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My Name: Perry F. "Buzz" Brake

My E-Mail Address: PudlJumper@worldnet.att.net.

I am happy in my current position with the Washington Department of Ecology, so I am not going to post a resume as if I were seeking employment elsewhere. Instead, I will just give you a brief run down of my employment history.

My first real job was with the Washington Department of Forestry (so called at the time) working for one summer at the Elk Creek Ranger Station on the Toutle River west of Mt. St. Helens. For the next five summers, I worked for the Weyerhaeuser Company maintaining five parks in their Mount St. Helens Tree Farm. This job required a lot of hard work making sure fire wood was available, garbage cans were empty, outhouses were clean, and roads were in good repair. It also involved a lot of contact with the public who came from miles away to enjoy Weyerhaeuser's free hospitality.

My next real job was working for Uncle Sam...a job that lasted 25 years. After going through the U.S. Army Air Defense School at Fort Bliss (El Paso), Texas, I went to Germany as a 2nd Lieutenant. I was assigned to a Nike Hercules batallion, the mission of which was to destroy enemy planes before they could deliver their bombs on friendly soil. After doing two years with that "combat" branch, a requirement for Regular Army officers, I reverted to my basic branch which was Chemical Corps.

My first Chemical Corps assignment was with the 275th Chemical Detachment, an analytical laboratory that, among other things, monitored the U.S. stockpile of chemical munitions stored in Germany. At the time, the fact that we had such munitions in Germany was a closely held secret, but their presence was later divulged and the munitions were removed from the country. I made Captain while with the 275th Chemical Detachment.

After finishing my 3-year tour in Germany, I was assigned as a student to the U.S. Army Chemical School at Fort McClellan, Alabama. From there, it was off to Vietnam. I have chronicled that part of my life in "One Soldier's View of the Vietnam War" which you can access using the hot link on the "About Me" page.

After Vietnam, I was assigned to the headquarters of the Third U.S. Army at Fort McPherson (Atlanta), Georgia as a staff officer in the section responsible for defense of troops against enemy chemical, biological, and nuclear attack. Two years into that job I was selected to go back to school and pick up my Masters of Science in chemistry. I had originally applied to and been accepted by the University of Illinois, but since I had bought a house in Atlanta, I changed that plan and attended Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) instead. I received my MS in Organic Chemistry in 1971, a few months after the birth of our son, Curtis.

The next assignment was a 2-year stint at the Army Chemical School, Fort McClellan (Anniston), Alabama as an instructor and supervisor of other instructors teaching nuclear, biological, and chemical defense, and also a laboratory course where soldiers were taught how to identify chemical agents in the field. I made Major while at the Chemical School.

My next assignment was to the Army Materials and Mechanics Research Center (AMMRC) in Watertown, Massachusetts. This was a very enjoyable "research and development" assignment where I was able to use not only my leadership abilities as deputy director of the Organic Materials Lab, but also my education as a chemist. Many of the techniques used to produce reinforced plastics (fiberglass, graphing reinforced composites) so extensively used in automobiles and other structures were pioneered at AMMRC and comparable centers in the Navy and Air Force.

Now approximately 15 years into my Army career, I had a yearning to return to Germany. I volunteered to return. and was assigned to the 59th Ordnance Brigade in Pirmasens, Germany. The 59th was the Army's custodian of all Army nuclear munitions in Europe. This job required me to travel not only in Germany, but also in Belgium, The Netherlands, and Italy. This might help you understand why I say on my "Vacation Photo Album" page that my entire life has been one big vacation! I made Lieutenant Colonel whiile at the 59th Ordnance Brigade.

Following that three-year tour, the Army sent me to the Tank Automotive Command in Warren, Michigan. There I was manager of the NBC Development Project Office, a small section with the responsibility of making sure our combat vehicles were able to operate effectively in a nuclear, biological, and chemical environment. One of the most rewarding accomplishments in that position was to convince the Army decision makers that the Abrams M-1 Main Battle Tank and other "fighting" vehicles needed a "hybrid" chemical defense system. In older armored vehicles, to fight in a chemical environment, the crew had to wear full protective clothing including a mask. This greatly restricts the crew's ability to do its job, but it does allow them to go into combat with hatches open, which under some conditions is favorable to fighting with hatches closed. Another type of chemical defense, called an "overpressure" system would require closed hatches. The "hybrid" system allowed use of masks, OR use of overpressure so the crew could choose the defensive posture depending on the tactical situation. I was also able to convince decision makers that under either condition...masks and protective suits with hatches open, or overpressure with hatches closed...would cause a significant heat burden on crews required to fight in a desert or jungle environment. The answer to this problem as to provide air conditioning for the entire vehicle interior. Needless to say, this went against the grain of Army thinking, but after very graphic demonstrations of crews trying to fight with closed hatches at Yuma Proving Ground in the Arizona desert, the Army agreed and the M-1 tank was produced with air conditioning. I have never read an after action report on the Gulf War, but I would imagine there were many crews of armored vehicles that were thankful for that air conditioning...not just for comfort in the desert, but for survival.

Again I yearned for one more tour in Germany before retirement. I was assigned to the U.S. European Command (EUCOM) headquartered in Patch Barracks (Stuttgart), Germany. EUCOM is a joint Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine command that controls a U.S. forces in Europe as the name implies. I was the command Chemical Officer and responsible for planning retaliatory chemical warfare. Fortunately, the plans I worked on were never used.

It always did my heart good to see the Stars and Stripes flying by the flag of the Federal Republic of Germany as pictured above, a sure sign of our friendship and alliance.

Now with 23 years in the Army, it was time to plan a "retirement" assignment in my geographical location of choice. At my request, I was assigned to Fort Lewis, Washington (near Tacoma). There I worked on the staff of the commanding general of I Corps, General Schwartzkopf, as the assistant Corps Chemical Officer. For a part of that tour, my brother, Jack was also assigned to a Fort Lewis unit. This was the first assignment where we were stationed anywhere close to each other.

One Friday in late March, 1988, with my boss and my brother at my side, I saluted the flag during retreat in front of I Corps HQ at Fort Lewis. The next Monday, I reported to work at the Quality Assurance Section of Washington's Department of Ecology in Manchester, a small town directly across Puget Sound from Seattle. My job there is to manage a small office that accredits laboratories that analyze water, soil, and other samples and report data to Department of Ecology. The 450 labs in our Lab Accreditation program are spread throughout the United States and include a handful of labs in Canada. With a few exceptions, those labs must be visited (audited) every three years, so the vacation continues!