I know we train plenty of units such as armor, field artillery, and air defense in a secondary infantry role for deployment, but would we really send a chemical unit to Iraq to serve as infantry?
What does this unit do? According to this paper:
On 16 October 2004, United States Army Forces Command activated the 20th Support Comand (SUPCOM) (CBRNE), realigning the 22nd Chemical Battalion (Technical Escort) and the 52nd Ordnance Group (Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD)) as subordinate organizations to the command. The 20th SUPCOM (CBRNE) is envisioned to provide global, full-spectrum CBRNE technical response forces and capabilities to Joint and Army Force Commanders. The Department of the Army approved mission statement for the 20th SUPCOM (CBRNE) is:
The CBRNE Command integrates, coordinates, deploys and provides trained and ready forces, and is prepared to exercise command and control of full spectrum CBRNE operations to Joint and Army Force Commanders. Maintains technical links with appropriate Joint, Federal, and State CBRNE assets, as well as research, development and technical communities to assure Army CBRNE response readiness. Provides or assists in the training and readiness oversight of CBRNE assets (Active, Guard and Reserve).
The command was conceived and established in the post 11 September 2001 environment to consolidate, to the extent feasible, Army CBRNE technical operations response capabilities in a single operational command.
CBRNE means "Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High Yield Explosives," by the way. So we're not talking "just" chemical defense, apparently.
It is rather interesting that such a unit is in Iraq. It can identify and safely move weapons of mass destruction. So is it in Iraq for the Iraq campaign or for a pending Iran campaign?
And if for Iran, is it to defend against Iranian WMD strikes or to grab and move Iranians WMDs that we secure on the ground?
Heck, as long as I'm speculating, the incident in question took place at Rawah, on the Euphrates River about 50 miles from the Syrian border. There has been a lot of talk lately of where Iraqi WMD could have gone.
Like I said. Interesting. This unit is not pulling guard duty. I know I'm looking for clues that support my preconceived view that we will deal with Iran to prevent them from going nuclear and that military measures of some sort--whether strikes or revolution--are the only realistic option left to us. So I could be connecting dots that have no relation at all. Maybe we've always had units like this roaming around Iraq so it is nothing new. Heck, maybe few of the unit's soldiers are actually in Iraq.
But still ... it seems quite interesting.
UPDATE: It seems I'm connecting dots that don't exist. The unit--while surely capable of carrying out its primary role--is actually functioning as infantry. And chemical units have functioned this way all along. This according to a reader who has done some interviews of the soldiers in the units.
Another lesson in the problem of discovering something new to me and wondering whether it is just new to me or something new.
