Basic Training Journal: Thursday, August 28th

Gas, gas, gas! Today was gas chamber day. We got to sleep in till 0530, then we got our helmets, PRO mask, and LCE and hopped on a bus directly to the gas chamber. The bus ride took about 30 minutes.

We had breakfast there. The drill sergeants made us get eggs and milk and consume all of it. Some guys made a run for the garbage bags when the drill sergeants weren't looking and dumped their eggs and milk. I was hungry so I said the heck with it and ate my eggs and milk. If I puke, I puke...it's not the end of the world.

We then sat on bleachers and the DS talked to use for a while on what was going to happen. After that we went to ground zero— a flat area of land in front of the gas chamber. We put on our masks while putting our helmets and M16s between our knees. A range cadre member came around and checked out seals and sent us to the gas chamber if you had a good seal.

The gas chamber is a pretty small building, it's pretty much an open room with a stove in the middle where they cook the CS(crystal saline). The first guy in line holds the door open while the others go in. I was the first one to walk into the gas chamber...oh joy! You walk around the inside hugging the wall until you made a full circle around the room. We didn't get to wear the hoods for the masks so our necks started burning right away, so did our hands. You wear regular BDUs for the gas chamber.

When everyone gets in, they'll instruct you to hold your breath, close your eyes, and break the seal of the mask by tugging on the eye covers. There were 2 drill sergeants in the chamber that came around and checked to see if our seal was broken, then they let you reseal the mask. One guy was such an idiot that he accidentally took off his mask when he broke his seal and dropped his mask to the ground. He really panicked and couldn't get it back on. He was trying to loosen the straps on the mask but he was shaking too much and just bolted for the door after giving up.

A few people ran for the exit ASAP...the drill sergeant would run after them and grab them by the back straps of their LCE. If you run you're giving yourself a one way ticket back to the gas chamber. People were puking in the chamber; someone puked on the DS....wonder what happened to that poor guy.

After you break the seal and reseal, we got into a formation in the center of the room. In 4 man groups, you took off your mask while you have your M16 and helmet between your legs. You then had to put your helmet on perfectly. The DS checked each of us to make sure we kept our eyes open. You can't hold your breath for the length of time you're unmasked. After the DS checked us, we were lead out the door. We had to grab the LCE straps of the person in front of us and go out the door. You better have your gas mask in your left hand and M16 in your right hand. If not, you're going back in without your mask with your stuff thrown all over the gas chamber.

For example, if you forget your M16 in the chamber, they'll supposedly disassemble your weapon and have you put it together in the chamber without your mask on. I don't think anyone in our company forgot their M16.....but several people had to go back again without their masks for running out or leaving other stuff inside the chamber.

I didn't think the gas chamber was that bad at all. I definitely didn't enjoy breathing in the crystal saline(CS), but I wasn't puking and I didn't have snot running out of my nose. Your skin will burn though, even when you get outside the chamber. I felt fine a few seconds after getting outside. I remember smiling at the camera guy filming us as we got out the door. We had to walk around ground zero two times to air ourselves out before we could sit in the bleachers. You don't want to rub your skin until you've aired out for a while. Don't even think of washing your hands with water, because it will sting like no other. One DS told us about a new DS he knew that washed his face in water after being in the gas chamber, and he let out the most high pitched scream he ever heard.

After everyone finished going through the gas chamber, we had a brief on protective positions in a blast. We then had 3 seconds to get in that position when we heard grenade simulators go off. It wasn't difficult but the sun beating down on us made it suck.

We then ate chow and got on th bus back to the barracks. We didn't get to shower....we put our gear way except for our M16 and went to the classroom for a BRM class on correcly using the iron sights to aim at a target, breath control when firing, stuff like that. We put our M16s away, had chow, shined our boots, and went to bed.