Rethinking the Chemical Officer Career Path for Command and Staff Positions

By Major Cameron W. Lothridge

“Officers will be managed by categories and groups with similar functions to facilitate
the development of officer functional competencies required on the future battlefield. The design
is not intended to reflect where officers serve on the battlefield, but to align the functions and
skills required.”1 Army career categories and groups are listed in Table 1. “The chemical branch
is aligned under the maneuver support functional group in the operations functional category.”2
As the Army looks to enhance readiness through talent management, the Army should look to
realign chemical branch to the operations support functional category to better facilitate the
development of chemical officer functional competencies required for large scale combat
operations.
Operations Division Operations Support Force Sustainment
Air Defense Artillery Enterprise Marketing/Behavioral Economics Adjutant General

Armor Force Management Army Acquisition

Aviation Foreign Area Officer Financial and Comptroller

Chemical Information Networks Engineering Logistics Corps

Engineer Military Intelligence Branch Ordnance

Field Artillery Nuclear and CWMD Officer Quartermaster

Infantry Operations Research/Systems Analysis Transportation

Military Police Public Affairs Information Dominance

Army Special Operations Signal Corps Cyber

Civil Affairs Simulation Operations Electronic Warfare

Psychological Operations Space Operations Information Operations

Special Forces Strategic Intelligence Special Branches

Strategist Army Medical

United States Military Academy Professor Chaplain

Judge Advocate

Table 1 (Army branches and functional areas listed in their current functional category)

Chemical officers’ key developmental positions at lieutenant through major should seek
to develop technical and tactical competencies to successfully serve as a tactical chemical
battalion commanders or as the primary chemical staff officers at echelons-above-brigade. These
two goals align with a successful professional career through 20 years of service and attaining
the rank of lieutenant colonel. Department of the Army Pamphlet (DA PAM) 600-3, Officer

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Professional Development and Career Management, states, “CBRN officers plan, employ, and
coordinate CBRN systems from platoon level through corps and Joint Task Forces in support of
joint and unified land operations.”3 Chemical officers develop these abilities by serving in
chemical staff and leadership positions at echelon to “. . . possess knowledge of chemical branch
requirements, combined arms operations, CBRN technical force support, and coordination
principles.”4 Furthermore, “All company grade officers must focus their efforts during the
company grade years on mastering the basic skills of their specific branch, . . .”5 Whereas, “the
junior field grade years serve to develop the officer cohort in a variety of branch or functional
area assignments within their functional category.”6
The ability for chemical officers to focus on mastering the basic skills of the chemical
branch is impeded by the current alignment to the operations functional category. The consensus
with many leaders within the operations functional category is that command as a captain and
operations officer/executive officer as a major are the only key development (KD) jobs when it
comes to promotion potential and hitherto referred to as hard-KD. This thought process is logical
for many of the branches within the operations functional category because a majority of their
career path is focused on battalion and brigade command. However, this paradigm disvalues the
key development that chemical officers receive while advising a senior commander on
countering weapons of mass destruction and conducting CBRN defense. This is development is
key because most chemical officers will serve their entire career as staff officers. These staff
positions are seen by many chemical officers as soft-KD positions and purgatory while they wait
for the hard-KD positions that matter for an operations functional category promotion board.
Yet, many chemical officers find themselves seeking immaterial command, operations officer, or
executive officer positions due to the lack of available technical hard-KD positions. These
immaterial positions may broaden a chemical officer to understand a different Army formation
but are unlikely to further their specific branch skills. The risk to the profession is that there may
not be enough quality chemical lieutenant colonels to willingly serve as division chemical
officers and tactical chemical battalion commanders if chemical officers due not master basic
skills of the branch as captains and reinforce these skills as majors.
The operations support functional category may underwrite a more flexible career path
that could better facilitate the development of chemical officers. This is due to a heavier staff-
centric than command-centric career model for the branches within the operations support

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functional category. Therefore, identified potential while serving as a chemical staff officer
would likely garner higher promotion potential in an operations support promotion board
compared to operations category. This recognition would enable chemical captains and majors to
spend more time in operational staff positions to grow their knowledge and experience related to
large scale combat operations.
The transition of the chemical branch to the operations support functional category will
not reduce the relevancy of the chemical corps to the maneuver community. Contrarily, the
increased focus of serving on staffs as hard-KD will place additional emphasis on supporting
senior commanders. The chemical branch senior leaders could be better postured to coach
officers on the importance to serve on operational staffs at each grade instead of recommending
immaterial command, operations officer, or executive officer positions. This could also provide
junior chemical officers with increased mentorship from above-average chemical officers at the
division and corps echelons.
The Army selects officers to fill battalion and brigade commands and specialized
designated key billets through the centralized selection list (CSL) process. The chemical branch
currently has eight lieutenant colonel and six colonel CSL commands. Shifting the chemical
branch to the operations support functional category may introduce an opportunity to identify the
10 division and four corps chemical officer positions as key billets through the CSL; key billets
on the CSL are common within operations support and do not currently exist in the operations
category. This would be beneficial to the Army because the best available officers would be
selected to serve in either a chemical command, division chemical officer, or corps chemical
officer position. A lack of incentives for retirement eligible lieutenant colonels and colonels has
resulted in the Army struggling to fill division and corps chemical officer positions with quality
officers. Codifying these positions on the CSL would also provide the opportunity for extremely
talented officers to rank a key staff billet over command if aligned to their knowledge, skills,
behaviors, and desires. These officers would be more competitive for the senior service college,
promotion to colonel, and CSL selection at colonel if chemical division officer positions are
identified as key billets on the CSL, certainly more so than if the positions were not on the CSL.
There are risks involved in designating division and corps chemical officer positions as
key billets on the CSL. The chemical branch CSL bill would increase to 18 lieutenant colonels
(nine per year) and 10 colonels (five per year). This bill would likely encompass the entire bench

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 of eligible quality chemical officers competing in the CSL each year. Therefore, chemical branch
would likely not be able to serve in immaterial lieutenant colonel and colonel CSL commands
such as recruiting, basic training, or garrison. This could be seen as a negative to the overall
career progression of a specific chemical officer, but these officers have already reached the
pinnacle of a successful career and serving in a division or corps chemical officer position
provides them the opportunity to mentor the next generation of chemical officers towards a
successful career. The chemical branch is extremely small at the lieutenant colonel and colonel
grades; we must carefully place this talent in the position that it can best support the unique
functions that the chemical branch provides for the Army.
The chemical branch would need to reevaluate the current career path to fully prepare
officers to serve as senior chemical commanders and division/corps chemical officers. The path
should ensure that officers are given the opportunity to transition from staff positions to technical
leadership positions from lieutenant through major. A possible reimagined career model is
shown in Table 2, however, the problem requires additional research and is dependent on the
chemical branch’s functional category.
Lieutenant Captain Major

• Battalion CBRN Officer • Operational Company Commander • Operational Battalion/Brigade S3

• Operational Platoon/Team Leader • Chemical Recon Detachment Command • Operational Battalion/Brigade XO
Key
• Operational XO • Brigade CBRN Officer • Deputy Division/Corps CBRN Staff Officer
Developmental
• Special Forces Group CBRN Officer
Assignments
• 160th SOAR CBRN Officer
• Division/Corps G5 Staff Officer

• IMT Platoon Leader/XO • Small Group Instructor • ACOM/DRU/Joint Staff Officers

• Aide-de-Camp • NTC/JRTC/1st Army OC/T • CTC Combat Trainer
• 1-star Staff Positions (ESC/TSC/AAMDC) • TRADOC Battalion/Brigade XO/S3
• Recruiting/TRADOC Company Commander • Recruiting Battalion/Brigade XO/S3
Broadening
• Scholarships/Internships • CBRN School Staff
Assignments
• HRC Career Manager • Futures Command Staff
• Training with Industry (TWI) • HRC Career Manager
• CBRN Officer SFAB • USMA/ROTC Instructor
• USMA/ROTC Instructor

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 Lieutenant Colonel Colonel
• CSL Lieutenant Colonel Level Command • CSL Colonel Level Command
Key Assignments
• CSL Division CBRN Officers • CSL Corps CBRN Officer

• ACOM/DRU/Joint Staff Officer • ACOM/DRU/Joint Staff

• Brigade DCO Officers
• ROTC Professor of Military Science • CBRN School Staff
Supporting Assignments
• HRC Branch Chief • Futures Command Staff
• Inspector General
• CBRN School Staff

Table 2 (Possible re-designed career path if chemical branch moved to the operations support
functional category)

We must recognize that the Army is seeking to effectively manage talent by aligning the
knowledge, skills, and behaviors of officers to the most critical positions in order to fight and
win against any adversary in the world on the battlefield. The chemical branch has historically
struggled to balance the development of officers’ technical skills and competitiveness for
promotion by seeking hard-KD for the operations functional category. This has led to a lack of
eligible quality officers being available to willingly serve as division and corps chemical officers.
Therefore, the chemical branch should accept the risks in transitioning to the operations support
functional category in search of a career model that can develop a better chemical officers ready
to command chemical formations and advise senior commanders on countering weapons of mass
destruction and CBRN defense during large scale combat operations.

Endnotes:

1
DA PAM 600-3, Officer Professional Development and Career Management, 3 April
2019, p. 10.
2
U.S. Army Chemical Corps, DA PAM 600-3, Chemical Branch, 1 June 2017, p. 1.
3
Ibid.
4
Ibid, p. 2.
5
DA PAM 600-3, Officer Professional Development and Career Management, p. 13.
6
Ibid, p. 14