THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 7, 1996 TAG: 9610070071
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ANNISTON, ALA. LENGTH: 32 lines
The Army has activated a unit to detect biological warfare agents in combat, something it acknowledged it could not do effectively during the Persian Gulf War.
``This is the very first biological detection company in our country,'' said Maj. Gen. Ralph Wooten, commander of eastern Alabama's Fort McClellan. ``If necessary, we have a unit that will be immediately deployable.''
In the 1991 Gulf War the U.S. military found itself facing a foe that had developed several types of biological weapons.
The military concluded after the war that Iraq never used any of the weapons, such as anthrax, but it conceded that it had no way to effectively detect biological weapons.
``Our Achilles' heel was biological warfare,'' Wooten said Saturday.
The new 310th Chemical Company, a reserve unit at Fort McClellan, has biological detection laboratories on reinforced Humvee vehicles. Each of the 35 labs weighs 10,000 pounds and costs taxpayers about $1 million, officials said.
The Biological Integrated Defense Systems can detect four types of biological agents, but the Army won't say which ones. Sgt. Dennis New of the 310th said diseases used to be detected by sick soldiers.
``If you had lots of people with the same symptoms, then you would know it had hit you,'' New said.
KEYWORDS: GULF WAR ILLNESS by CNB