When members of the Army Chemical Corps decided they’d try to get the Army’s top enlisted soldier to speak at their Chemical Regimental Ball, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Kenneth Preston said at first that he had a conflict.
Then, after learning that this year is the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chemical Corps, Preston decided to change his plans and agreed to come Friday night.
Preston is staying at Fort Leonard Wood overnight and will also attend the change-of-command ceremony this morning for Brig. Gen. Thomas Spoehr, who is leaving the school after two years for a staff position in Washington as the director of integration in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-8, in the Army.
Preston said he’s proud not only of those who now serve in uniform but also of the many retirees and prior service veterans in his audience.
“All of us who wear the uniform today stand on the shoulders of your service,” Preston said.
Preston noted that the history of the Chemical Corps began not with a desire to build chemical weapons but rather to protect American soldiers on the battlefield of World War II from the hazards of chemical weapons.
While chemical weapons have been in the arsenal of many countries, their use has become a greater threat in recent years as threats against the United States have moved from being protracted confrontations between states and now chiefly involve non-states and even individuals willing to commit terrorist acts.
Preston said that while America has been a leader in liberating people from oppression worldwide, it also faces a global threat of terrorism from enemies who are “committed to destroy our way of life.”
“This newfound technology can be exploited by any one of more than 1,200 terrorist groups to undermine society,” Preston said, noting that countries with large populations of unemployed and uneducated youth increase the possibility of radicalization that can lead to terrorism. Failed states can create “safe havens for terrorist groups to export terror throughout the world,” Preston said, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction has the potential to destabilize countries.
Climate changes and natural disasters can also cause humanitarian crises to which the Chemical Corps has a role in responding, Preston said — and that includes the United States.
Preston told the story of two groups of soldiers — one group from Fort Bragg that was sent to New Orleans in the wake of the destruction of that city by hurricanes, and the other story involving a chemical NCO who was assigned as a first sergeant in the Iraqi city of Mosul.
The Chemical Corps played a key role in New Orleans, Preston said, because of a dramatic increase in hazards caused by filthy and heavily polluted flood waters that led to the deaths of at least four people because of exposure to the e. coli bacteria. In New Orleans, the Chemical Corps focused on decontamination of equipment, boats and people, Preston said.
Preston also recounted the work of a chemical NCO who was thrust into the role of a first sergeant and ended a combat engagement by receiving the Bronze Star for his acts in battle.
Both missions—hazard response and combat operations—are critical to the Chemical Corps, Preston said.
“Soldiers today are volunteers and they really want to be part of an Army serving our country at war,” Preston said. “This is the first time in our nation’s history that we have fought a war this long with an all-volunteer force.”
Preston, who entered the Army in 1975, just a few years after the end of the draft era, said America’s all-volunteer force is an achievement the Army can and should be proud of — especially the contribution of its part-time citizen-soldiers in the National Guard and Army Reserve.
“We could not do what we do today what we do for our nation and around the world if it were not for the contribution of our citizen soldiers,” Preston said.