text: ________________________________________________________________________________Chapter 11
  STAFF RESPONSIBILITY
  11-5. On the functional staff of an operational-level headquarters (such as an
  OSC), the chief of WMD is responsible for planning the offensive use of
  WMD, including NBC weapons. (See the subsections on Release under Chemical
  Warfare, Nuclear Warfare, and Biological Warfare below.) The WMD staff element
  advises the command group and the primary and secondary staff on issues per-
  taining to NBC employment. The WMD element receives liaison teams from any
  subordinate or supporting units that contain WMD delivery means.
  11-6. NBC defense comes under the chief of force protection. The force pro-
  tection element of the functional staff may receive liaison teams from any
  subordinate or supporting chemical defense units.3 However, those units can
  also send liaison teams to other parts of the staff, as necessary (including, for
  example, the chief of reconnaissance).
  CHEMICAL WARFARE
  11-7. The OPFOR is equipped, structured, and trained to conduct both offen-
  sive and defensive chemical warfare. It is continually striving to improve its
  chemical warfare capabilities. It believes that an army using chemical weap-
  ons must be prepared to fight in the environment it creates. Therefore, it views
  chemical defense as part of a viable offensive chemical warfare capability. It
  maintains a large inventory of individual and collective chemical protection and
  decontamination equipment. (See the NBC Protection portion of this chapter.)
  WEAPONS AND AGENTS
  11-8. Chemical delivery means include aircraft, multiple rocket launchers
  (MRLs), artillery, mines, rockets, and missiles. Virtually all OPFOR indirect fire
  weapons can deliver chemical agents. Other possible delivery means could in-
  clude SPF, affiliated insurgent or terrorist organizations, or civilian sympathizers.
  11-9. One way of classifying chemical agents according to the effect they
  have on persons. Thus, there are two major types, each with subcategories.
  Lethal agents, categorized by how they attack and kill personnel, include
  nerve, blood, blister, and choking agents. Nonlethal agents include incapaci-
  tants and irritants. (See FM 7-100.2 for more details on these agent types.)
  11-10. Chemical agents are also categorized according to their persistency.
  Generally, the OPFOR would use persistent agents on areas it does not plan
  to enter and nonpersistent agents where it does.
  11-11. Persistent agents can retain their disabling or lethal characteristics from
  days to weeks, depending on environmental conditions. Aside from producing
  mass casualties initially, persistent agents can produce a steady rate of attrition
  and have a devastating effect on morale. They can seriously degrade the perform-
  ance of personnel in protective clothing or impose delays for decontamination.
  11-12. Nonpersistent agents generally last a shorter period of time than per-
  sistent agents, depending on weather conditions. The use of a nonpersistent
  3 Although the OPFOR calls these units are “chemical defense” or “chemical reconnaissance,” their functions actually en-
  compass nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) defense or reconnaissance.