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Show o Page 6 THE DESERET SAMPLER, Friday, February 29, 1980 i - nemm V Pertiaps the most intriguing division in Mater- iel Test Directorate (MTD) and perhaps the least understood is the Chemical Laboratory Division (Chem Lab) located in the Ditto Technical Center of Dugway Proving Ground. Once inside the stringent security net sur- rounding the facilities, you11 find no Dr. Franken-stein- s. . . no Jekyll and Hyde type characters lurkfrom place to place with smoking beakers of ing mysterious solutions. Instead, youll find 18 civilians ranging from chemists to typists, 3 commissioned Army Chemioal Corps Officers, and 14 en-- . listed soldiers. . . 35 dedicated, professional' REAL people.' The Division is broken down into two components: Chemical Assay Branch under Chief Jack t' VanLiere, and Chemical Technology Branch headed by Dr. Frank Bagley. Though each branch has its own duties and responsibilities, the Division Chief, Dr. Kenneth H runner looks on the whole Division as one team. We asked Dr. Brauner to describe the mission of the Division: Our mission is to analyze all samples ob- from any of the test programs at the Prov- Ground. We are also tasked to perform most of ing the tests involving chemical agents, that is tests of items primarily. Protective clothing, protective, gloves gas masks, gas mask canisters, the various detector kits that are designed to tell the soldiers in the field when there is a chemical agent in their vicinity, and the alarms which have been developed which essentially the same thing, but which tell them in real time that there is a cloud of agent which is attacking them, all of these need to be tested with authentic chemical agents at known concentre- tious, and most of these tests are conducted in the lalxiratories. Others benefit too We also have the function to: develope test procedures and techniques that involve chemicals; identify simulants that can be used in open air field tests, arid a variety of miscellaneous tasks as well. lvc had a commander come to me occasionally to analyze a sample of 2 Fuel oil to see if it was up to specifications. Other petroleum related work we do occasionally is analyzing samples from the airfield. We test lubricant samples for metal content to tell exactly what parts are wearing out and how fast in were here an engine. When the Air Force for their Operation Red Flag exercises, this had to I done at the end of each day on each engine, and the aircraft couldnt be flown again until the re- suits were complete. We helped the Air Force ana- lyst do these tests There are other.things that, while were cap- aide of doing themtheyre just not cost effective for us to do, for example, sampling the water in the.' wells on post. It.fc.far .more economical to ship these samples out to a Salt Lake Lab which specializes in this sort of thing. Virtually all of our work is tied to some program that is conducted here at the Proving Ground, about 98 percent, Id say, is on customer projects, Brauner added. About half of the test program requires some amount of lalioratory research technology to be done to develop procedures and techniques so that programs can actually be conducted. The other half are standard tests, the procedures are already in hand, and we can just procede to conduct them F-1- 5s i aCnOOIS ns They bring problems We give them soliitions and I defy anyone' to try and cover all the bases and to define every possibility of exposure. When a situation that got missed does surface, we revise the procedure to insure it wont happen again. What words does Brauner have for those who fear the labs presence, or the mission it performs: I and my family have lived here at Dugway for 16 years. If I had any : personal concern of hazard to them, I sure as hell wouldnt keep them here Besides, we have cleaner air here than those people in Salt Lake ever thought of having. tl,e niSl SieP We asked Dr. Brauner how he would classify drooling that the enlisted soldiers get prior to their assignment to his division. I think its sufficient at. present. A great deal of what we do 'doesnt require, an extensive knowledge of chemistry, but it does require a conscientious approach to doing your job and understand- ing the terms, chemical terms, use of the equipthat" enlisted All of like. the ment and the people we have have gone through the Chemical School at Aberdeen and that basically teaches them the fundamental operations of a chemistry lab. A lot of what they learn there we just dont do here, but it does give them some background so that the things that we AMI doing here are not all that foreign to them. . A parting plea for understanding h - An NCOs perspective A lot of the time the fault is not here at DugWe asked SSG Sylvester Thpmpson, the but rather one of the governments inability to NCOIC of the enlisted personnel in Chem Lab way, Division what happens when an enlisted service-taine- d get anything done quickly in a peacetime atmosphere. member is assigned to the lab. We are one of the units of MTD that gets inenlisted each is The first thing that happens volved in the conduct of test programs. We cannot person is assigned to a Chemist on a one cm one stand alone, we need the support of all the other sis, or, if a particular test needs it, more than one branches, and other directorates pn Dugway to may be assigned to the project. It may seem that they are washing a lot of keep going strong. We thanked Dr. Brauner for his time and he samplers and labeling a lot of bubblers, but it takes added this one final thought: Im very much a fan lab. The time to establish yourself in the military having somebody know as much about us as pos-d- o assist the Chemists in many facets of the preparasible. . . then tion and conduct of a test, as they learn more, they ., theyre not working in ignorance . erm One of the. problems we constantly have is with the supply, system. For example, when a chemist is doing applied research' and his experiments indie,,, he has a need for Chemical A, he needs it now, not 20 days from now.- In many instances the research just cant go on until he gets that when they make decisions about us. get more. The opportunities are many and the Chemists are great in showing us the equipment and training us on it. . . As we progress we get more and more responsibility, we get to where we can conduct most aspects of a given project and, while its always under the chemists supervision, we get to do it. SP4 Stauffer, for example, is now a specialist in the operation of the robot chemist, a machine that analyzes many samples against a given set of norms automatically. He now runs most of the tests that require the use of that highly specialized piece of equipment. Its a unique learning experience. We gain the hands-o- n training and the experience in the lab on sort of an apprenticeship basis. r Mswia 5- - a $ . i A issay Branchs Lab much of the field analytical work goes on behind this door. ' 'Ive been to other installations and labs throughout the world where there was a high concentration of civilian to mihtaiy personnel, and me tha thcre a higher degree of between the two groups than any of coopeHn ' them. ach Its reay to wonderful to see the chemists 1,8 the opportunities we have, Most of us really like our jobs here, Officers bring fresh ideas-- I . ' . We asked Dr. Brauner to explain the role of the commissioned officers assigned to the division. .oced degree The office usually hv. an Dr. Ken. in one of the physical sciences, primarily Che Brauner keeps in close contact neth mistry. They are usually in the same professional with the Proving Grounds Scientific category as most of our civilians. Director. The Civilians do have the advantage that dem Lab Division Chief Dr. Kenneth Brauner checks one of the many reports that cross his desk every day. theyre here for extended periods of time. . . they dont move in a year and a half or two like the of-t- he ficer or enlisted do, and they do provide the con- tinuity. The Officers, on the other hand, have the advantage that they come to us with new viewpoints, generally a more contemporary training, most Peoples Backgrounds important come to us I believe from ROTC, and were their The people here have a background in scien- first employment. They challenge some of our old tific approaches, how to conduct research, how to ideas and sometimes this change is necessary. They ask questions in a scientific manner, devise the ex- come to us and prove that some of the ways weve done things can be done better. periments to give them an answer, get the answer always and then draw a conclusion' about it. Though their What about the hazards We asked both Brauner and Thompson what backgrounds are basically in Chemistry, they're more like problem solvers. it warlike working with' some of the deadliest things in the military arsenal. One example of this, that l show on the tours Thompson said, There are times youll work of the Lai) now going on for English employees, is with these agents, but there are all the protections the one where we filled shotgun shells with agent you could want. Its like driving a car, he added, and various simulants to determine which simulant 'if youre a safe driver, youll survive, the same when youre working with agents, if you fol-th- c would exhibit most closely the characteristics of 8 and know what youre doing, you instructions agent when it is disseminated from a jet in aer- - lw wont get into trouble. ial dlspursion testing. . Brauner added, Since Ive been here there shell the simulate to the Using shotgun speed of the aircraft gave us a test norm we could apply have been six accidental exposures to agents, in the lab to help find the proper simulant for the Never has it been serious. In fact, half the times, agent. This was more a problem of applied Physics the only evidence of exposure was the external rather than Chemistry, which shows that we need symptoms, all the clinical tests proved negative. If someone does get exposed, he is removed to lie versatile in our thinking as well. Every time theres any information that we immediately and is only allowed back after hes can obtain that will help us in developing test been completely cleared by a doctor. Usually, in examining an incident, weve procedures or in conducting tests here, we take, found a lapse in procedure. You can write an SOP of can we it. every advantage . . tv . v 4-' ' vw m SP4 Stauffer displays one of the thou- til sands of bubblers used in the cofc tion of air samples in the field. . ' ' u- r . 4 ' V'ij. .. - V- ; K aSi.SCW PV2 Nancy Webster and DPG dier of the Month for . Story and photos Phil Hale : v-- Sol- February 80 PFC Stanley Veitch calibrate a IIYFED Analyzer in one of the Tech- nology Branch Laboratories. by-SS- . lx, r.-'- '- - T .y I ' ' Fi ' I'' 'll j ; . ' r tx . - i t . ; ' iI M I i . 'i I I ' ,! fc',,Sr-- fc'-- AJ wv im i It v . s g . .'it r . I tal w ' ' ns i ; MIA air A P" right, and the h.h feeding infonnrtioo .. v . v r, a- - Mr. Gordon K. Ricks works an fo.flowiniUon in the Assay Branch. .1 H1-' chine capable of automatically eom- - SSStiSiSg;. .a.. - Cr-- |