What are your fond memories of Protective Mask Confidence Training? The Gas Shack or Tent...

[The Rooster]

I posted this topic because I know in my heart every vet has a unique experience with this subject.

I had no idea prior to joining that we would have to do such a thing..?

It was a complete surprise, among many! lol.. I would even call it... breath taking!

I will relate my own experience with gas chambers... at a latter date.

If anyone wants to share, please do!

Cheers!

[Blacksmith]

Lovely, the gas chamber.  Ours was a physical square building constructed from concrete block.  Inside was maybe 25’x25’ or thereabouts.  
 

They put us in there in maybe six columns of 5-6 recruits deep.  There were two doors on this building:  The one we came in, and the exit on the opposite corner.  In terms of cadre, we had three DIs.  One delivering the instruction, and one guarding each door - because things were about to get hectic.

 

This day is particularly memorable for me.  The DIs were (obviously) all in masks.  That made the lead DI hard to understand / “muffly”.  When he gave the order to unmask, I did so, not realizing that he was referring to just the first row of Privates.  I was 4th in the line-up, d’oh.  AND, I was standing right next to the pellet burner.  When I realized my folly, I remasked / cleared, but the fun had already begun.  As I had gas on my face, wherever the mask was touching me felt like fire.  Pretty disappointing stuff actually.

 

So I got to stand there in a tear and snot filled mask, hacking, until it was my actual turn.  In a moment of humanity, when it was my turn, the DI - realizing my mistake - made some choice comments about my family tree and shoved me to the door.  God bless him, wherever he may be.

 

Ooooh, baby.  What a day.  I still have my yearbook from bootcamp, and the last handful of pages are photos from right outside the gas chamber as recruits are exiting.  Entertaining - oh, and surprising.  Without going into too much detail, I’ll just say that I was unaware that there was that much liquid in my head.  Must be where my brain is supposed to be.  

[Wharfmaster]

Chemical smoke in a converted shipping container during Petroleum Firefighting School. Full of obstacles and no lights. Pitch black. In full bunker gear and SCBA. Lovely.

 

 

W

[Rhscott]

I have absolutely zero fond memories of gas mask or MOPP suits.

 

the ONLY redeeming quality the M17 series gas mask had was they made nice pillows in the field.

[Scott C.]

After a morning of annual USAF chem warfare training, I returned home to quietly surprise my wife in my full MOPP getup.  I think that is the loudest I've ever heard her scream.

[The Rooster]

They took us to the gas chamber in basic, which was a small cinder block building..

Empty except for a table in the front with two upside down coffee can with the gas smoldering like incense

on the tops of the cans.

Our DI's were in MOPP4.. dont blame them as they had to stand in there a long while..

Two of them had brooms. The whole point of it was to show you the mask worked. They said if your mask is malfunctioning raise your hand.

As soon as I walked in, I could smell it, feel it burning but not too bad.. My mask was not working right..

We were in 4 rows, I was in the 3rd. The first row un masked and this big guy, strong guy..

he freaked.. He went for the door and they beat him back into the room with the broom sticks, but he got out

and they dragged him back in.

I raised my hand a couple times and they ignored me and after seeing the rucku8s, I just decided to skip it and deal with it as it didnt seem too bad..

So it was our turn to un mask. And it was terrible shock !!! They made sure you couldn't hold your breath.

You had to stay there a couple minutes and recite your serial number recite general orders etc 

until you got a good 3-4 breaths and then they let you out.

I thought it was bad w my mask leaking until I got it full force!

It was not just burning eyes.. It was burning skin where ever exposed

.. head neck face and hands, burning lungs and copious amounts of drool and mucus!!

Later on during my time in we were gassed several times during training.

Once with persistent powdered CS....

Stuff was worse than the gas...

 

[TrevorR]

I can’t contribute from a military standpoint but from a law enforcement. From 2018 to 2023 I was employed with my local sheriff’s office. We never actually got training for gas mask but more of a “just do it” kind of situation. My first experience with gas was when we had a SMI inmate refusing to “dress out” so we had to do a “Forced Dress” which 80% of the time was just a fight until they gave up. So we made multiple attempts to convince the guy to just dress out or just cuff up. Officers, Sgt’s, medical and mental health made attempts with no luck. So it was Go Time. Full can deployment in the cell. He had no reaction, round two of gas with same results. The Sgt said “Go in and get him”. The door opened and 6 of us went in. Now to the gas mask part, we didn’t have any cause they were currently in use by our crowd control unit during the 2020 protest happening right outside the jail. So officers went into a 8x8 cell for one man to get him dressed. Well a small room full of gas and absolutely no ventilation it took about 5-7 minutes to complete the objective. In the aftermath of what happened 4 officers went sent to the hospital for injuries including me. I got a boxers fracture, dislocated thumb and broken tooth. Absolutely on of the most chaotic things I have done but man it was a blast 

[USMCR79]

No “Fond” Memories of that!!

 

Bill

[Paulruss]

None, except when it rained hard and the chamber flooded

[Randy]

In the 80s we did chem exercises constantly. Waiting for the jet to come back we usually crashed in the shelter with the door closed if not needed elsewhere. We were in condition "Black" in full MOPP gear and M17 series masks on. There were 2 crew chiefs and one 3-man weapon load crew. We just went back to condition "Yellow" and took off the masks. One of the weapons troops was out cold, so one of the crew chiefs took a black magic marker and colored in the eye pieces on his M17 mask. The jet returned shortly, and as we opened the door and the noise flooded the shelter, the guy stood up and staggered around with his arms out while his head whipped back and forth. He finally wised up and pulled off the mask. The rest of us were in tears. The pilot thought we lost it. The weapons guy was pretty salty for the rest of the shift!

 

Randy