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/759309
Chief of Chemical and Commandant, U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear School Army Chemical Review 2 I assumed command of the U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nu- clear School (USACBRNS) during a change of command ceremony on 26 May 2016. I'm indeed honored to serve as the 29th Chief of Chemical. This would not have been pos- sible without the training and mentoring that I received from many commissioned and noncommissioned officers throughout my career—too many to name individually. To all of them I say, "Thank you. I'm extremely grateful." I would also like to thank Brigadier General Maria R. Gervais for her leadership. While she was Commandant, USACBRNS expanded existing credentialing opportuni- ties. These opportunities include an associate emergency manager certification made available through partnership with the International Association of Emergency Man- agers. Additionally, Brigadier General Gervais' strategic vision enabled the school to implement a 14-week Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Warrant Officer Basic Course; complete the first Warrant Officer Advanced Course; complete a force design update; and field state-of-the-art CBRN technologies (nuclear, chemical, and biological reconnaissance vehicle [NBCRV]; dismounted reconnaissance sets, kits, and outfits), which led to the most evolutionary changes to the Regiment in the past 30 years. In keeping with the evolutionary innovations started by Brigadier General Gervais, I am excited to announce the following initiatives that our Regiment will be executing through the lens of the U.S. Special Operations Command, the Maneuver Center of Excellence, the 20th CBRNE Command, and the U.S. Northern Command to increase readiness as defined by the four pillars of manning, equipping, training, and leader development. In the coming years, we will continue to remain focused on providing world-class CBRN capabilities to our joint warfighting community, our regional allies, and our Nation. The initiatives are broken down by doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, facili- ties, and policy (DOTMLPF-P): y (D) Army Techniques Publication (ATP) 3-90.40, Co bined Ar s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, is being developed to answer the need from the field for doctrine that improves the interoperability of maneuver forces and enablers while validating the combined arms approach to countering weapons of mass destruction (CWMD) missions. ATP 3-90.40 will provide tactical-level commanders, staffs, and key agencies with a primary reference for planning, synchronizing, integrating, and executing combined arms CWMD operations. In order to integrate current doctrine, lessons learned, and new concepts, a team of writers from the Maneuver Center of Excellence, the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence, the Intelligence Center of Excellence, the Fires Center of Excellence, the U.S. Army Nuclear and Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction Agency, and the Asymmetric Warfare Group has contributed its expertise to the writing process. A draft was staffed to key stakeholders and subject matter experts in October with the goal of publishing the new doctrine by 2d quarter 2017. y (D) We have an ongoing research and development study (which the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army has approved) on improving the Army CWMD consequence management response capability using a whole-of-government approach to ensure that existing Department of Defense CBRN force structure is effectively and efficiently employed in search of domestic response operations. y (D, T) The Joint Experimentation and Analysis Division, USACBRNS, conducted a tactical decontamination line of effort in April 2016, and results were used to create a 14-step procedure for maneuver forces to conduct extended immediate decontamination in lieu of operational or thorough decontamination. This concept and the associated technology are being submitted and integrated into Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment 2017. y (O, T) In our continued efforts to support our warfighting community, we are engaging with all combat training centers to reestablish the CBRN passive defense capability within the brigade combat team (BCT). This engagement has resulted in a renewed focus on BCTs preparing for the continuity of operations in a CBRN environment, along with the individual equipment and skills required to support those operations. The creation of agile CBRN technical force capability/capacity within an existing organic BCT structure is critical to these efforts. y (O, M) In the coming months, the USACBRNS team will work with the Army staff to review critical CBRN capabilities and requirements through the new Strategic Portfolio Analysis Review (SPAR). The SPAR is a comprehensive, coordinated Brigadier General James E. Bonner