You’re a Maneuver Captain, fresh out the Career Course. After showing up to your new battalion/squadron, you meet the Commander, the field grades, and the staff primaries. In your initial counseling, the battalion commander tells you that you’ll be grinding in the 3-Shop (operations) while you wait out the queue for a company command. The Battalion Operations Officer briefs you on expectations, and your roles and responsibilities. Then she drops a bomb on you; “Oh yeah, you’re also in charge of the Chemo.” You smile and nod while thinking, “what the hell does the Chemo do?”
“The Chem-O”
The CBRN Officer, or “Chemo” for short, is often reviled amongst staff members. They are typically a junior officer who is capriciously thrown into a maneuver battalion by luck of the HRC draw. There is no training or preparation they receive to appear intelligent on that unit’s culture or capabilities. So whereas their peers and leadership bond over shared experiences and career progression, the Chemo gets labeled “weird”- a pariah who conducts miscellaneous duties. Because of this, many are relegated to doing the monthly Unit Status Report (USR), the odd additional duty that doesn’t fit under other duty positions, and being the special projects officer for the battalion’s leadership. And there, they rot for the full duration of their lieutenant years.
What if, instead of letting your Chemo become a stereotype, you developed this young officer into a valued member of the S3 section and staff? Consider affording them the same mentorship that others invested to groom you. What if you invested in this young officer, and tested your ability to develop your lieutenants before you take command? What if…you grew your Chemo?
Why Their Development Matters
First and foremost, unless they’re branch detailed, your Chemo is going to need company command in order to advance their career. Command is a requirement for chemical officers to compete with their combat arms and maneuver support peers for selection to major. Unfortunately, the odds are stacked against your Chemo getting a CBRN platoon or CBRN company XO job by virtue of how few of those slots exist within the Chemical Corps.
Therefore, to set your young lieutenant up for success as a future commander, think about what formative experiences you had as a lieutenant. You were a platoon leader of at least one type of platoon, probably a CO/BTRY/TRP executive officer, and maybe spent some time in the 3-shop. Those experiences gave you a working understanding of training management, property, army maintenance systems, managing personnel, and a greater understanding of how the other warfighting functions support the maneuver fight.
Assume your Chemo won’t get those leadership opportunities. Thus, you are the sole facilitator of those experiences for his or her professional development. So, let’s synthesize what you learned from those positions down to what can be accomplished while they’re still on staff.
Training Management
Have your Chemo develop a low-density training plan for their CBRN Cell. CBRN cells have specific individual tasks that help the battalion and the companies accomplish their missions. Take this plan and show your Chemo how to integrate it into the battalion’s METL crosswalk as part of the long range training calendar and training progression. Task them with developing a plan as detailed as you are going to expect from your platoon leaders. Then iterate with them.
In addition to planning training, have them execute training for the battalion or HHC/T/B. Anything that requires resourcing and full utilization of the 8-Step Training Model (e.g., ranges, mask confidence courses, off-site PT). This will help your Chemo learn how to coordinate outside resources, and the importance of things like PCIs as a means of subverting Murphy’s Law.
Property & Maintenance
Have your Chemo sign for battalion-level CBRN equipment and the vehicle they TC/VC. This will usually include your decontamination systems and a collective protective shelter. Then ensure he or she does maintenance with their team, giving them the opportunity to learn their equipment, maintenance procedures, and hand-receipts. Have them report equipment status updates to you. It won’t be a ton of equipment, so it would provide a great setting to learn or fail with minimal risk. Additionally, it can lay the foundation for how you will want your platoon leaders to report when you’re in command.
Personnel Readiness
Personnel readiness is a critical component of command and often a painful one. Give your Chemo a leg up by having them manage the personnel readiness of the CBRN Cell. Task them to meet with the HHC command team to help develop tracking systems and counseling packets for their cell. Medical, admin, weapon stats, AR 350-1 training…make them track it all. The best part is that if you help them develop a really good system to track the three to four personnel in the cell, you both can extrapolate that to your future companies!
Speaking the Language
While this could be an essay in and of itself, one of the most important lessons you can teach your Chemo is how your battalion commander views the organization. This includes how they fight, and how the unit fits into the bigger picture of the Army as a whole. The strength of the Chemical Corps comes from our incredibly varied experiences. Learning how each type of command sees and articulates their fight is critical for maneuver support. Teaching this to your Chemo gives him or her the ability to better advise the commander on CBRN defense as part of their operations. Lastly, it will develop your Chemo’s ability to help you and the S3 plan with developing those operations.
Tough, but Worth It!
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