Profile, Maj. Gen. Robert W. Chesnut

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Maj. Gen. Robert W. Chesnut
By Capt. Rebecca P. Leggieri
Public Affairs and Liaison Directorate
Office of the Chief, Army Reserve
WASHINGTON ? It started out as just another routine tour of duty for an Army Reserve general. On Sept. 10, 2001, Maj. Gen. Robert W. Chesnut left his wife at their home and business in Tupelo, Miss., for a four-day tour of duty in Washington, D.C., as he had done for the past 21 months.

This time, he would speak at a meeting of the Army Reserve Forces Policy Committee (ARFPC) in the Pentagon, filling in for his active counterpart, Maj. Gen. Peter Chiarelli.

During a break from that meeting, Chesnut left his office and headed a short distance away. He was going to the office of Maj. Cole Hogan, his executive officer, and escort, Maj. Pat Richardson, when a hijacked Boeing 757 crashed into the Pentagon.

The shock wave blew him off the escalator. He could see people in the corridors blown up against the walls or rolling on the floor. He tried to fight his way to the hallway where he left his escort to check on him but was swept out of the building by the crowd.

The next few hours were spent helping wherever he could and looking for his staff. He eventually found Richardson, who had escaped the blast due to stepping into an office seconds before the plane hit. Hogan was not so lucky. He was in his office and that section on the E wing of the Pentagon took most of the blast.

?It?s one of those things when you look back and say if I hadn?t done this or done that, I might not be here,? said Chesnut quietly.

Chesnut is currently assigned to Headquarters, Department of the Army, as the Assistant G-3 (Individual Mobilization Augmentee) for Mobilization and Reserve Affairs. Before Sept. 11, this position required traveling to the Pentagon from his hometown of Tupelo three to four days at a time, two to three times a month. Since those horrible moments of terror, Chesnut has been in the eye of the storm for the Army. He works night and weekend shifts in the Army Operations Center (AOC) as the general duty officer for the Crisis Action Team. The Crisis Action Team, otherwise known as the CAT, consists of 30 plus officers representing each area of the Army and was stood up within minutes of the Sept. 11 attacks at the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

His orders are open-ended, he said. That means they could last as long as two years under the partial mobilization signed by President George W. Bush.

Chesnut is no stranger to serving his country in times of need, as evidenced by a thirty-three year career that started in Vietnam as a platoon leader, where his service and valor earned him two Bronze Star Medals and a Purple Heart. It took him through Operation Desert Storm and peaked, so far, with a promotion ceremony on the CAT floor on January 18, which stopped activities for 15 minutes to allow this soldier away from home to pin on his second star.

?That?s where all the people I work with are and they?re mainly Reserve or Guard. I think of us as a team,? said Chesnut, who is also a senior financial advisor and a certified financial planner with American Express Financial Advisors.

An ordinary day for Chesnut begins at six p.m. when he reports for his shift at the Army Operations Center. The big event is the 7:30 a.m. Army Staff Brief. Rehearsal begins at four a.m. for the 30-35 minute briefing. The senior leadership of the Army, including Secretary of the Army Thomas E. White and the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Eric Shinseki, attends each briefing.

In the first months after the terrorist attacks, most of the efforts were focused toward homeland security, specifically involving military support of civilian authorities. The Director of Military Support is the executive agent for the Secretary of Defense to provide joint (all services) support to civil authorities. Any civilian request for military support, such as force protection, is sent to DOMS, who then sends it to the Secretary?s office, who works the request through the CAT to get the right military unit to the right place. These requests consumed most of the CAT?s assets in the first two months, said Chesnut, but then as the war on terrorism gained momentum; more time was spent with homeland defense, force protection, U.S. Central Command and other areas.

Since the New Year, the focus is shifting once again, this time to new areas that cross boundaries of unified commands.

?When you look at the television and see we have only a few thousand troops in the theater of operations, people don?t realize out lines of communication are so extended, and we have used our strategic airlift capability to get everything in theater - it?s quite sophisticated and complex to get it all in place,? explained Chesnut.

Another of his areas of interest is mobilization. The mobilization branch of the CAT develops the mobilization request and works closely with the general duty officer who approves the mobilization orders for the reserve components but only after ?a lot of give and take, mission analysis by U.S. Forces Command, discussion with Joint Staff, the unified commands and various Army representatives? said Chesnut.

Mobilization issues seems like a natural task assigned to an Army Reserve general, but Chesnut feels there is no distinction between the components on his watch.

?It takes a while for everyone to gain your confidence and not having done this full time, it takes a while to get into the flow, to get an overarching feel for the whole picture," said Chesnut. "I?m not surprised at the high level of talent in our reserve component soldiers because I?ve worked with the Guard and Reserve for 30 odd years in training, seen their ability and know how effective all three components work together as a team.?

?The Army Reserve has really shown the active component what volunteerism and being 'twice the citizen' is all about,? said Maj. Will Flucker, an active component soldier who is assigned to the Office of the Chief, Army Reserve, and now ironically occupies the Army Reserve desk for the Crisis Action Team.

Flucker added that the ?reserve guys? always raise their hands first when something needs to get done. He also commented on Chesnut's style of CAT leadership.

Out of the three ?CAT GOs? (Crisis Action Team General Officers) Gen. Chesnut?s style is quiet and unassuming, Flucker said. "When he asks you for an answer to a question, you almost feel as though you outrank him, he is so polite. However, woe to him who does not know the answer or take Gen. Chesnut seriously," he said.

Slowly over the past few months, the night shift?s active soldiers have been replaced by reservists. Currently 80% of the personnel are reserve component soldiers.

In talking with his soldiers, Chesnut found out that many have left jobs, financial opportunities, and small children and just left their lives on hold. They come from all branches of the reserve components: Troop Program Unit, Individual Readiness Reserve and Individual Mobilization Augmentee.

?And it is impossible to figure out who is which - as far as the total Army, the work product is there," says Chesnut with pride in his voice. "I think given the time and training to get acclimated, the reserve has done very well.?