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
53
Winter 2016
By First Lieutenant Don Yoo
T
his past summer, I had the privilege of offering Chem-
ical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN)
Branch briefings to initial-entry cadets at Fort Knox,
Kentucky. The official U.S. Army Reserve Officers' Train-
ing Corps Cadet Summer Training Web site describes cadet
initial-entry training (CIET) as "an intense four-week intro-
duction to Army life and leadership training of the Reserve
Officers' Training Corps."
1
After 3 weeks of grueling train-
ing, cadets have an opportunity to visit with personnel from
branches in which they are interested as they begin to delve
into their future Army careers. Although many of the cadets
who visited the CBRN Branch tent were juniors, there were
also freshmen and sophomores and even cadets enrolled in
master's degree programs.
After numerous visits from schools throughout the coun-
try, I noticed that the cadets lacked information about the
Chemical Corps. Through static displays, videos, and brief-
ings, that lack of knowledge was mitigated. Within the
30 minutes allotted for the CBRN Branch briefing, the ca-
dets watched a video, viewed a Microsoft® PowerPoint pre-
sentation, and walked through a static display of equipment
from the dismounted reconnaissance sets, kits, and outfits. I
believe a more interactive briefing about the CBRN Branch
would attract and ultimately recruit more well-balanced of-
ficer candidates.
Because Army National Guard (ANG) and U.S. Army
Reserve (USAR) prospects are briefed in addition to the
Regular Army prospects, CBRN Branch representatives
from the ANG and USAR would serve as assets in answer-
ing cadets' questions specific to those components. Portions
of the Branch briefing cover civil support team platoon lead-
er opportunities in the USAR. Cadets interested in joining
ANG or USAR were only able to receive simple answers to
these questions due to a lack of firsthand experience from
briefers. Another advantage of adding ANG and USAR rep-
resentatives would be their ability to provide answers for
frequent questions about certifications received during the
CBRN Basic Officer Leader's Course and their relevancy in
the civilian sector. Reserve Component representatives who
use these certifications in the civilian workforce would be a
great asset for helping to answer these questions.
The static displays were a great way to explain the pur-
pose of CBRN equipment and to describe how it works. It
was exciting to see cadets in science-specific majors under-
stand the explanations about how the nuclear, biological,
and radiological reconnaissance vehicle and the Chemical
Biological Mass Spectrometry System work. Realistically
speaking, the cadets are exhausted toward the end of CIET
and a PowerPoint presentation in a hot tent would only ac-
celerate the sleep process. The presentation of a condensed
briefing combined with a demonstration of Soldiers wearing
self-contained breathing apparatus while demonstrating a
site assessment would be a great way to better engage the
cadets and to expose them to what CBRN units actually do.
Conclusion
Every briefing given provided lessons learned. My hope
is that future briefers take note of the cadets' conditions and
environment in order to provide a more engaging and infor-
mative briefing about the Chemical Corps. This is a great
professional development opportunity for junior military
officers to hone their public speaking skills and "sell" the
Chemical Corps. Always keep in mind that the next gen-
eration of Chemical Corps officers is sitting in those seats
listening to that briefing.
Endnote:
1
Reserve Officers' Training Corps, Cadet Initial-Entry
Training Page,