Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Eliverto Larios | The 56th Army Band was presented a certificate of appreciation for the chemical,...... read more read more
Subscribe
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - A significant danger to any nation is the threat of a chemical or biological attack. It’s a threat that can harm or kill depending on the agent. Although American troops are equipped to continue the mission in this environment, units sometimes fail to train on or maintain that equipment.
The I Corps chemical office recently implemented a way of recognizing units on Joint Base Lewis-McChord that meet the readiness standards for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear equipment during Command Maintenance Evaluation Training assessments.
“We have re-established the CBRN room award program to reward those Soldiers for outstanding performance in the maintenance of their units’ CBRN equipment,” said Col. Jon Drushal, I Corps chemical officer.
I Corps COMET CBRN operation assessors conduct about 25 evaluations per each quarter on all Corps elements on the installation.
“The teams go and look at different shops through the installation and focus on the maintenance and logistics of the equipment to ensure the Soldiers are trained on the readiness of the equipment,” said David Whitmire, COMET CBRN operations assessor.
During the evaluation, the team focuses on the operation of the equipment, making sure all required paperwork and standard operation procedures are up to date. Failing just one critical tasks can fail the unit’s inspection.
“At the operator level, we make sure the Soldiers are adhering to the standards and that first-line supervisors are checking the equipment and making sure it is to standard,” said Whitmire. “If they are not doing what the technical manual says they are supposed to do, then they are failing the system and affecting their readiness.”
The recognition program is not new to the installation or the Army.
“Most programs in CBRN have not been a priority,” said Drushal. “Right now, readiness is the I Corps commander’s number one priority, and that includes CBRN.”
The team also acknowledges a unit’s CBRN personnel do not have to be a CBRN military occupational specialty.
“There are a good number of units that have it as an additional duty; it doesn’t always have to be a CBRN specialist,” said Whitmire.
The 56th Army Band has proved this to be true by receiving the first quarterly award.
“They are extremely busy during the holiday season,” said Whitmire. “They followed the systems that they have in place: Their command guidance, their standard operating procedures and their regulations. They have a plan, and they executed it.”
The group said I Corps does offer resources to help out. They provide a number of online resources and also have a two-week class Soldiers can attend on base.
Drushal also encourages units to apply CBRN into their training. It is another aspect the assessors look for during the inspections.
“During a ruck march or a field training exercise, it’s pretty easy to simulate a chemical attack,” said Drushal. “They don’t need to create a separate special training event just to do it.”
Both Drushal and Whitmire agreed one downfall for some of the units is the lack of time Soldiers have to perfect the CBRN section.
“When a unit does really well, they go back to forgetting about their system the next time around,” said Whitmire. “Sometimes the systems get overlooked, or they get truncated.”
Whatever the reason may be, Drushal hopes to see different units strive for the award.
“It used to be a standard practice that you saw around the Army,” he said. “The band winning this just proves that anybody, given the right leadership and time, can do this.”
| Date Taken: | 01.26.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 01.27.2016 12:37 |
| Story ID: | 187142 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, US |
| Web Views: | 285 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, I Corps chemical office honors top unit, by SFC Eliverto Larios, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT