U.S. Army scientists are researching
improved technology to detect chemical hazards to ensure the safety of soldiers
against emerging threats.Rod Fry, a
chemist with the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, is
helping to lead the effort for RDECOM’s Edgewood Chemical Biological Center.
Video provided by U.S. Army RDECOM
YouTube channel
A team of highly qualified sailors here
are currently maintaining the vital process of nanofiltration that enables
groundwater from Parwan province to be utilized in the day-to-day operations of
the Detention Facility in Parwan.
Chief Petty Officer Andrew Anderson,
supply lead, Task Group Trident, supervises a team of sailors responsible for
running a water plant here, and maintaining a holding tank they call Big Blue
that supplies disinfected, non-potable water to the DFIP.
“The job we do of monitoring and
producing water is very important,” said Anderson. “Every person, our service
members, counterparts and detainees, need water, and the constant production of
water for the DFIP is crucial to the success of the mission.”
Task Group Trident is a subordinate unit
of Task Force Protector. Protector is the unit responsible for the secure and
humane care, custody and control of all the detainees in the DFIP.
Though water production is not the first
thing that typically comes to mind when one thinks of detention operations, the
very ground work for providing humane care, custody and control is based on
water production. Without a sustainable water source, the personnel in and
around the facility would be without showers, working toilets, laundry services
or fire suppression capabilities.
“The lack of water can create a volatile
environment inside the facility and place the detainees and guard force at
risk,” said Lt. Col. Kenneth J. Tauke, commander, Task Force Tar Heel. Tar Heel
oversees the day-to-day operations of the DFIP.
To avoid an incident, Anderson and his
team are on call 24 hours a day to quickly react to any issues involving water
production.
“The sailors selected to operate the
water producing unit are sailors who have experience and training acquired from
their Navy schools and shipboard experience,” said Anderson, discussing the
challenges of water production in Afghanistan. “All of their experience prior
to this mission was aboard a ship.”
Nanofiltration is a filtration process
in which a fluid is encouraged to pass over a membrane that acts like a sieve
to separate out impurities. The membrane blocks impurities in the fluid,
allowing only the fluid to pass through, while trapping undesirable materials
on the other side, according to wiseGEEK.com.
The water purification system is not
without complications. According to Anderson, some of the biggest hurdles come
during the winter when the pipes freeze and crack. The system works well with
maintenance, but finding replacement parts is difficult and Anderson’s team
understands that they must maintain the purification system.
“If an item or section breaks, we don’t
have on-hand backup parts,” said Anderson. “If we don’t fix it quickly, the
plant will not produce water, which impacts the DFIP greatly.”
Task Group Trident will continue to
maintain the water purification plant here until the Afghan National Army unit
assigned to the DFIP is trained and capable of maintaining the system.
“The sailors and I take great pleasure
in maintaining the water plant like we were taught aboard ships and engineering
spaces,” said Anderson while discussing his team’s impact on the Protector
mission. “Our small part maintaining the water plant, we do with great pride.”
No one wants to waste a summer,
particularly U.S. Military Academy cadets, who know all about making the most
of their time.
Ironically, a pair of West Pointers
recently came to the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering
Center to take part in a project that will study how to turn waste into energy
on base camps.
“We got funding through the Army‘s
strategic environmental R&D program,” said Amy Klopotoski, the Contingency
Basing Science and Technology lead in the Shelter Technology, Engineering and
Fabrication Directorate of NSRDEC, adding that the Army Corps of Engineers and
USMA are the center’s partners on the project. “It’s a rotary kiln gasification
technology.
“The Corps of Engineers is looking at
larger facilities, larger base camps, where here at Natick, we’re looking at
base camps that you can pack up and relocate somewhere else. So we’re looking
at remediating waste on the base camps and then generating some energy off of
that waste.”
Engineering majors Richard Garcia and
Michael Richardson came from West Point to Natick to work on the start of the
three-year project.
“They’re here for a few weeks to work at
Natick, learn about what we do here, and do some research on base camp waste
and base camp technical challenges,” Klopotoski said. “Our goal is also to get
them some exposure to see the technology work that is going on within the Army
and how that process works and just get them more knowledgeable about who we
are and what we do.”
Garcia, a senior mechanical engineering
major, has been trying to absorb as much as possible in the short amount of
time he has at Natick.
“The last three days, I’ve been learning
as much as I can about diesel,” Garcia said. “This has been kind of a learning
process for me.”
While Garcia focused on the generator, Richardson,
a junior chemical engineering major, looked at converting base camp waste into
the synthetic fuel that would power it.
“Over the next couple of years, West
Point’s going to be collaborating on this project, so we’re kind of the first
cadets to dig into it and see what it’s all about,” Richardson said. “I have
two more years at West Point, so, hopefully, I can really do some serious work
on this in the next two years.”
According to Klopotoski, the cadets
wasted no time getting to work.
“They started diving right into the base
camp problems,” Klopotoski said. “They’re also looking into water demand
reduction — some technologies that could make things like showers, latrines,
laundry more efficient in terms of their water usage.”
As part of the project, the cadets were
scheduled to spend time at the Army’s Base Camp Integration Laboratory, or
BCIL, at nearby Fort Devens, Mass. The BCIL tests new base camp technologies.
“It’s kind of nice to get some fresh
eyes on some of our projects,” Klopotoski said. “These guys are looking at how
to tackle some of those technical challenges. In the end, we’re going to have
to package it into a containerized type of system that’s small enough to move
around. I think that’s going to be a part of the technical challenge, also.”
Klopotoski said she hopes to have a
demonstration waste-to-energy model operating at the BCIL or elsewhere by the
end of the three-year project.
“But fully ready to field, it might be
five years,” Klopotoski added.
Meanwhile, Garcia and Richardson already
will have shared at West Point what they learned at and about Natick.
“A lot of people have no idea that there
are large groups of civilians and military working together to make soldiers’
lives better,” Richardson said. “Part of this experience is going back to West
Point and saying, ‘Hey, man, there are people actively working on this. I
promise.’”
A U.S. Army engineer is bringing the
expertise of America’s military scientific community to ensure America’s allies
are safe from chemical and biological agents.
Jorge Christian, with the U.S. Army
Research, Development and Engineering Command, uses his 27 years of experience
in chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear protection to provide the
best equipment for American soldiers as well as international partners.
SCIENCE
SURROUNDS THE SOLDIER
Christian serves as chief of RDECOM’s
Edgewood Chemical Biological Center’s Protection Engineering Division within
the Engineering Directorate. He supports individual and collective protection
through his expertise in engineering life cycle acquisition and technical
support.
After graduating from the University of
Puerto Rico in 1984 with a bachelor of science in industrial engineering, he
began as an Army intern in the School of Engineering and Logistics in
Texarkana, Texas.
“When I was in school, I geared myself
to use science and math perhaps in industry,” he said. “It never occurred to me
that the Army would allow me the opportunity to use science and math. To my
surprise, once I got here to the Army, I began to see how there were practical
ways in which science and math were being used.”
Science and math are inherent in
everything that a soldier wears or uses, including protective masks and suits,
respirators and agent detectors, he said.
“All [the equipment] has elements of
science and math, from the material, to engineering, to how we will sustain the
equipment in order to ensure it meets the requirements,” he said.
Christian earned a master of business
administration from Texas A&M University-Texarkana in 1985 and then worked
as a test director for Aberdeen Test Center, formerly known as Combat Systems
Test Activity, at APG. In 1988, he transferred to ECBC’s Detection Directorate
as a producibility engineer before transitioning to the Physical Protection
Directorate in 1992.
SHARING
CBRN EXPERTISE
Christian emphasizes the importance of
international collaboration and cooperation in countering the threat of CBRN
attacks. He serves as head of the U.S. delegation to the NATO Joint CBRN
Defense Capabilities Development Group, Physical Protection Sub-group, which is
responsible for developing and maintaining operational and technical standards
for individual and collective protection materiel for NATO nations.
“My role is to ensure that the position
of the United States, especially that of the Army and ECBC, transitions into
the working aspects of the group,” he said. “One of the key roles that I play
is the lead for many of the technical engineering publications that are
pertinent to the area of individual and collective protection.”
The expertise of U.S. military
scientists and engineers in CBRN matters is essential for the international
community’s preparation against threats, Christian said.
“It is important for the United States
to collaborate with other nations, allied nations as well as those within NATO,
to counter the threat of the use of chemical warfare agents because the U.S. is
at the forefront of providing capabilities, knowledge and expertise,” he said.
“The threat of chemical and biological agents is one that is now global.
“We have seen a number of countries that
that not only have the capability but also have the interest of harming others,
including Americans. It is very important that we, together with other nations,
leverage resources to ensure all the best capabilities [are] available to Warfighters
and civilians to protect themselves in the event they face a chemical attack.”
ADVANCING
CBRN PROTECTION
The Protection Engineering Division,
which Christian leads, supports the mission of the Joint Project Manager for
Protection and TACOM-Life Cycle Management Command, Chemical Biological Product
Support Integration Directorate. The division provides life cycle acquisition,
engineering and sustainment support to these customers.
Key examples of the work include the
generation of acquisition documentation, development of technical data and the
review of equipment performance by analyzing technical data packages, product
acceptance data and performance specifications.
“We ensure the equipment performs the
way it is expected in the area of individual and collective protection [by]
reviewing technical data, corrections to the equipment as we see it is
appropriate, and also working hand-in-hand with the manufacturers to ensure
that the corrections are made and equipment continues to be producible,
sustainable, and survivable,” he said.
Christian described the advancements
made by ECBC scientists and engineers for soldier protection against CBRN
hazards. His division is responsible for individual protection, including
respirators and respirator filters, and collective protection, including
filtration; barrier material; contamination control areas; and fixed-site,
mobile, and transportable shelters.
“We’re looking at lighter weight,
low-burden types of materials on suits,” he said. “As we go forward looking at
the transition of better respirators, the ones we have fielded, like those in
the Joint Service General Purpose Masks, provide technologies that allow for
better eyesight, less resistance, more [comfort], more efficient drinking and
communication systems, as well as an excellent platform that is suitable for
the transition to advance technologies as they mature.
“In the area of collective protection
[for soft-walled shelters and tents], we are looking at lighter material that
can serve as a barrier by itself or also having a capability of [being]
self-detoxifying. That type of material will provide the added capability that
will not require a separate liner-barrier material [added to the standard
shelter or tent] to protect the Warfighter in that toxic-free area. In the area
of filtration, we are looking at new absorbents that are going to be more
flexible than the standard carbon that we [now] use and [that] also can be
tailored to the specific toxic industrial chemical.”
OPPORTUNITIES
TO GROW IN THE ARMY
Christian, a native of Puerto Rico, said
he is appreciative of the chance to contribute to the missions of ECBC and the
Army. He also praised the opportunities for advancement within the Army.
“As a minority in ECBC, I truly believe
that this organization has given me all the opportunities that I could
imagine,” he said. “Along the way, I received the support of many mentors who
cared about me and allowed me to grow.”
“I never felt any kind of barriers.
Instead, a number of doors opened that allowed me to become the person I am
today. I consider ECBC my home. I truly believe I have more to offer and the
road doesn’t end for me here. We have a mission to accomplish, and I believe
that I can be one of the key players to get it done.
By Mr. Dan Lafontaine (RDECOM)
Information for this article provided by
www.army.mil
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