In our world of 24/7 news and social media, and with just about everyone on an iPhone, trends emerge, spread and fade faster than ever before.
We’re apt to flock to what is new and interesting and let what once commanded our attention fade into memory. This isn’t just a phenomenon in the world of entertainment; this also applies to how we focus on what threatens our safety.
The last decade has brought us terrorism and unconventional warfare. As a result, this is what occupies our minds when thinking about geopolitics and defense.
However, just because the last decade has brought us new challenges does not mean that the terrible specters of previous decades have gone away.
While the threat of an exchange of missiles between two sovereign nations has diminished greatly with the end of the Cold War, there are still several nations with both long-range missile and chemical weapon programs.
The threat of war
Currently, most of the fighting happening in the world can be categorized as a separatist insurgency, armed uprising, civil war or ethnic conflict within a nation state. Most of the violence in these conflicts is low level, as compared to conventional war, and uses small arms.
But, in the last decade, we have still seen armies lacing up their boots and going to war as uniformed soldiers fighting for a sovereign state. In 1999, nuclear-armed foes, India and Pakistan, engaged one another in a brief border war.
Russia and Georgia fought for a few days in 2008, with Russia still occupying territory internationally recognized as being part of Georgia.
Our most recent conflicts have not been as cut and dry as one nation against another, but they still occur and we must still be prepared to fight this kind of war. Long-range missile programs are one facet of conventional warfare that we have spent billions of dollars to develop and defend against.
Missiles the size of a school bus being launched at us is frightening enough, but even more so when we consider that those missiles could be fitted with warheads filled with deadly chemicals.
Could we ever use this training?
At least once a month, emergency management instructors instructing Chemical, Biological, Radiological/Nuclear Defense Survival Skills are asked, “Have we ever been attacked with nerve agents?” Sometimes, it’s a disgruntled challenge, but often the question is asked out of a genuine interest in the threat posed to today’s Airmen.
There is not a short answer that can be given to this question, so the simplest answer given is, “No, but …” American air bases have never been attacked with chemical warfare agents via a missile.
Our service members have been targeted by Scud missiles during both campaigns against Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s rule. Those missiles were not fitted with chemical or biological warheads even though Iraq had produced and used chemical weapons in the past.
During Iraq’s eight-year war with Iran, the Iraqi military brazenly used chemical weapons against the Iranian army, causing at least 10,000 casualties as a result. Iraq used artillery rounds to deliver chemical munitions against the Iranians, but they had a robust missile program and launched at least 361 missiles into Iran.
These missile strikes could have been several times deadlier had the Iraqis had the ability to fit those missiles with chemical warheads.
More than two decades since that war has ended, some nations still possess chemical warfare agent warheads and long range missiles and the technology that once eluded Iraq — the ability to fit the warheads to the missiles.
Iran and North Korea are two of those nations. The U.S. has service members stationed within range of Iranian and North Korean missiles. That is why we need to recognize this threat as being just as real and dangerous as any other.
Take it seriously; the threats are real
So, the next time you find yourself sitting in front of the computer re-accomplishing your CBRN CBT, don’t just use the “click-click” technique.
Keep in mind that the information in that computerized training might just save your life or your wingman’s life. Then, when you’re MOPPing-up during your CBRN hands-on class, recognize the importance of correctly donning the gear and consider the consequences if you don’t. The gear was not created to annoy, frustrate or hinder you. It was designed to keep you safe. We may never have to use the skills we’re taught in CBRN DSS, but as they say, “An ounce of prevention is more valuable than a pound of cure.”
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In our world of 24/7 news and social media, and with just about everyone on an iPhone, trends emerge, spread and fade faster than ever before.
We’re apt to flock to what is new and interesting and let what once commanded our attention fade into memory. This isn’t just a phenomenon in the world of entertainment; this also applies to how we focus on what threatens our safety.
The last decade has brought us terrorism and unconventional warfare. As a result, this is what occupies our minds when thinking about geopolitics and defense.
However, just because the last decade has brought us new challenges does not mean that the terrible specters of previous decades have gone away.
While the threat of an exchange of missiles between two sovereign nations has diminished greatly with the end of the Cold War, there are still several nations with both long-range missile and chemical weapon programs.
The threat of war
Currently, most of the fighting happening in the world can be categorized as a separatist insurgency, armed uprising, civil war or ethnic conflict within a nation state. Most of the violence in these conflicts is low level, as compared to conventional war, and uses small arms.
But, in the last decade, we have still seen armies lacing up their boots and going to war as uniformed soldiers fighting for a sovereign state. In 1999, nuclear-armed foes, India and Pakistan, engaged one another in a brief border war.
Russia and Georgia fought for a few days in 2008, with Russia still occupying territory internationally recognized as being part of Georgia.
Our most recent conflicts have not been as cut and dry as one nation against another, but they still occur and we must still be prepared to fight this kind of war. Long-range missile programs are one facet of conventional warfare that we have spent billions of dollars to develop and defend against.
Missiles the size of a school bus being launched at us is frightening enough, but even more so when we consider that those missiles could be fitted with warheads filled with deadly chemicals.
Could we ever use this training?
At least once a month, emergency management instructors instructing Chemical, Biological, Radiological/Nuclear Defense Survival Skills are asked, “Have we ever been attacked with nerve agents?” Sometimes, it’s a disgruntled challenge, but often the question is asked out of a genuine interest in the threat posed to today’s Airmen.
There is not a short answer that can be given to this question, so the simplest answer given is, “No, but …” American air bases have never been attacked with chemical warfare agents via a missile.
Our service members have been targeted by Scud missiles during both campaigns against Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s rule. Those missiles were not fitted with chemical or biological warheads even though Iraq had produced and used chemical weapons in the past.
During Iraq’s eight-year war with Iran, the Iraqi military brazenly used chemical weapons against the Iranian army, causing at least 10,000 casualties as a result. Iraq used artillery rounds to deliver chemical munitions against the Iranians, but they had a robust missile program and launched at least 361 missiles into Iran.
These missile strikes could have been several times deadlier had the Iraqis had the ability to fit those missiles with chemical warheads.
More than two decades since that war has ended, some nations still possess chemical warfare agent warheads and long range missiles and the technology that once eluded Iraq — the ability to fit the warheads to the missiles.
Iran and North Korea are two of those nations. The U.S. has service members stationed within range of Iranian and North Korean missiles. That is why we need to recognize this threat as being just as real and dangerous as any other.
Take it seriously; the threats are real
So, the next time you find yourself sitting in front of the computer re-accomplishing your CBRN CBT, don’t just use the “click-click” technique.
Keep in mind that the information in that computerized training might just save your life or your wingman’s life. Then, when you’re MOPPing-up during your CBRN hands-on class, recognize the importance of correctly donning the gear and consider the consequences if you don’t. The gear was not created to annoy, frustrate or hinder you. It was designed to keep you safe. We may never have to use the skills we’re taught in CBRN DSS, but as they say, “An ounce of prevention is more valuable than a pound of cure.”