CBRNE training

Today I had some CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosive) training. Basically that involves everything related to wearing my gas mask, full chemical protection suit, identifying chemical attacks, decontamination after a chemical attack, etc.

Here are some photos of the classroom where it was taught, with a few people in there.





I didn't get a picture of me with my full chem suit on, as you put on all of the gear over your regular clothes and my iPhone was in my pocket, under the second pair of pants. Bummer. But, here is a picture from the internets of basically what it looks like:



The gear I wore wasn't desert camo though, it was the regular green stuff. Basically the suit involves rubber overboots that go on over your normal boots, a big pair of pants with suspenders that goes on over your normal pants, a big coat with an elastic strap that goes between your legs to keep it pulled down (they call it a battle thong), the gas mask, a hood pulled up around the gas mask, cotton gloves, then rubber gloves over those gloves. Then on top of that you have your web belt with canteen, ammo pouch, helmet, your gas mask pouch, etc. If I was in Iraq at the time I would also be wearing my personal body armor and probably have an M16 rifle and an M9 handgun as well. Needless to say it's a lot of stuff and you just kind of waddle around like a sumo wrestler.

We didn't use live gas today, as my base doesn't have a gas chamber, but we donned the same gear in basic training and went into a real gas chamber, then had to do jumping jacks to get our breathing up, then remove our gas mask in the chamber. You're fine for a few seconds and then your eyes start stinging, snot pours our of your nose, your throat and nostrils burn, your face burns where it touches your skin, etc. But surprisingly enough when you have all your gear on you don't feel a thing, which is the purpose of the exercise, to build your trust in your equipment. The people teaching the class said that for them to get their job they had to do the same thing with real nerve gas, rather than just tear gas. Which is considerably more dangerous and serious, but their gear still worked so they were fine.

It was also rather nice that it was about 5º this morning, so all of the extra layers were welcome. However in basic training I was in San Antonio, TX in March and it was considerably warmer and more uncomfortable. I can't imagine wearing that full gear for more than a couple of minutes in the 130º heat of Iraq in the summer. We did get to practice drinking from our canteen with all of that gear on though, which I hadn't done before. The gas mask has a drinking tube that you stick into the top of the canteen and a little straw inside so that you can still drink without taking off the mask.