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To allow continued fighting on a poisoned battlefield, Moscow's troops are all equipped with protective suits and masks. Tanks and armored personnel carriers are tightly sealed and carry filters to protect the crews against poisoned air and dust. Soviet forces train extensively in C.W. techniques at more than 1,000 ranges, sometimes even with active toxic agents. It is believed, in fact, that accidents during such exercises have been killing about a dozen or so soldiers annually.
In contrast to the impressive U.S.S.R. force, the U.S. so far has only about 2,000 C.W. experts. Concedes a Pentagon official: "We've been slow getting started." But now the nearly defunct Army Chemical Corps has been resuscitated, and special chemical-defense units are being organized as quickly as experts become available. Current plans call for a C.W. company to be assigned to each of the Army's 16 divisions and four independent brigades and regiments; six of these companies are already in the field and five more are to be added this year.
The major U.S. effort is on individual survival. U.S. forces in Europe now have what the Pentagon calls "chemical ensembles"—masks, rubber gloves, boots, and overgarments made up of interwoven fiber layers over a black charcoal lining. This garment traps noxious elements. Troops wearing chemical ensembles can eat, talk and eliminate body wastes without exposure to toxic chemicals, but the outfits are still very cumbersome. Soldiers in them grow hot and uncomfortable. Sighting a weapon, operating the tiny knobs and switches clustered on sophisticated arms, using the radio, even talking mask to mask become major efforts. To a squad or platoon leader, his masked men all suddenly look alike. Commands become hard to understand and it is often difficult for a leader to get his men's attention. In C.W. exercises, in fact, squad leaders have had to throw stones at G.I.s to get them to turn around to see hand and arm signals.
The Army needs up to $1 billion over the next five years for C.W. offense and defense. Some experts argue that the best defense is the threat of chemical retaliation.
They point out that even Hitler was deterred from using his formidable C.W. arsenal because the Allies threatened to respond in kind. Without a credible chemical counterpunch, it becomes more likely that the U.S. would have to resort to tactical nuclear arms as a response to a Soviet chemical attack.