Safety, success highlight ANCA's 18-year history

By Jesse E. Brown, III, Civilian Executive, Anniston Chemical ActivitySeptember 26, 2013

Safety, success highlight ANCA's 18-year history
Donna Vice, an Anniston Chemical Activity employee, places an empty placard on a chemical munitions igloo. The igloo, emptied Sept. 8, 2011, signaled the end of ANCA's storage mission, another milestone in the eventual closure of one of the depot's t... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala. -- I will turn off our lights in Building 363 and lock our doors for the last time Monday. As the 2013 fiscal year ends, so will the 18-year mission of the Anniston Chemical Activity.

ANCA was a new acronym on Anniston Army Depot 18 years ago. However, our mission began 32 years earlier when chemical munitions started arriving here for safe storage. Depot munitions workers handled, stored, monitored and overpacked leakers until ANCA was formed. In 1995, those jobs -- and more -- transferred to ANCA as well as a number of experienced employees.

From those early days through Sept. 30, 2013, everyone associated with the safe storage of chemical munitions at Anniston Army Depot, and ultimately the safe disposal of those munitions, has performed their job professionally and admirably.

They were dedicated to mission success; dedicated to the safety of the work force, community and environment; and dedicated to meeting the requirements of federal and state regulations as well as the provisions of an international treaty.

ANCA was awarded the prestigious U.S. Army Superior Unit Award in October 2004. The citation officially commended ANCA's "meritorious performance of a difficult and challenging mission." That mission involved being responsible for VX and GB nerve agent and mustard (or blister) agent-filled rockets, land mines, mortars and various artillery munitions, as well as bulk agent containers.

There were 661,529 chemical munitions in all. Combined, those munitions held 2,254 tons of agent. It was not an easy job. Anniston was home to one of the most diverse stockpiles in the nation -- comprising more than seven percent of the U.S. chemical munitions stockpile.

In April 1997, the U.S. Senate ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention, a multilateral agreement banning the use or production of chemical weapons. The treaty committed the signatory nations to verifiable destruction of existing chemical weapons stockpiles. With the treaty in place, ANCA's mission expanded to include hosting and assisting teams of inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the international body commissioned to verify the Anniston chemical weapons stockpile quantities and subsequent stockpile destruction.

The Anniston Chemical Activity also played a key role in the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program. The CSEPP program formally linked local Army and surrounding and State-level civilian emergency management agency responders.

Working as a team, responders planned for myriad emergency incidents and coordinated elaborate training exercises with the sole purpose of providing maximum protection to the work force, the community and the environment. The last annual Anniston CSEPP exercise was conducted in March 2011.

In August 2003, ANCA's mission again expanded to include the safe movement of agent-filled munitions and containers to the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility for destruction. ANCA employees made more than 20,000 safe trips moving munitions-filled containers to Building 695 or to the incinerator without an accident. Among the ANCA workforce's duties and responsibilities, loading and moving those munitions was one of the riskiest activities. It is a testimony to the dedication and professionalism of our Anniston Team, within ANCA and throughout the depot, the job was accomplished without incident or accident.

The last chemical munition on Anniston Army Depot was destroyed in September 2011. Our employees have turned in equipment, returned facilities ownership to the depot and verified storage igloos are not a health risk to anyone or anything.

It is now time for ANCA to close. Our positions are going away. Our team members are retiring, moving to other civil service jobs or finding different civilian positions.

Throughout the Anniston chemical munitions stockpile destruction campaign, the men and women of Anniston Chemical Activity worked seamlessly with personnel at the incinerator. Together, we safely and professionally maintained 100 percent surety, security and safety of the Anniston chemical munitions stockpile.

ANCA's record of achievement will stay with us for a lifetime. So will the sincere appreciation for all supporting agencies, organizations and individuals who teamed with us during these many years.

We made possible an historic accomplishment which contributed to fulfillment of U.S. international treaty commitments. And we made Anniston a safer place in which to live and work.

As always, the Army and the community were right to trust the employees of the Anniston Chemical Activity to do their job properly and do it well.