wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL (Will Martin) (08/21/90)
From: Will Martin <wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL> One point I haven't seen mentioned in the subject discussion: I thought one of the primary decontamination techniques is to wash down and hose off the contaminated personnel, while still in their protective suits, and to so treat the vehicles before the unprotected inhabitants emerge. This takes lots of water, and is a good idea in the European theatre, where there are many lakes and streams and rivers close by. How is this going to be done in the desert? Does sandblasting take its place? The Nevada reserve group that was mentioned as being trained in desert CBW decontamination -- how do they do it? Regards, Will
klw11037@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Kyle Leon Webb) (08/28/90)
From: Kyle Leon Webb <klw11037@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> /* Written 9:51 pm Aug 20, 1990 by wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL in uxa.cso.uiuc.edu:sci.military */ /* ---------- "Chemical warfare in the desert" ---------- */ >From: Will Martin <wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL> >One point I haven't seen mentioned in the subject discussion: I thought one >of the primary decontamination techniques is to wash down and hose off the >contaminated personnel, while still in their protective suits, and to so >treat the vehicles before the unprotected inhabitants emerge. This takes >lots of water, and is a good idea in the European theatre, where there are >many lakes and streams and rivers close by. How is this going to be done >in the desert? Does sandblasting take its place? > >The Nevada reserve group that was mentioned as being trained in desert CBW >decontamination -- how do they do it? > >Regards, Will /* End of text from uxa.cso.uiuc.edu:sci.military */ Though I haven't been specifically trained in DESERT decon, my best guess would be a mixture of methods. Use dry powder STB as a dust on chem suits before they are removed using the buddy system. Detach the hood from the mask, then move to a relatively decontaminated area before using personal decon kits (the towel wipes) to decontaminate the outside of the mask and any possibly contaminated clothing/skin. As to vehicles, when I last dealt with NBC (1986) directly, the general feeling was that in war, most of the time you wouldn't bother to decontaminate them except for major maintenance. Though this was in an area where water was available (Korea), our Bn NBC types thought that the risk incurred and time taken, by moving vehicles to a centralized decon point wasn't worth it. You just spray down the areas that you would possibly touch entering, leaving and operating with DS-2 (Decon solution #2, wonderfully descriptive name :-) ), from an M-11 sprayer. Have the people get away from the vehicle before doing a personal decontamination. It is possible, but like so much in chemical, unpleasant. Kyle Webb