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Every class I teach makes me appreciate the amazing leaders I had as a young CBRN officer. Having students come up during breaks and after class and asking how I was able to learn all this info has reminded me why learning as much as you can while on staff is so important. 1/
My first S3 and BC knew I was going to be a recon PL for the brigade and snatched me out of the TOC to be the TAC PL so I could learn the big picture from them in real time during operations. Absolutely instrumental to a brigade enabled. 2/
My first company CDR when I became PL made me translate everything happening in the engineer world to “Chem language” so that I could, in turn, explain what I could do for the maneuver BCs and S3s. 3/
My second commander (infantry CPT) had been an CAV Troop commander first and made me translate all of our tasks into terms from FM 3-98 so he could pitch them for me and so I could sell myself as an ISR asset. 4/
My second BEB CDR made all of the enabler PLs all teach each other what we did so we could advocate and take care of each other’s personnel in our Task Forces. It opened my eyes to the IC and Signal worlds and their roles 5/
My final Co CDR (Intel CPT) forced me to see how to integrate CBRN into the brigade IC plan and it made me understand our assets as MASINT platforms. She also helped me build a sick CP plan lol. 6/
And finally, my DIVARTY leaders pushed me in a total different direction, understanding my role as a protection officer and seeing the MUCH bigger picture at the Division and Corps levels. Plus I conned my way into getting a Stryker CAV SQDN to protect our rockets 
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In sum, I think a lot of Chemos don’t their experiences as the lone CBRN Soldier in their realm, but that isolation combined with leaders willing to develop can ultimately yield stronger, smarter officers for the Army overall. /end
