A branch of the United States Army
. Formed in response to the chemical warfare
of World War I
, it was briefly merged with the Corps of Engineers
during the seventies before it became clear that it was still needed, since everyone and their brother had access to "the poor man's nuke
The Chemical Corps is a branch that most ROTC cadets dread being forcibly assigned to. There are few volunteers. I figure most people just don't relish the though of working with live chemical weapons, which is the main focus of the branch. Chemical agents are the main focus of the chemical corps because they are the most likely to be used against soldiers in the field. While Nuclear and Biological weapons are a concern as well, Bio doesn't work as well (quickly) on soldiers as chemical weapons do and most of our enemies, if they have a nuke, are more likely to spend their limited resources on a more influential target, such as a large civilian city.
Most Chemical Corps Lieutenants are "branch detailed" which means they only work there for a year or two before switching over to something desireable like MI or signal corps. Unlike most lieutenants who start out as platoon leaders and are later assigned to staff as captains, chemical lieutenants start out on staff and are lucky to ever get a platoon leader (PL) slot. A Chemical branch staff officer is assigned to a battalion or higher headquarters and is known as a Chemical Officer or "Chemo" for short.