On June 15th, The Institute of World Politics hosted Major Brett Carey for his lecture, “Chem/Bio Disablement Team 4,” which highlighted how he and his team supported the Iraq Survey Group in the spring and summer of 2004.
Major Brett Carey served a 6-month tour in Iraq during the spring of 2004. Along with Major Brett Carey’s long list of accomplishments and successful mission assignment record, he has attended multiple military schools. In addition to Major Carey’s extensive military accomplishments, he received his Bachelors of Science from Excelsior College of New York and a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering with specialization in Explosives Engineering from The New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. He is currently a candidate for his Ph.D. from Missouri University of Science and Technology with a focus in Explosives Engineering.
Major Carey related his story to his audience, beginning with his time on a Technical Escort Unit that specialized in Chemical-Biological Disablement. During his deployment, he and his bio/chem team were on a mission to find Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) hidden in Iraq during the second Iraq war. Major Brett Carey and his team had many sources that led them to potential locations of WMDs. After many hours of digging holes in the desert, and having to listen to unreliable sources, they found many weapons; however, what they found were pre-Gulf War chemical weapons. Being trained to deal with chemical weapons, along with the team’s academic expertise, they dealt with all the problems they faced, finding and discarding the weapons appropriately.
One point of discussion in Major Carey’s lecture was the ion scanning technology he used during his deployment to Iraq. Major Carey’s use of the device was the first documented photograph of an electronic-detection platform for finding chemical weapons in a war.
Major Carey said that his deployment allowed for a better understanding of the “Weapons of Mass Destruction” narrative within the policy community and the general public. He hoped that those in attendance gained by his experience.