Photo By Chad Menegay | Brian Zindorf, a chemical specialist for the 155thChemical Battalion out of...... read more read more
Subscribe
NEWTON FALLS, Ohio - A line of 10 masked Soldiers file into the back door of a squat, brick building. They alertly snake from the hallway to their left and into a fog to their right. Candle flames and tear-gas loom. An instructor orders them to "break the seal and reseal."
As they exit, it's "Don't rub your eyes! Don't touch your face!" For some it's a burn in their noses and throats, their eyes water. It takes a few minutes to recover.
A majority of the Soldiers from the 637th Chemical Company, out of Kettering, Ohio, and Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 155th Chemical Battalion, out of Middletown, Ohio, seemed unaffected by their gas chamber qualification, June 8, at the Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training Center, as part of 2009 annual training.
A few Soldiers in the unit hadn't been through a gas chamber before, but most, in particular the chemical specialists, appeared both experienced and confident.
Pvt. Allysa Tendrup of Monroe, Ohio, a chemical specialist for the 637th, has been through five times.
"As long as you do what they say," Tendrup said, "don't touch your mask and break your seal, you should be fine.
"It's important to make sure you do PMCS [preventative maintenance checks and services] on your mask , that your filters are still good, that you check for tears, and ensure it's clean," she said.
1st Lt. Michael Barnauskas, commander of the 637th, said because the unit is expected to operate in a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear environment, they train extensively in their masks.
"We do the gas chamber to give our Soldiers confidence in our CBRN equipment," Barnauskas said.
Soldiers were given the option to take off their masks once they performed the proper steps to qualify.
Additionally, 1st Sgt. Lee Smith of the 637th invited members of the 155th to join him in the gas chamber without a mask for some physical fitness push-ups and the side-straddle hop-to build confidence. Chaplain (Capt.) Nick Chou accepted the challenge and stayed in the gas chamber for more than a minute, despite the CS gas induced irritation.
CS gas (onto-chlorobenzylidene-malononitrile) is sometimes used as a riot control agent, as an active ingredient in mace, and in controlled doses by the military for gas chamber training. CS was discovered by two Americans, Ben Corson and Roger Stoughton at Middlebury College in 1928, and gets its name from the first letters of their last names.
It's an irritant of the mucous membranes in the eyes, nose, mouth and lungs, causing tearing, sneezing and coughing.
"It'll clear your sinuses," one Soldier said of the gas.
| Date Taken: | 06.08.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 07.01.2009 11:12 |
| Story ID: | 35845 |
| Location: | NEWTON FALLS, US |
| Web Views: | 339 |
| Downloads: | 203 |
This work, Chemical Specialists Confident Amid Gas, by Chad Menegay, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
