CS Gas

I survived the gas chamber, but it really, really sucked. We started with our gas masks on and walked into a rectangular room about 20 x 15 with a tablet in the middle spewing out CS gas. Upon entering the room, we had to jog around a few laps and then jump and touch the ceiling 30 times. The purpose was to get us breathing hard so we couldn't hold our breath while being exposed to the gas. Once we'd finished jumping, we were told to lift up our masks. Let me tell you . . . it was terrible. It literally takes your breath away and you start trying to suck in air. Of course, this just means you inhale more gas. It also gets into your nose and eyes and burns like crazy. Even though you're prepared for it and know exactly what the effects are, it's really hard to not panic. After a few seconds, we were told to seal the masks again. Unfortunately, sealing the mask doesn't immediately help because you still have gas in your lungs. So, you're coughing in your masks and can't tell for sure whether you've re-sealed correctly or not. As for myself, I didn't hear the Chief tell us to re-seal until about the fifth time she said it, so I got a few more lungfuls of gas than others. I was coughing like crazy and trying to clear my mask when we were told to get down and do push-ups. I was coughing so bad I could only get out five or so. Once that was over, we lined up in front of the door with our masks on. When the Chief pointed at us, we had to take off our masks and give our name and hometown before we were allowed to leave. The whole time in line, I was just practicing in my head "Chris Crall -- Temecula, CA; Chris Crall -- Temecula, CA" over and over again. I probably started saying it before I got my mask all the way off, but I was allowed to leave.
You would think getting outside would be nice, but it was pretty bad. That's when you start to really be conscious of the effects since you're no longer bordering on panic. A lot of people get big strings of boogers hanging down from their noses. While gnarly, it's also pretty funny since they tell you to flap your arms around to get the air to flow around your body and take away the gas, so you see all these people running around flapping their arms with giant boogers flailing away. As for me, I didn't really have nose problems, but my eyes burned like nobody's business. I was trying to open them, but I couldn't. So there I was, flapping my arms with everybody yelling "Open your eyes! Open your eyes!" Finally, they realized I was trying and couldn't and a nice major from our class came over, grabbed me by the arm, and walked me around for a minute or so until I could see
Even once the immediate effects pass, though, your body still burns just like a sunburn. For me, it hit the back of my hands and my torso (it was a nice hot, humid day in Southern VA, so the gas just stuck to the sweat trapped inside our fatigues). It was a good twenty minutes before I was completely comfortable again. Of course, we were all still deathly afraid of touching our face or going to the bathroom :)
Anyway, it's over and I'm really glad I don't have to do it again. Well, hopefully. You never know with the Army.