Will the Army force the lowest ranking soldier to take off his mask if you get gas attacked.?

Question

I was told by a friend in the Army that he would have to take his mask off if they ever got gassed. He said he would have to because he was the lowest person in the unit. Is this true?

Answer 1

During training, trainees wear their masks in an tear-gas environment, then remove them and rapidly exit the environment.  This helps teach basic gas mask discipline.  Although it is unpleasant, trainees are not harmed during the exercise.

In a gas attack, no soldier will be ordered to remove his or her gas mask before the commanding officer has reason to believe it is safe.

Officers who do not consider the welfare of the soldiers in their command can be disciplined or court-martialed.

Grandpa

Answer 2

seriously? of course not. but maybe he should... dumbass

Answer 3

That is ridiculous... All the soldiers life are same... No one will force you to put your life in danger if they don't have a good reason do so... ANd the things depend from Army policies from country to country. Yes agree some time solider have to be sacrificed to win a war. Generally no army put their solider life in danger for no reason. And most of the time it also depend on which regiment are you in what is your role in the army

Answer 4

First off you better how to properly mask first, or you will be the first to die!!! If you di nto properly seal your mask, you wil be th efirst to die.

Answer 5

As a last resort this is true but there are many other option prior to this.

Answer 6

In case of a chemical attack, the army units in the area will use every opportunity available from special units to ensure that the area is clear.

In the absence of these units, however, there is a protocol for making sure things are "all clear," that involve the junior-most enlisted person.  It is done in the most safe manner possible - and ANY soldier is viewed as being very valuable - so they don't WANT to use it - but...  Remember also that this is only done when preliminary tests show the area to be "all clear" but there aren't more accurate methods to ENSURE that things are safe.

The junior soldier will break the seal on his mask (pull it away from his face), then clear it as normal, making sure it re-seals.  After about 20 minutes of monitoring from medical personnel to ensure he's okay, he will break the seal again - opening his eyes this time - then clear it again.  This is done because the eyes are mucous membranes and more susceptible to picking up random stuff in the air.  After more monitoring, and making sure he's okay, the private will then break the seal and take a small breath, clear the mask and sit back to be monitored.

Finally, the private will take the mask off and sit back to have as many medical folks in the area stand around and make sure everything is okay.  If there is ANY sign of a reaction, the

The whole process takes almost two hours - and is ONLY done when a chemical unit is unavailable to do the proper testing - and ONLY when it is imperative that the soldiers get out of their masks/chemical gear as soon as possible.  Any time there MIGHT be a reaction, the tests are stopped and the soldier is evacuated out to a medical facility.

And again, it is an EXTREME last resort.

Answer 7

Doesn't surprise me. Back in the 60's, the USA had planned to test it's VX nerve gas on Australian troops in North Queensland. I thought they might care about their own soldiers though, even if they don't care about their allies.

Answer 8

You are referring to the unmasking procedure to determine if it is safe to clear an area and unmask your troops; this procedure is only performed if there is no other way to determine if an area is free of contaminates.  However if it is necessary to do so a school trained NBC officer and/or NCO should take the lowest ranking individual in a unit and sit him/her down in a shaded area.

While maintaining close observation of the individual to ensure his/her safety they direct that person to break the seal of the protective mask for 30 seconds.  Then immediately re-seal and clear the mask, the NBC officer or NCO watches the individual very carefully to see he/she is not suffering any ill effects of the exposure.  

After ten minutes if the person is still okay the NBC Officer or NCO has the test subject break the seal of the mask for two minutes.  At the end of the two minute period the test subject re-seals and clears the mask again. The NBC officer or NCO continues to observe the test subject for another ten minutes for any signs of toxic exposure.

If the individual is still okay, the NBC officer or NCO will direct him/her to remove the mask and sit fully exposured for five minutes, then mask once again remembering to proper seal and clear the mask.  If at the end of another ten minutes of observation the test subject still shows no signs of ill effects from the exposure it is same to have the unit unmask.

When the unit unmasks they should immediately wipe down and service their masks before returning them to their protective mask carriers for storage while remaining on the alert for another chemical attack.    

Answer 9

That's a bunch of baloney.

The U.S. Army has several detectors that will do a much more effective job of detecting toxic agents than using a human guinea pig.  In the absence of the detectors, the human test subject process, as described by mahlrun and oscarsix can be used, but that is only as a last resort.

In fact, the most likely scenario for this is, if the unit follows procedure, after they have gone through all the detector kits, the final step will be for the NCOIC to ask, "who wants a smoke break?"  Some tobacco junkie will most likely be the guinea pig, not the most junior Soldier.

Answer 10

There are lots of types of equipment such as the litmus paper and such.  The odds of that happening are very, very low.

And more than likely if they really needed to do that, they would either just keep the masks on for the time being or take a volunteer.

Answer 11

It doesn't go by the lowest ranking. It would be whom is most expendable or if anyone volunteers first.  I don't think you would ever need to worry about it anyways.  

There is lots of equipment to use and test the area before they would risk a soldiers life.

Answer 12

Your friend is shining you on.  A dead soldier is of no value to anyone, the army goes to a great deal of expense to buy protective equipment for it's soldiers of all ranks, they also train in the use of protective equipment and they are required to use it as directed.