The battalion provides command, planning, integration, direction and execution of Chemical, Biological, Nuclear, Radiological, and Explosive (CBRNE) missions.
Technical Escort (TE) is the capability to locate, identify, sample, render safe, package, transport and neutralize suspected WMD materials.
The basic weapon, the Livens projector, was an 8-inch drawn steel tube about 4 feet long with a cap welded on the lower end.
Then a package of propelling charge and ignition wiring was placed in the bottom of the tube and on top of that, a thin-walled bomb or “drum” containing high explosive or a chemical agent.
The soldiers, by now nick-named the “Hellfire Boys,” had to carry the projectors, propellant, and bombs into position in No Man's Land, then dig them in within easy hearing distance of German machine guns, artillery fire, and patrols.
It was not unusual for a “dig” to take place in the midst of a battle involving hundreds of troops attempting to destroy or to protect the emplacement of the projectors.
[3] A complementary weapon to the Livens Projector was the 4-inch Stokes mortar which could be broken down into several pieces weighing less than 100 pounds each, making it easier to move and emplace.
The men learned to set up attacks in which initial fire from projectors produced casualties by catching the enemy before protective equipment could be donned.
This forced the enemy to “fight dirty”, remaining in an increased protective posture that significantly degraded their effectiveness with conventional weapons during an Allied infantry attack.
Only part of the company conducted the 565 projector “dig” because poor liaison with the adjacent infantry units forced them to provide their own security.
Among the major duties of the regiment was maintaining and securing the stocks of mustard, phosgene, and other chemical warfare agents that had been produced in great quantities but had not been shipped to Europe before the Armistice.
The Pentagon began to draw up plans to defend the Canal, including using Chemical Weapons against landing sites on both the Atlantic and Pacific shores.
One was a change in the organizational structure at Camp Sibert and the other was the need for personnel in the newly formed Guard and Security Service, famous in later years as “Technical Escort.” The 22D CBRN Battalion would later inherit all of the traditions of Tech Escort but its official lineage is interrupted with the deactivation of the 1st Chemical Company on 29 May 1943.
It could deploy insecticide sprays from vehicular mounted dispensers and could construct field flame expedients as part of position defenses.
Chemical soldiers were often tasked to rig field flame expedients (technically known as “fougasse” installations) as part of the defenses around US positions.
These devices exploded gasoline or napalm from a buried drum and inflicted fatal burns over an area of several thousand square feet.
[5] Wide area defoliation missions were carried out by spray from a large, fixed wing aircraft with a chemical officer in a small airplane acting as spotter and controller.
Limited area defoliation missions, such as roadside growth or underbrush around a defensive position were conducted at low altitude from helicopters.
Chemical soldiers riding as crew would load their spraying apparatus and distribute the material as the pilot flew along the target areas.
The 3AD deployed to Saudi Arabia in November 1990, with the reinforced smoke platoon of the 22D Chemical Company on the extreme right (east) flank of the division.
After reaching Phase Line SMASH the platoon crossed the North-South Highway and took up station near Safwan, Iraq, just north of the border with Kuwait.
[2] Shortly before the deployment to Saudi Arabia, the collapse of the Soviet Union sharply reduced the requirements for a U.S. military presence in Europe.
[4] For several years the battalion was under the newly activated 20th Support Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, conducting emergency response missions all along the East Coast of the US.
EOD members of the unit averaged 150 emergency responses annually including evaluation and recovery of chemical warfare munitions.
Exercises at Fort Bliss were conducted, and the soldiers reported being happy with their new station's drier weather and large open spaces for training.
[4] The training cycle was complete in June 2017, almost one hundred years after the 1st Gas regiment set off its Livens projectors in the first American chemical warfare ever conducted.
The design is rich with heritage, drawing its hexagon shape from the benzene ring which is shown over the crossed retorts of the CWS insignia.