In accordance with U.S. Federal Law, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri is designated as the central location for all of the Department of Defense's CBRN Operations Training, and is home to the U.S. Army's Chemical Corps Regiment. It was moved from Fort McClellan Alabama after the base was closed by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) in 1999.
The Army CBRN School provides numerous courses for Commissioned Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Initial Entry Soldiers. Numerous international organisations also send students to train at the CBRN School. Additionally, the US Air Force, US Navy, US Coast Guard and US Marine Corps also maintain training elements at Fort Leonard Wood, in partnership with the Army, to train their personnel in CBRN operations.
Fort Leonard Wood and the United States Army CBRN School have facilities, in which to conduct training, such as Chemical Defense Training Facility (or CDTF) where military students from across the globe train and become familiar with nerve agents in realistic scenarios, and conduct training with radiological isotopes and inert biological agents. The Edwin R. Bradley Radiological Teaching Laboratories is one of the few radiological teaching laboratories licensed by the NRC in the Department of Defense. It provides a variety of training in radiological and nuclear defense under the supervision of credentialed scientists.
The newest facility at the CBRN School is the Lieutenant Joseph Terry CBRN Training Facility. Opened in November 2007, the 1LT Joseph Terry Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear (CBRN) Responder Training Facility occupies approximately 22.5 acres (91,000 m2) and provides a state-of-the-art[peacock prose] CBRN Responder Training Campus for Inter-Service and other Agencies as requested. The US Army CBRN School is the lead for all DOD CBRN Response Training. This facility provides unmatched[peacock prose] training opportunities in the fields of CBRN Consequence Management, Hazardous Materials Incident Response, Realistic training venues and other CBRN Response arenas as required. The CBRN School also provides training in Sensitive Site Assessment and Exploitation.
In addition to training, the CBRN School also develops doctrine for Operations, researches and develops materiel requirements, and conducts joint service experimentation as the Joint Combat Developer for the Department of Defense's Chemical and Biological Defense Program.
Official name change
On 11 January 2008, The U.S. Army Chemical School was renamed as The U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear School (USACBRNS). The name change was to encompass, in the title of the school the wide range of training and expertise maintained by the U.S. Army Chemical Corps.
Command
As of August 31, 2024, the Commandant of the U.S. Army CBRN School is Colonel Alexander C. Lovasz. The Assistant Commandant is Colonel Sedrick L. Jackson. The Regimental Command Sergeant Major is CSM David C. Henderson. The Regimental Chief Warrant Officer is CW4 Matthew D. Chrisman.[2]