach out to Soldiers who
have recently left the Army. We must maintain our existing
connections with those Soldiers and learn to leverage their
combined military and civilian talents in case they are needed
in the future.
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Endnotes:
1
Record for Charles W. Clifford (1917–1918), "World
War I Draft Registration Cards,"