Proud of American Chemistry

36 a m e r i c a n c h e m i s t r y m a y / j u n e 2 0 1 0

Chemistry can be hard to love—that is, until

your life depends on it. Last year, I was

deployed with Task Force Keystone, a U.S.

Army National Guard brigade stationed at

bases across southern Iraq. We were the

first combat aviation brigade assigned to

Tallil Ali Air Base—also known as Camp Adder—in the

hottest, most desolate region of the country.

We arrived in May 2009 after training in Oklahoma and

Kuwait, just before the start of the annual dust storm

season. By the end of the month, 2,000 soldiers were flying

and maintaining nearly 100 Black Hawk, Apache, and

Chinook helicopters. From then until January 2010, we

flew thousands of combat missions in the worst weather

Iraq has to offer—and every soldier in the brigade came

home safely.

point of view

Proud American Chemistry Chemistry

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By Neil Gussman

Phot

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Nei

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m a y / j u n e 2 0 1 0 a m e r i c a n c h e m i s t r y 37

point of view

There are many reasons all of the pilots, crew chiefs, door

gunners, and mechanics were kept safe, but for those of us

who make our living in the chemical industry, one especially

apparent reason was the quality of our equipment. With

nearly 100 helicopters flying combat missions day and night,

we never had a crash.

While I was in Iraq, I wrote about the Downed Aircraft

Rescue Team (DART) missions. These teams, which are part of

every aviation unit, have spare parts, tools, and weapons

staged in a container at the airstrip ready to go as soon as

they get the word from a disabled aircraft.

The Keystone brigade’s DART flew only a handful of

missions. And in every case, the aircraft was down because a

component failure was sensed by electronics before it could

lead to a crash.

The American aircraft industry makes great helicopters.

The AH-64D Apaches and CH-47 Chinooks are made by

Boeing and the UH-60 Black Hawks by Sikorsky. Hundreds of

subcontractors provide components for them.

The chemical industry provides the ingredients used to

build and maintain military aircraft, vehicles, and weapons.

Army aviation units follow rigorous maintenance schedules

for all of the aircraft, adjusting and replacing vital components.

Those maintenance schedules would not keep the aircrews

safe if the components failed due to low quality.

Plants manufacture thousands of chemical products

that go into formulating lubricants, forming metals,

molding plastics, and creating coatings to make the high

quality possible.

I am not saying this from a safe distance. I was a passenger

on several medical evacuation (medevac) flights, sitting

behind the door gunner in a Black Hawk, on missions flying

through the awful thousand-foot-high dust clouds that blow

out of the dry lake beds in southern Iraq. I could worry about

choking from the dust, but I did not have to worry about

the aircraft falling from the sky. Many of our pilots were on

their second or third deployment, had flown under heavy

fire during the bad days of the war, and were supremely

confident in their helicopters.

In the same way, I knew I could rely on my personal

equipment. I boarded the aircraft wearing both a Kevlar®

helmet and a 35-pound Kevlar vest with ceramic armor

plates, and carrying an M16A4 rifle.

As much as I hated wearing that vest where summer

temperatures reach 133° F in the shade, I knew it would

protect me, because the Kevlar fiber and every other

compound that went into my protective gear were made

under the supervision of the Six Sigma specialists who

maintain quality standards. I used to think these single-

minded men and women were a little crazy, but now that my

Task Force Keystone used Boeing-built CH-47 Chinooks in

thousands of missions in Iraq and never suffered a crash.



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ACC Annual MeetingColorado Springs, Colo.June 6-9, 2010The American Chemistry Council’s (ACC’s) annual meeting is an invitation-only event, bringing together executives from U.S. and global chemical companies with the council’s membership each June to discuss business issues affecting the industry, meet with current and future customers and colleagues, and provide input into ACC’s current activities.

Polyurethanes 2010 Technical ConferenceHouston, TexasOctober 11-13, 2010ACC’s Center for the Polyurethanes Industry (CPI) promotes the sustainable growth of the polyurethane industry in accordance with the principles of Responsible Care® by identifying and managing issues that could affect the industry, working in cooperation with user groups. This yearly conference features many technical sessions on various topics, with more than 85 technical papers presented over three days. Paper submissions are now being accepted. For more information, visit www.americanchemistry.com/polyurethane.

ACC Chairman’s DinnerNaples, Fla.November 4, 2010Each year, ACC hosts a celebratory dinner honoring the leadership and dedication of its Chairman of the Board. Members, partners, and corporate supporters participate in this event. For more information about how to participate in the dinner, please call ACC’s meeting services team.

To register today, call (703) 741-5131 or visit

www.americanchemistry.com/events.

Sponsorship and Exhibit Opportunities Available!

&meetingsevents

life has depended on them, I am ready

to buy a round of drinks at the next Six

Sigma conference.

A matter of historyI first enlisted at the end of the Vietnam

War, then served for three years in the

late 1970s as a tank commander on

the east-west border in Germany. We

were waiting for what seemed like an

imminent invasion by a million Soviet

troops and their allies.

Much of our intelligence came from

the Arab-Israeli wars in 1967 and 1973.

Hearing how Israel’s army survived while

outnumbered by a determined enemy

by up to 100 to 1 gave us hope. We also

got some comfort from reports about

the reliability of the Soviet-made tanks

of the Arab armies compared to the

American and British tanks used by the

Israeli army.

One in four of the Syrian tanks that

lined up for the invasion of Israel in

1973 did not even make it to the

battle, because of automotive failure.

The engine, transmission, or tracks

failed and the tank became a large,

stationary bombing target.

Tanks are the least reliable vehicles

in any army, requiring hours of

maintenance for every hour of

operation—but the Syrian tanks were

so unreliable, when the Israelis captured

them, they would change out the

drivelines and add American-made

engines, transmissions, and tracks to

the Soviet-made hulls.

All of the parts that went into the

1,760-cubic-inch V-12 twin turbo diesel

engine that powered our M60A1 tanks

were made with parts that could stand

the stress of propelling a 57-ton vehicle

over any terrain. As with the helicopters

in Iraq, excellent engineering was

coupled with the right chemistry for

every component.

Changing viewsEveryone who works in the profession

of chemistry has heard at some time

from a relative or friend who has a

negative view of the industry. The next

time you are confronted about

problems attributed to chemistry, you

can mention that today, more than

100,000 Americans working in rotten

climates far from home have the best

weapons, equipment, and medical care

because the chemical industry supplies

such high-quality materials.

Neil Gussman is Communications Director

for the Chemical Heritage Foundation

(CHF). For more information, visit

www.chemheritage.org.


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