In a Post 9-11 WMD Environment
The world is changing, becoming smaller and more dangerous it seems, and the events of September 11th, 2001, brought a distinct reality crashing down around us. The reality was that we could be hit on the home front, after all. The enemy determined to do so harbors zero concern for the “rules of war” and will stop at nothing to inflict the greatest amount of carnage and casualties possible. As the government and Department of Defense has worked to adapt and respond, there is one Army occupational specialty that has become increasingly relevant. That Army unit is known as Technical Escort (TE). In today’s age, our public officials and military commanders need rapid, real-time surety and assessments of suspected weapons of mass destruction (WMD), toxic and/or poisonous waste, and special material facilities affected by natural disaster. As the battlefield grows ever more asymmetrical, the capabilities TE units can provide will continually become more valuable and pertinent to our nation’s WMD defense. During most of the 20th century, the possibility of an attack on American soil involving WMD seemed unlikely to a majority of United States (U.S.) citizens. Nearly all major conflicts took place a great distance from the continental U.S., with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor being the closest exception geographically. The view that the public, and in large part the armed forces, had of any WMD threat hovered somewhere between ignorance and skepticism. Aside from the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1960s, most of the country felt safeguarded against any category of de...
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...nues to train our best CBRN Soldiers to meet the challenges of tomorrow with confidence and professional expertise.
References
Alibek, K. (1999). Biohazard. New York: Random House, Inc., 281-282
Army, U.S. (2007). FM 3-11.20, Technical Escort Battalion Operations. Washington D.C.: United States., 1-1, 1-2
Cordesman, A. H. (2002). Terrorism, Asymmetric Warfare, and Weapons of Mass Destruction. Westport: Praeger Publishers., 34
Mauroni, A. (2003). Chemical Demilitarization: Public Policy Aspects. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers., 126-128
Mauroni, A. (1998). Chemical-Biological Defense: U.S. Military Policies and Decisions in the Gulf War. Westport: Praeger., 2-3
Mauroni, A. (2006). Where are the WMDs? Annapolis: Naval Institute Press., 101, 152, 156, 230
Zilinskas, R. A. (2005). Encyclopedia of Bioterrorism Defense. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley and Sons, Inc., 41-42
As leaders and fellow soldiers, it is up to us to make sure our soldiers and friends live out our legacy. It is up to us we train them well enough so they are able to train the next war fighter generation and think back how we accomplished the mission.
Porteus-Viana, Liza (2012, May 14 ). Guards WMD CST can respond faster than other federal
During Desert Shield and Desert Storm, European Command (EUCOM) air defense units from 32d Air Defense Command deployed with the mission to provide security for the back door of Iraq from locations in Israel and Turkey. (Global Security) The threat the US and coalition forces faced was Sadaam Hussein’s chemical weapons arsenal. Intelligence suggested that Iraqi Forces filled both chemical and biological payloads to the Scud missiles. (Rostker) The concern was if a warhead would explode, it would release airborne agents on the US and coalition forces. US Commanders had additional concerns. Could Patriot engage the warheads successfully? Patriot capabilities were not for the purpose of the mi...
With the emergence of nuclear weapons, and the threat of atomic annihilation becoming a real outcome of war for the first time, the American public was understandably nervous. In 1950, 61 percent of those polled thought that the United States should use the atom bomb if there was another world war, and 53 percent believed there was a good or fair chance that their community would be bombed in the next war, further nearly three-fourths assumed that American cities would be bombed with atomic weapons. By 1956, nearly two-thirds of those polled believed that in the event of another war that the hydrogen bomb would be used against the United States. American politicians of the age fed off of this fear, and many used it to great effect in their
However, failure to procure any putative weapons of mass destruction in Iraq forced Realist apologists to invoke the concept of “offensive Realism” to explain the Iraq war of 2003. They argued that Iraq’s acquisition of uranium and aluminum tubes posed a “Security Dilemma” to the U.S. and her allies. According to Wheeler and Booth, security Dilemmas...
In 1941, one of the largest American military defeats occurred. An entire naval fleet was destroyed, hundreds were killed, all before nine A.M. on a Sunday morning. The US did not have any knowledge of this attack, mostly because of their own ignorance, partially because of the military strategies of their Japanese opponents. The Japanese attack on the US naval base of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was a classic case of "It will not happen to me!" Although the US suspected the Japanese actions, they were not ready because they believed an attack would never happen on American grounds. Through an examination of military history, tactics and eye witness descriptions, it will be proven that the US had no knowledge of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, but had sufficient warnings from the Japanese and others that an attack was imminent.
According to Elaine Tyler May in her article Security against Democracy: The Legacy of the Cod War at Home, the cold war made an impact on Americans state of mind. During the nuclear arms race, many Americans became paranoid about their own country as well as foreigners . Instead of trying to get rid of this situation and mediating it , America decides to join this race, which only fuels the fire. At the same, American citizens were living their lives in fear everyday. Citizens were preparing themselves in case of an attack, as a result of the government doing nothing to try to protect America. Elaine Tyler May also states that the media back then was only fueling this phobia to grow. For example, the Los Angeles Times showing hypothetical bomb targets if the Soviets were to attack in Los Angeles. Some Americans, who were considering the possibility of a nuclear war, modified their homes into concrete to resist an atomic blast, created backyard bunkers, or even sheltered in their basements. In addition, whether you were for or against the buildup of nuclear weapons, fear would be present.
Chapter 2: Strategic Defense, Phony Facts, & the Creation of the George C. Marshall Institute
During much of the 1930’s and 1940’s, the United States was a fairly isolated nation. While much of Europe and rest of the world were waging war against Germany, the United States kept a fairly pacifist stance and refrained from military involvement (World War II: Isolationist America). Many citizens in the United States feared an intrusion from outside forces, especially after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, which changed t...
The Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Survey Teams find out information on an enemy target in order to defend the country against the threat of CBRN weapons and Weapons of Mass Destruction. The Army has drastically evolved in terms of the Chemical Corp. Today there are multiple units around the world that operate in Survey Teams. The two most popular units in the Chemical Corp are Technical Escort Units and Chemical Reconnaissance Detachments. There is much confusion about what the operations of these two units entail. This research paper will describe what they do as well as discuss the similarities and differences between the two.
I have organized this paper into five distinct sections; mission, task organization, capabilities, limitations, and finally the conclusion. After the reading and comprehension of this paper, you should have gained a basic understanding of the Special Forces (SF) Chemical Reconnaissance Detachments (CRD). The following paper is mixed with Unclassified (UCI) and For Official Use Only (FOUO) information. FOUO is annotated at the beginning of all For Official Use Only information, the rest of the paper is UCI. If you wish to share this information paper with others, please at a minimum; confirm identity of the person prior to providing (FM 380-5, 2000). For further handling instructions please refer to FM 380-5, or contact me, I will gladly answer all questions.
Readiness is of the utmost importance with training being the most significant aspect that contributes to Readiness. Each Soldier needs an individual training plan. The plan should take the Soldier from enlistment to discharge or retirement. It is each Soldiers responsibility to be proficient in their field craft. This includes being fit mentally and physically, and trained to win in a complex world. It is the responsibility of the NCO to train these Soldiers. Unit training plans will address the readiness and resilience of individual Soldiers to ensure their fitness to accomplish their mission. Units must conduct realistic training at the individual, squad, platoon and company levels focused on Mission Essential Tasks (METs) for their
- - -, dir. “Tactical Air Control Party Specialist (TACP).” U.S. Air Force. U.S. Air Force, n.d. Web. 7 Feb. 2012. .
The information that was spread about these weapons also played a big part in the Cold War. Both sides were engaged in an intelligence race in attempts to learn more about the others WMD capabilities. The intelligence community saw a large expansion during this time and still commands a large portion of the instrumental powers. The more intelligence that is obtained the more the United States can analyze potential threats. This can also be used as a deterrent to future attacks and be rolled into diplomacy and
5. A. Woolf, Missile Defense, Arms Control, and Deterrence: A New Strategic Framework (Kindle: Ninety-Nice Cent, 2009) 1-80