With branch selection time upon our young cadets, it's time for my take on why Chemical should be in your Top 3. This thread is hereby labeled: Dr. X-Love, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Chemical Corps.

1) Back in 2013, when I found out I was branching Chemical, I felt pretty bummed because of the reputation the Chemical Corps had. I had an engineering degree and a solid slot in the OML, and I wasn't excited that I was going to be stuck being a damn Chemo for my entire career1/

But as time has gone, I realized branching Chem was really a blessing in disguise. 2/

2) As a Chemo I've served in a Stryker Infantry BN, A Brigade Engineer BN, a Division Artillery Brigade, and supported Armored units galore as a CBRN Co CDR. I've experienced first-hand so many different types of Army units and how my job fits into the big picture. 3/

Every maneuver unit has a CBRN slot, including aviation, and the diversity of experience among my peers is huge. It's really awesome to know that every time I PCS, or even just change jobs as a Chemo, I have the ability to learn a completely different side of the Army 4/

and develop my CBRN capacity.

3) Everyone jokes about only doing USR, but that's been an infinitesimally small part of my 8 years of experience. If you are interested in science, especially forensics or exploitation, the Chemical corps has a ton of unique opportunities you 5/

won't get anywhere else. As an LT, I trained with the Mexican Army and helped teach them how to take down and exploit drug labs. I also was taught to understand industrial level chemical processes and learned so much about 6/

some of the most savage weapons mankind has ever produced (and the science behind making them). You literally won't find those experiences outside of SOF or INSCOM. 7/

4) If you're into Ranger School and/or want to back door into the SOF community, CBOLC always has open slots for Ranger School. Also, the Ranger Regiment has CBRN Teams led by Lieutenants, and every SF Group has its own CBRN Detachment led by senior LTs and CPTs. 8/

That means you can work with SOF units doing cool-guy shit very early in your career. 9/

5) The plus-side of Chemos having bad reps is that it can be very easy to stand out from your peers, within and outside the Chem Corps. If you work hard, actively learn your unit, and act like a normal human being, you WILL make a name for yourself. 10/

As an LT, I was literally offered both an infantry platoon and an Infantry BN HHC XO slot because of my reputation as a Chemo and CBRN Recon Platoon Leader. 11/

6) Finally, despite the jokes you hear or see, CBRN is relevant today. In the past 10 years, we've seen an increase towards more and more explicit use of chemical weapons, the Fukushima Daiichi reactor incident, and living through a literal biological incident. 12/

The threats are real and we need smart, capable officers serving our Maneuver Commanders and leading the future of the Chemical Corps.

Hit me up if you want to know more, and Choose Chem!

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