Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Angel Martinez-Navedo | Brig. Gen. W Bochat, the commanding general of the 20th Chemical, Biological,...... read more read more
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BELCAMP, Md. – The U.S. Department of Defense’s premier Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives (CBRNE) Command selected a retired U.S. Army Chemical Corps colonel who helped to forge the command as the 2024 Defender of Liberty.
The 20th CBRNE Command recognized retired U.S. Army Col. Ray Van Pelt with the prestigious award.
Brig. Gen. W Bochat, the commanding general of the 20th CBRNE Command, presented the award to Van Pelt at a ceremony in Belcamp, Maryland.
Established in 2019 on the command's 15th anniversary, the Defender of Liberty Award is presented to leaders who have made a significant impact on the U.S. military’s only multifunctional and deployable CBRNE command.
Retired Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Richard Cody was the first recipient of the award in 2019 for authoring the memo that led to the creation of the 20th CBRNE Command while serving as the deputy chief of staff of the Army for operations and plans.
Retired Maj. Gen. John C. Doesburg was the 2020 Defender of Liberty and the 2021 Defender of Liberty was retired Maj. Gen. Kevin R. Wendel. Retired Lt. Gen. Leslie C. Smith was the 2022 Defender of Liberty. Command Sgt. Maj. Kenneth Graham, the command’s fifth senior enlisted leader, was the 2023 Defender of Liberty.
Headquartered on Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, in Northeast Maryland’s science, technology and security corridor, the 20th CBRNE Command is home to 75 percent of the active-duty U.S. Army’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear (CBRN) specialists and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technicians, as well as the 1st Global Field Medical Laboratory, CBRNE Analytical and Remediation Activity, Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Coordination Teams and Nuclear Disablement Teams (Infrastructure).
Highly trained Soldiers and Army civilians from the 20th CBRNE Command deploy from 19 bases in 16 states to confront and defeat the world’s most dangerous hazards in support of joint, interagency and multinational operations.
Van Pelt was one of the principal architects behind the establishment of the 20th CBRNE Command and Joint Task Force Weapons of Mass Destruction-Elimination.
Van Pelt served in the Army for 30 years before spending another eight years as an Army civilian at the 20th CBRNE Command.
Van Pelt grew up in an Irish Catholic family in a working-class area of Staten Island in New York City. He was inspired to join the Army by his father and four uncles who served in World War II.
Most of his uncles worked in New York City law enforcement or in the Fire Department. Both of his mother’s parents immigrated from Ireland.
Van Pelt attended college and married his wife, Dianne Van Pelt. After three years of service as an enlisted Army medic, Van Pelt attended Officer Candidate School on Fort Benning, Georgia, and branched into the Chemical Corps. Van Pelt commanded the 14th Chemical Detachment, 10th Chemical Company, 83rd Chemical Battalion and the Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah.
Van Pelt was in the Pentagon on 9/11 and evacuated the building with everyone from his office.
“From that moment on, the threat of asymmetrical attacks against our nation and operating forces became paramount to our national security,” he said. “In the years following 9/11, countering the nexus of terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction became one of our highest national priorities.”
Van Pelt said the 9/11 attacks helped to shift the role of the U.S. Army Chemical Corps from focusing on passive defense measures to supporting the interagency and joint force commander’s mission to find, exploit and disable Weapons of Mass Destruction material, munitions and production capabilities before they were used.
As a lieutenant colonel, Van Pelt served on a working group that eventually built the structure for a Joint Force Command headquarters and the supporting enablers who would conduct this mission for U.S. Central Command.
Van Pelt deployed with the 75th Exploitation Task Force in Baghdad in March 2003, serving as an operations and plans officer for the task force and later as the chief of the Joint Operations Center with the Iraq Survey Group.
“The units comprising the initial Exploitation Task Force did the very best they could, but they had been given a mission for which there was little doctrine, they were rapidly assembled with varied subject matter experts and as a unit they were given no realistic pre-deployment train up and preparation,” said Van Pelt.
After a few months with the Iraq Survey Group, Van Pelt returned to the National Defense University in 2004 and contributed to the NDU development of lessons learned on the DoD’s operational experience with the WMD elimination mission in Iraq.
Van Pelt’s contributions together with those of others, especially Col. Barrett “Barry” F. Lowe, led directly to the Department of Defense and Department of the Army establishing the 20th CBRNE Command and the Standing Joint Task Force Elimination Headquarters.
These new organizations would meet a Department of Defense critical capability gap as stated in the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review by Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz when he said we cannot approach this critical mission set with a “pick up” team.
The U.S. Army activated the 20th Support Command (CBRNE) on October 16, 2004, to consolidate Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear (CBRN) and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) units into one deployable and multifunctional headquarters.
In 2013, the command name was changed to the 20th CBRNE Command to more accurately reflect its mission.
The command celebrated its 20th anniversary last year.
In 2006, after attending the National Defense University and commanding at the Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah, Van Pelt became the operations officer (G3) for the 20th CBRNE Command.
He later served as the 20th CBRNE Command deputy commanding officer.
Van Pelt said the U.S. Army also enabled him to provide well for his family, earn two master’s degrees and travel to 35 countries.
He retired from the U.S. Army in 2009 and worked as a contractor for four months before coming back to 20th CBRNE Command as an Army civilian.
“Within a few months of hanging up my uniform, I found myself coming back to the 20th CBRNE wearing a coat and tie and focused on the same mission set with the same energy, intensity and dedication to service,” he said.
Van Pelt was selected as a Distinguished Member of the U.S. Army Chemical Corps in 2013.
Following a time of discernment and a four-year formation program, Van Pelt was ordained as a Catholic Deacon in the Archdiocese of Baltimore in May 2015.
In February 2018, when Van Pelt retired from civil service with the U.S. Army, he went from serving his nation to serving as a full-time deacon at the pastorate of St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Aberdeen, Maryland, and St. Patrick Catholic Church in Havre de Grace, Maryland.
Deacon Van Pelt focuses on parish and school programs.
He works with military families assigned to Aberdeen Proving Ground and supports veteran’s organizations in the local area.
The Catholic Deacon has traveled to El Salvador, Guatemala, Nigeria and the Dominican Republic to support missionary activities there.
Van Pelt thanked the Soldiers, Army civilians and Army retirees in attendance for their service.
“The values of the Army were absolutely congruent with my personal values of my faith, my family and my upbringing,” said Van Pelt. “I felt that it was a noble profession to serve the United States of America in the United States Army.”
Van Pelt said the U.S. Army owed its Soldiers and their families the best possible leadership.
“Those families expect and demand that their sons and daughters will have leaders with character and courage who will train, equip and prepare them so when they have to go into harm’s way, they will be able to successfully execute their mission, take care of their buddies and return home,” said Van Pelt.
Van Pelt recognized his wife, three daughters, three sons-in-law and six grandchildren.
He said his family had enabled him to serve his nation in uniform and as an Army civilian for nearly four decades combined.
“I have been incredibly blessed in my life, my marriage and my family and I praise God in all things,” said Van Pelt. “I’m just trying to serve God and to serve others.”
| Date Taken: | 02.14.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.14.2025 12:55 |
| Story ID: | 490833 |
| Location: | BELCAMP, MARYLAND, US |
| Hometown: | STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 12,035 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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