Q&A: Colonel Vance P. Visser

Spartan Commander
The Vanguard and Defenders Against the CBRNE Threat



Colonel Vance P. Visser
Commander
U.S. Army 48th Chemical Brigade

Colonel Vance P. Visser began his Army service in 1984 as a Distinguished Military Graduate from Vanderbilt University ROTC Program. On his initial assignment as a lieutenant, he served in Germany as a decontamination platoon leader and company executive officer, 95th Chemical Company, Giessen, Federal Republic of Germany and as the battalion chemical officer for Special Troops Battalion, 3rd SUPCOM, V (U.S.) Corps, Wiesbaden, Federal Republic of Germany.

Upon returning to the United States, Visser was assigned to 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan., where he served as the brigade chemical officer for the 2nd Brigade, commander, 12th Chemical Company, and chemical officer, 1st Infantry Division Artillery. While commanding the 12th Chemical Company, he deployed the company with the Big Red One to Southwest Asia in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He then served as an instructor and assistant professor of chemistry, United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.

As a major, he served at Fort Polk, La., as the regimental chemical officer and squadron S3, Regimental Support Squadron for the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. Reassigned to the Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, Kan., in June 2000, Visser served as an instructor and assistant professor of tactics in the Center for Army Tactics, and the Chemical Corps Branch representative in the United States Army Command and General Staff College.

Visser assumed command of the 2nd Chemical Battalion on June 10, 2002. During his command, the battalion deployed as part of 4 ID(M) and Task Force Ironhorse to Operation Iraqi Freedom I and members of the battalion headquarters also deployed as the command and control element for the CJTF-7 Port Support Activity for deployment of OIF II equipment into the Southwest Asia theater of operations. After battalion command, he served as the deputy commander, 13th COSCOM (Rear), Fort Hood, Texas. In his most recent assignment, Visser was a seminar leader for the School of Advanced Military Studies, Fort Leavenworth. In May 2007, he became the first commander of the newly formed 48th Chemical Brigade which was formally activated September 19, 2007 at Fort Hood.

Visser holds Bachelors of Science degrees in biology and chemistry from Trevecca Nazarene College, a Masters of Science Degree in analytical chemistry from Kansas State University, and a master’s degree in military arts and sciences, from the School of Advanced Military Studies. He is a graduate of the United States Army Chemical Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, Combined Arms Services Staff School, the United States Army Command and General Staff College, and the Senior Service College Advanced Operational Arts Studies Fellowship.

His awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal with two oak leaf clusters; Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters; Army Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters; Army Achievement Medal with two oak leaf clusters; National Defense Service Medal with one bronze star; Southwest Asia Service Medal with three bronze stars; Iraqi Campaign Medal; Global War On Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and Service Medal; Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon; Overseas Service Ribbon; Saudi Arabian Kuwaiti Liberation Medal; Kuwaiti Liberation Medal and the Parachutist Badge.

Interviewed by MMT Editor Jeff McKaughan

Q: Good morning, Colonel Visser. The 48th Chemical Brigade has assumed command and control over the Army’s active chemical and separate battalions. Can you give me an overview of your command structure and your subordinate units?

A: It is a great privilege to activate and serve as the first commander of the 48th Chemical Brigade. God has blessed me and I am grateful for this special opportunity. I want to thank God for his provision, protection, and blessings and I pray that he will provide for, protect, bless and enable us all to accomplish every mission our brigade is given.

We have an excellent command team across the entire brigade. The 48th Chemical Brigade is most fortunate to have CSM Donald Moten as our brigade command sergeant major. He has a wealth of practical operational experience in both conventional and specialized chemical units and a true love and concern for soldiers and their families.

We are both here to serve our soldiers. Teamed together with the entire chain of command, we will endeavor to make our unit into a trained and ready brigade, home to America’s finest chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high yield explosive [CBRNE] soldiers and those who support them, capable of deploying anywhere in the world and providing conventional and specialized CBRNE support to combatant commanders or defense support to civil authorities in order to eliminate CBRNE/WMD threats and to protect the nation.

Upon activation, the 48th Chemical Brigade formally took our place alongside the 52nd and 71st Explosive Ordnance Groups as one of the three major subordinate commands in the 20th Support Command-CBRNE. The brigade mission is to deploy and conduct operations in support of combatant commanders or other governmental agencies to counter CBRNE threats.

Our brigade is comprised of five conventional and specialized chemical battalions which ultimately will have 29 subordinate companies stationed throughout the country at many FORSCOM installations. With the exception of our brigade headquarters, each of the subordinate companies will be subordinate to one of the five battalions for training and readiness oversight. Our units are uniquely equipped and trained for CBRNE operations.

Q: The technical escort battalions under your umbrella have a broader area of responsibility for biological, radiological, nuclear hazards. Including these units, does your command have a broader responsibility to deal with threats across the CBRN spectrum?

A: The units within the 48th Chemical Brigade have a diverse set of missions ranging from conventional chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear operations to specialized technical escort CBRN and high yield explosives operations.

The technical escort battalions do not have a broader role in our mission than the other battalions, but rather they possess more specialized capabilities that we partner together as a team to meet the diverse operational challenges associated with the full spectrum of CBRNE missions.

Our nation is at war, and that will continue to be the focus and priority. The 48th Chemical Brigade must stand ready to support the 20th Support Command-CBRNE in its role as the Joint Task Force for Weapons of Mass Destruction Elimination [JTF-WMDE].

Our brigade assets will support operations to combat weapons of mass destruction and eliminate the supporting infrastructure and associated hazards.

Q: Is your command involved with the NBC vehicles and crew for the Stryker brigades?

A: No, currently the XM1135 nuclear, biological, chemical reconnaissance vehicle [NBCRV] is only being fielded to the CBRN reconnaissance teams of the brigade combat team.

In the near future, the NBCRV will begin to replace the M93 Fox reconnaissance vehicles in our units. The NBCRV has the capability to detect and collect chemical and biological contamination in its immediate environment on the move through point detection and at a distance through the use of a stand off detector.

An on-board sensor processing group automatically integrates contamination information from detectors with input from onboard navigation and meteorological systems and automatically transmits digital NBC warning messages through the vehicle command and control systems to warn follow-on forces.

The Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense the U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear School may provide you more detail about the training for the NBCRV mission.

Q: Armies can only move as fast as their slowest units. Are chemical units as mobile as they need to be in the current operational environment?

A: Our units are highly mobile. Each unit has organic transportation capable of moving its equipment and personnel. Our unit’s personnel and equipment may also be task organized and configured for rapid transport via air and or rotary wing lift capabilities.

Mobility on the battlefield is not just about speed and haul capacity but also about survivability. Our units are mobile and sufficiently protected for the current operational environment which ensures our ability to rapidly deploy worldwide in order to provide the nation and our Army with a robust response force capable of conducting CBRNE and WMD operations across the full spectrum of military operations.

Major improvements on the NBCRV include these new capabilities; standoff chemical detection, biological detection and sampling and on-the-move meteorological system.

Q: While on the subject of the TE battalions, is the current two battalion strength adequate for your mission requirements or do you see a need to expand?

A: Looking forward into the future beyond our present operational requirements, I think that we may need to expand to prepare for the potential existing and emerging CBRNE threats worldwide.

Our two technical escort battalions are presently undergoing a force design update to enhance their present structure and provide them even greater operational capabilities. Additionally, our conventional chemical units are expanding their mission sets to include capabilities that better complement the technical escort battalion’s more specialized capabilities.

We are working extremely hard to fully leverage every asset in the brigade and to provide the greatest CBRNE capability possible in the world today.

In the future, I believe that our units will train and fight as CBRNE task forces and company teams configured specifically for a given mission. The total integration of the varied specialized capabilities across the entire CBRNE force structure will increase our capacity to support operations to combat WMD. These CBRNE assets will be a modular, multi-functional and operational across the full spectrum of CBRNE operations.

Q: What is your role in working with, training with and coordinating responses with civilian responders?

A: The mission statement of our higher headquarters is, on order, the 20th Support Command-CBRNE, or when designated as JTF-Elimination, deploys and conducts operations in support of combatant commanders or other government agencies in order to counter CBRNE and WMD threats in support of National Combating WMD Objectives.

The National Strategy for Combating WMD has eight mission areas which can be grouped in to three groups; non-proliferation, counter-proliferation and consequence management.

Much of our work focuses on the counter-proliferation mission areas of interdiction, offensive operations, active defense, elimination and passive defense; and support of consequence management. In execution, subordinate to the 20th Support Command-CBRNE, we work as part of a complex network of communications, organizations, capabilities, and supporting and supported command relationships.

Our role in working with, training with and coordinating response with specifically civilian responders is a supporting role to the heroic efforts of first responders at the local and state levels, the Department of Homeland Security, United States Northern Command [JTF Civil Support], CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force [CCMRF], and U.S. Army North [ARNORTH], United States Marine Corps Chemical-Biological Incident Response Force [USMC CBIRF], the National Guard [State JTF headquarters, WMD Civil Support Teams [CST] and CBRNE Enhanced Response Force Package [CERFP]] and other forces committed in support of a response mission.

Q: Of detection, prevention, decontamination, is there any one of these activities that demand more of your time and resources than the others?

A: We are trained and equipped to address each of these critical activities. We have many robust organic capabilities resident in our subordinate companies which are designed specifically to execute missions across the full spectrum of CBRNE operations.

We have specialized capabilities in our joint response teams of our technical escort companies and more conventional NBC reconnaissance, biological detection, decontamination, and smoke generation capabilities in our other multi-purpose chemical companies. We also integrate forces from the two explosive ordnance groups as required.

Based on the mission we are given, we tailor our force packages to provide the commander a full complement of the assets necessary to accomplish the assigned mission. For command and control, we forge these complimentary capabilities into battalion CBRNE task forces and CBRNE company teams.

For the first time in our history, the operational CBRNE forces are task organized in one command, the 20th Support Command-CBRNE, and as one of the three major subordinate commands, our newly activated headquarters has all the conventional and specialized chemical [CBRN] capabilities in one functional brigade. This enables us to focus full time on combating WMD, countering WMD threats and defeating all types of improvised explosive devices [IED].

All three of these activities are core competencies and a critical part of our mission essential task list that we train for every day.

Q: With the restructuring over the past years and the fact that the unit is not a part of Army Materiel Command, how do you maintain relationships with the Army’s Research, Development and Engineering Command, Chemical Materials Agency, Corps of Engineers and Defense Threat Reduction Agency?

A: The establishment of the 20th Support Command-CBRNE and recent activation of the 48th Chemical Brigade places all the CBRNE forces in one operational command under one commander, Brigadier General Kevin R. Wendel.

The unity of effort brought about by our new command and control and force structure actually streamlines the interaction with all of these agencies and leverages all requirements from one operational commander into each of the aforementioned organizations.

The 20th Support Command-CBRNE has open lines of communication with all of these organizations and a myriad of other unnamed organizations. Our restructuring enables one operational commander to impact doctrine, training, leader development, organization, materiel and soldier [DTLOMS] issues as related to our unique mission focus on CBRNE operations.

Q: Following on to that, what role does the 48th have in evaluating new equipment items and technologies?

A: As is the case for many units throughout the Army, we get involved in evaluating new equipment and technologies when tasked to do so in support of testing initiatives conducted by the Army.

The formal process to request our assistance would be through U.S. Army Forces Command [FORSCOM] and the 20th Support Command-CBRNE. Presently, one of our battalions is supporting one such mission requirement in support of the Operational Test Command. Based on our unique organization, the 48th Chemical Brigade will be the principal user of most emerging technologies and new equipment designed for the missions of our brigade and therefore, it is in our best interest to be an active participant in this process.

Q: There is no getting around that protective clothing and equipment is large, bulky and hot. What are some specific articles or areas of protective clothing that you would like to see industry focus on to improve the human factor aspects while retaining the protective capabilities?

A: Our soldiers are better equipped today for our mission than ever before in history. Our soldiers have the absolute best protective equipment available and they are well trained to operate in a contaminated environment where they may need to remain encapsulated for extended periods of time.

We acknowledge that the equipment may at times seem bulky and hot to wear and that is why we train and our teams in realistic and rigorous environments so that they are well prepared for the physiological challenges associated with wearing protective equipment for extended periods. In addition every unit in our brigade participates in strenuous physical training five days a week to ensure that we are physically ready for our mission.

To further enhance the present capabilities of our superior protective equipment, the Joint Program Executive Office for Individual Protection [JPEOIP] in conjunction with the U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear School is presently working a number of initiatives to improve our current protective capabilities. Their efforts looks to not only improve the individual protective equipment (IPE), but also are working on bio-sensors that will monitor the soldiers wearing the IPE, as well as the exterior of the protective equipment.

Much work is underway in this arena and our soldiers will remain the best trained and equipped force in the world to deal with the CBRNE operational environment.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?

A: Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote these words regarding teamwork, “Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great.”

The Army is about building and being teams. We have a great team of soldiers in the 48th Chemical Brigade and I wish to thank them and their families for all they do each and every day for our nation. At full strength our brigade will have approximately 3,000 soldiers. We are small in number and provide unique operational capabilities to our Army and the nation.

Collectively, we refer to ourselves as Spartans. For as the Spartans of the past, in small numbers were called upon to defend their Republic at Thermopylae, we too, will be trained and ready to respond when our nation calls us out, to our Thermopylae. We are proud to be members of the 20th Support Command-CBRNE team. We stand ready with sharp swords and polished shields to deploy on short notice anywhere in the world to provide CBRNE support in order, as stated on our distinctive unit insignia, to protect the nation. May God bless and keep each of us as we continue to serve our nation, our soldiers deployed in harm’s way, our great Army and the United States of America.

Spartans, leading to victory! ♦

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