Gas Chamber?

Question

In BCT is the gas chamber really hard i hear it is and some people say its not as bad as people make it.What do you do in there? How long do you keep your mask off for ?

Answer 1

When I was in boot, which was somewhat more than a couple of months ago, our instructor told us we were going to take a "smoke break" and he hoped that all of us enjoyed it. Boy, did we ever (?)! We donned our masks (we always called it "sucking rubber") They led us in a big circle with each of us putting our hand on the shoulder of the person in front of us and then ran us around it circle, They increased the fumes in the chamber and then had us take off our masks so that we enjoyed the aroma of the room to its fullest. It was very invigorating - but I managed to survive and lasted for 31 years on active duty. You keep your mask on long enough to learn to appreciated it when you take it off - when its off it feels like forever but its really only a couple of minutes. Millions of trainees have done and to my knowledge no one has ever died - so I guess it wasn't too bad. I would have rather been in the dayroom sucking down a soda, but...

Answer 2

When I was in basic training many years ago, we had to go into the gas chamber and spend several minutes with our masks on while were given instructions. Then, one at a time, we had to take our masks off and state our name, rank, and social security number. If you can do that, they let you out.

Here's the secret to getting through it. When a person gets scared or panics, they automatically inhale! Of course, that's when you get the biggest exposure to the gas. Just maintain your cool and it won't be too bad.

The gas basically turns your face into a river. It's not painful, but your eyes water and your nose drips. You have to walk around outside to get the gas to dissipate.

After basic, I was exposed to it many times. It's a great training tool to teach you how to put on your protective mask properly and quickly!

Basic training is hard, but there is nothing about it to be afraid of. The purpose of the training is to break you down as an individual and build you back up as a team. Of course, you must also learn your soldier skills, but first and foremost, you must learn to think as a team and look out for your buddies. If you put yourself first, you'll never make it. If you make it, you'll have more self-confidence than you've ever had in your life before.

Answer 3

The Gas chamber is used as a training tool to show that the anti-chemical/bio hazard equipment issued to you works and to give you confidence in its use.
The Gas chamber can be very hard, or easy depending on your own bodies reaction to the tear gas that is used. some people are more susceptible to the gas than others.
As for how long you are masked or not masked depends totally on the instructors. They have specific instructions and safety requirements to insure that all personnel come through the training safely.

Answer 4

Piece O Cake.

Got a stuffy nose that day. Cured
Something in an eye. Flooded out.
A little congestion in the lungs. You'll cough if right up.
Too much breakfast. DON'T inhale deep.
Shaved that morning. Shooodaa paid attention the night before.
A little built up earwax. You guessed right.....it's outa there.

Like stated by others you will enter the room masked. You will say whatever you are told to once you remove the mask.
You will inhale.
You will NOT fake the inhale. They can tell.
You will go outside hoping there is a wind to face into.

YOU WILL LIVE

SSG US Army 73-82

Answer 5

People have different tolerance levels for CS, and I've noticed it's always worse for the ones who can't keep themselves calm. It goes all the way from (myself) basically no effect...my eyes watered a little bit and I coughed twice on my way out the door to others who have mucus running everywhere and vomiting.

In the chamber we were lined up shoulder to shoulder along the walls, back to the wall, mask on. We were kept like that for a few minutes, long enough to get a good feel for the "burning" of the CS on our skin. The Drill Sergeants then went down the line and one by one had each recruit break the seal on their mask (raise it up to expose their face, eyes open) and sound off with their last name, rank, and social security number. After they got through everyone we were given a left face and told to take our masks off and take a deep breath. We were then filed to the door and commanded to sound off with our platoon number and mascot (hellhound, pitbull, etc.) before we were allowed to exit the chamber.

Answer 6

When my buddy went through the exercise he panicked when exiting the chamber. Even though instructed not to run, he did. A big tree stopped him from running further. He broke his nose and had to redo it when healed enough. As with everyone it all depends on your tolerance level. Most of it is mental too. I have a high threshold for pain etc. So going through that was no problem. It's been 27 years since my buddies "incident". I still kid him about it to this day.

Answer 7

I had to do a few times throughout my army career and it is was no picnic. The worst was in basic training. we stayed in there for about 5 minutes. We took our masks off the last two minutes. We said our name, rank and social. It was aweful...I wanted to run out so bad, but if you did that you had to do it again. When we got out our eyes stung, our nose was all drippy and I could bearly see. It was not a pleasant experience.

Answer 8

I remember my brother telling me when they had to go through that during training. It depends on you and how much you can tolerate. He told me that some guys were a little sick, some were very sick, and some were just fine.

Answer 9

when I was in boot we had to say our full name and ssn, than walk out of the room.