Longest You Have Ever Been In A Gas Mask? [Archive]

GasGunR

03-21-2009, 09:35 PM

6 hours for a training session at Luke in May, full suit and only M1 masks, not M1-A1s, no provision for drinking from a canteen.

Was a BDR excercise... laying matting. No one there had ever laid matting before... they did it on graded earth, not an actual taxiway or apron, and the officers supervising it were sitting on the tailgate of a pickup truck leaning on their 5 gal igloo of ice water. Several people went to the hospital. I had some words with the OIC, took off my suit, hydrated, left and went back to Gila Bend. My OIC called me into his office when I got back, he asked me what happened, I explained it, and he said that's about what he figured and said that's why never gets too excited when they called down there about our guys.

I was a ssgt heavy equipment operator, so my laying matting in a real situation was very unlikely as I'd probably be on a piece of equipment supporting the crater repair or moving bundles of matting for the guys laying it.

I had water about halfway up my shins inside the suit when I took it off:(

deathtrain

03-22-2009, 02:21 PM

8hr mopp4 in Beaufort SC in late spring...... talk about some pissed off Marines after that.

markus

03-22-2009, 02:38 PM

a couple hours at mopp4 crossing from kuwait to iraq during the invasion. not too many more sucky things than thinking your being gassed.

MoPOWeR-349

03-22-2009, 02:44 PM

Only been a couple 2-3 hours on a few occasions for me, but we have a ORI/ORE in Oct. I'd suspect we'll be in MOPP 4 for quite some time.

Good story GasGunR...I can't tell you how much behavior like that sets me off, regardless of rank, enlisted or officer alike, your behavior is always under scrutiny and perception is everything. while we were deployed I once chanced passing by an Army Captain, actually the camp commander of about a 500 man base and a Zapper/Ranger Major standing behind him, dressing down one of our rising 6 for not adhering to camp rules. I watched this for a few minutes, interjected and respectfully brought to his attention that at no time during our in-processing, morning or evening formation or official base posting were the camp rules explicitly stated. The offense was minor, he dropped his inquisition and the next morning there was a mass briefing and a sign board posted outlining protocol.

I was a 2LT then and was hoping I wasn't biting off more than I can chew, but I never heard another word about the incident. Funny what happens when you hold people accountable...

Frankyoz

03-22-2009, 11:17 PM

My first MOS was 5711 A NBC Defense guy in the Marines, during our school we did some retard excersizes for 10-12 hours. When we were in Kuwait before the war kicked off we used to have weekly 5 hour sessions and one day my BN did a full day I dont think it was more than 8 hours but that was just the mask fun times.

LRBaLLa00

03-23-2009, 11:21 AM

Chief, I'm at Osan... so I'm about tired of chem gear!

kaosanddoom

03-23-2009, 07:23 PM

ironic that i find this today. doing the stupid msd course this week. we been wearing frickin suits and masks all day. frickin sucked. we did mopp4 for like five hours at the squadron a few months back to. they had one of those mopp ft's, called mopp 4, then forgot about it as something came up for the nbc guys, so we sat there in mopp 4 for like five hours. it was ridiculous.

1bad4dr

03-23-2009, 07:27 PM

26 hours in MOPP 4. As the OP, it was in Germany during Reforger 88. hehe

Junior

03-23-2009, 07:28 PM

Wow, memories. 2 or three hours in MOPP 4 on a couple of occasions for training in Grafenwohr/Hohenfels.

That was plenty, I assure you.

1bad4dr

03-23-2009, 07:38 PM

Wow, memories. 2 or three hours in MOPP 4 on a couple of occasions for training in Grafonwohr/Hohenfels.

That was plenty, I assure you.
haha Graf/Hoenfels the MUD pit. WOOT! Great times there, but our Battalion spent most of our training in Wildflicken.

GasGunR

03-23-2009, 07:52 PM

You reforger guys were just visiting;) I had to live there!haha Graf/Hoenfels the MUD pit. WOOT! Great times there, but our Battalion spent most of our training in Wildflicken.

Charg-um@BMC Performance

03-23-2009, 09:25 PM

6hrs.. My mistress was mad at me, I was a bad boy that day :D

j/k

I have no idea what you guys are talking about..

what is mopp

1bad4dr

03-23-2009, 09:31 PM

You reforger guys were just visiting;) I had to live there!
Umm no, I was stationed in Germany for 4 1/2 years. Darmstadt to be exact. lol I LOVED every minute of it too.

KStryker

03-23-2009, 09:32 PM

12-13 hours MOPP4 at JRTC

MoPOWeR-349

03-23-2009, 11:29 PM

I have no idea what you guys are talking about..

what is mopp

MOPP (mission-oriented protective posture) levels 0-4 is a state of readiness military personal are placed in when a threat of chemical or biological attack exists. They are essentially placing layers of additional protective clothing over their uniforms depending on the current command directive.

http://www.onesixthwarriors.com/photo/data/501/JLIST.jpg

viper3ez

03-23-2009, 11:41 PM

2 hours during training in Ft Jackson, SC

Junior

03-24-2009, 04:13 AM

MOPP (mission-oriented protective posture) levels 0-4 is a state of readiness military personal are placed in when a threat of chemical or biological attack exists. They are essentially placing layers of additional protective clothing over their uniforms depending on the current command directive.
Yup!

MOPP1 is what, charcoal-lined oversuit
MOPP2 is that plus the Rubber Boots that cover your other boots
MOPP3 is technically the mask, next, so that:
MOPP4 is when you put your gloves on (last step)

But usually you think of MOPP4 being the mask on top of everything else.

PLUS all your normal gear too. It's not like you get to wear a jumpsuit and leave all the gear behind. Try fitting all your ALICE gear and kevlar on over top of this:

http://www.onesixthwarriors.com/photo/data/501/JLIST.jpg

I'm done with that, brothers! :mrgreen:

snake-eyes275

03-24-2009, 09:29 AM

8 or 9 hours During training. Just the mask. We had a battalion size night raid onto an airfield. More like an airport... So we jumped in, onto the airfield, littered with Opfor. CS was popped. Mask went on. We took out the objective...Everything was successful! Good times. But then my Platoon Sergeant at the time wanted to run back to the barracks when the training was over. The barracks was 20 miles away!! Mask was still on!!! That sucked!! But what do you expect? RANGERS LEAD THE WAY!!!!

Icewood_Jr

03-24-2009, 09:59 AM

try M4 for 12 hours, just for training purposes...that sucked on a hot day in Okinawa, Japan

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markus

03-24-2009, 01:16 PM

oh yeah, 2 months at mopp1 while running around souther iraq getting shot up. a couple times "gas gas gas" was called but most of the time it was bad intel we recieved.

LoneStar

03-24-2009, 01:28 PM

Off and on 4 to 5 hours at a time in MOPP4. It was a chemical readiness evaluation called Cane II Bravo at Ft. Hood TX. This was in the summer with heat in the mid 90's. It sucked big time.!

crazyfirefighter

03-25-2009, 12:53 PM

2 Hours mask and full fire turnouts with flight suits under. Training mission and the op-for came in and dropped smoke as we were leaving for a Vehicle exercise. We had to cut the car up in that get up SOO MUCH FUN. Im glad im with the infantry now.

BrotherB

03-25-2009, 02:17 PM

Volks march 17 miles while in basic training. Mop4 the whole way! The march was the easy part. Being in Mop4 the whole way just sucked. If it would of been a real chemical situation I would of been a casualty. I was sweating SOOO Friggin' bad my mask was pretty much useless. I couldnt get it to seal properly. Started early morning and didnt finish till late at night. So I figure about 12 hours total time. Its something that I will never forget!! :mrgreen:
Bill

Charg-um@BMC Performance

03-27-2009, 09:23 PM

Thanks for clearing that up for me !! Looks like a major PITA .

themongrel

03-27-2009, 10:38 PM

privott

03-27-2009, 10:44 PM

22 hours OIF I

Bagged Mag

03-27-2009, 10:53 PM

i was only at mopp level 3 for 4 hours at a time...during gas mask wednesdays. once the war first kicked off we were in mopp 2 for 4 days, no changing, and went mopp 3 and into the bunkers with every skud alert. that was about 3 an hour. needless to say, nobody got any sleep. was the worst 4 days i have ever had.

Rushtk

03-28-2009, 01:36 AM

One time we lost ac on the carrier and while in GQ for 30min... in longsleeve shirts and gas mask! Man that was a day we will never forget...grin

TEX903

03-28-2009, 01:39 AM

Did about 6 at Osan South Korea til a dude passed out.....Literally!

MoPOWeR-349

03-28-2009, 03:24 AM

You think that stuff sucks, try wearing the "Aircrew Chemical Defense Ensemble". Besides be hot you have the dexterity of a rock at 30,000 feet for 5 hours plus...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/themongrel/IP_JSAM-2.jpg

Not quite the same in my opinion, air crew doesn't exert half the physical effort in a ongoing operation say such as; CES, SFS, MXS, ext. Try working in the wide open for hours on end in 100 degree plus weather. The comparison doesn't even equate in my book. No hard feelings, just my opinion.

Try on one of our fire fighting/chem suits: remember theses guy wear the the JSLIST suits under the potato cooker.
http://www.defenselink.mil/transformation/images/photos/2006-04/articles/20060424a2.jpg

themongrel

03-28-2009, 07:21 PM

Remember that once we land we go right into the normal MOPP gear (guess you could call it double pain)

tattooed

03-29-2009, 02:38 AM

One time we lost ac on the carrier and while in GQ for 30min... in longsleeve shirts and gas mask! Man that was a day we will never forget...grin

you had working ac? you musta been on a new carrier then. good ol enterprise didnt have working ac half of my first cruise. i swear one day i farted and the hangor dropped ten degrees......

MarcInJapan

04-04-2009, 07:43 PM

I received the new gas mask this week--much better!

HKLEVI

04-27-2009, 09:33 PM

12 hours. Osan AB Korea. USAF Stinger Team Gunner (last of the best). Sucking rubber tour '95 and yes I DO have the t-shirt.

ChargerFever

05-19-2009, 12:55 AM

It was 8 hours or so if I remember correctly during the reverse cycle training in 1989, it sucked.

Oliver300c

07-08-2009, 09:46 PM

About 2 hours doing patrol scenarios in mopp4, They started us out with running lines in a gym for 15mins with full kit on. ahh Love it

MoPOWeR-349

07-09-2009, 12:37 AM

Well...with two ORE's and an ORI coming up over the course of the next three month's I'll keep you posted. I expected about 3-4 hours of MOPP4 a day and 12 hours in MOPP2 all day over a span of 21 days. Oh boy, sounds fun!!!

sidetrack

07-09-2009, 01:57 AM

About 2 hours.

I got a temp job through Manpower.

My job was to clean metal parts with a scrub brush in a sink filled with solvents.

I had to wear a gas mask.

Needless to say, I quit the job after 2 hours.

thewagon

07-09-2009, 03:10 AM

Wow, those were some crappy memories. 4 hrs in MOPP 4 while driving a deuce and a half with a SATCOM hut and then setting up the damn 12' dish and getting online.

FYI: Always wear SOMETHING under the gear because that damn charcoal in a new suit while sweating up a storm will make your skin BLACK for days! SOB

And drinking from the damn canteens was miserable too, forget eating. :blam:

MoPOWeR-349

08-07-2009, 03:25 PM

Well...just back from our second of three ORE's before the big ORI in october. In two days we spend about 10 hours in mopp 4. The first day was the worst, about 99F around 1800 hours for about 2.5 hours, seemed like forever. Most of our time was in alarm black initial and limited release so we had very little to do and we were all bored out of our skulls. I had standing water in my rubber protective boots about a 0.5-inch deep and my mask, well it was full of sweat too. The gloves were classic, my hands were white and wrinkley like when you spend to much time in a swimming pool. There were a few one hour jobbers, but nothing as bad as the first and last mopp 4 drills.

The second day, which was much cooler and took place around 0000 hours lasted about 5 hours. However, as the CES DCC/UCC commander I was busy than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest and the time just flew by--thank God.

If it wasn't for our bases ATOC standing up for real world issues we would of had another day of mopp4 drills--oh boy can't get enough of this stuff!!!

BlackTop

08-07-2009, 03:46 PM

like 2hrs training....which is a lot to me.

omega145

08-07-2009, 04:35 PM

Roughly an hour for a GQ drill. Tattooed, when were you on the Enterprise? I was there from 2000-2004.

PHROGG MAN

08-07-2009, 04:47 PM

You think that stuff sucks, try wearing the "Aircrew Chemical Defense Ensemble". Besides be hot you have the dexterity of a rock at 30,000 feet for 5 hours plus...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/themongrel/IP_JSAM-2.jpg

been there done did it except the 30000ft part I was behind a M2 .50 for 3 hours in a CH-46E in NC in the summer and wore the trash bag (suit) and Darth Vader mask for a total of 7 hours. SSSSUUUUUCCCCKKKKEEEEEDDDDDD!!!!!!!

Junior

08-07-2009, 04:47 PM

And drinking from the damn canteens was miserable too, forget eating. :blam:

Hahaha, I almost forgot about that contraption...

BayouTiger

08-07-2009, 04:55 PM

I think our number was about 4 hours in the full get up. Fortunately, we were permanently issued the suit and we ran it through the washer about 50 times to enough of the charcoal out so to breathe a bit easier. Of course we would have gotten a bagged suit during deployment anyway. Wasn't bad in the air conditioned shop, but when we simulated deployment to a tent on the flightline during summer it was no fun.
36th Tactical Fighter Wing, Bitburg AB Germany 1980-82 (Lot of NBC training!!!!)
1st TFW, Langley AFB 1978-80 (Minimal NBC training there)

Truth Kid

08-07-2009, 05:05 PM

I had my guys and myself try to take a PT test in full mopp gear for PT one morning. Needless to say we all failed and I owed everyone a 6 pack for thinking it was a good idea

MoPOWeR-349

08-07-2009, 06:24 PM

I had my guys and myself try to take a PT test in full mopp gear for PT one morning. Needless to say we all failed and I owed everyone a 6 pack for thinking it was a good idea

Only a six pack. I'd make you jog around the track with you holding a mini-cage over your head for that one, with your ALICE pack on too. Then when you finished you could watch us drink it while you sip'ed water from your canteen in full MOPP gear.

MdotCline

08-07-2009, 07:35 PM

Probably only 10-15 seconds but it was gas mask bong so it was hard to breathe.

Truth Kid

08-07-2009, 09:59 PM

Only a six pack. I'd make you jog around the track with you holding a mini-cage over your head for that one, with your ALICE pack on too. Then when you finished you could watch us drink it while you sip'ed water from your canteen in full MOPP gear.

When the PSG goes on leave, I get to step up and my crazy ideas come out. I teach my soldier's to be bold, but they'd never bite the hand that feeds.

ReeferMadness

08-08-2009, 12:27 AM

Probably only 10-15 seconds but it was gas mask bong so it was hard to breathe.

Haha love it

JamminWagon

08-11-2009, 07:12 PM

Lil over 8
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt199/Nitro-tastic/Misc/CHEMGEAR.jpg

higg13001

09-14-2009, 02:29 AM

Went through a Desert Warfare school. They tossed 173 cans of CS at us over a 5 day/night period. The first 2-3 times the Op-For popped smoke first to give us a little warning to get our masks on (damn nice of 'em). After that, you were on your own. One guy got caught going to the latrine without his mask. They must have popped 5-10 cans all at once. I think they did it to teach him a lesson. Needless to say he was seriously @#$%-up by the time we got him out of the waddie and into semi-fresh air. Almost felt sorry for the guy ...almost. :panic:

motorhed66

09-14-2009, 05:38 AM

1987...training ...what ?6hrs ..Ft Bragg..made us dig foxholes for six hours,just cuz.82nd hooyah.That was one of the dumbest things we had to do..oh they ruck marched us too, forgot about that..you know what I got out of that?There is a fine line between hardcore and stupid....Dont miss the Army and NCO's with too much time on their hands.

gremlinsteve

09-27-2009, 01:08 AM

4-5 hours in iraq. first tour...back in the original gulf war. when the scudds where falling on us and no one new for sure if there was chemicals in them.

steve

caninekopz

01-21-2010, 09:39 PM

Sorry for bumping an old thread. I spent some time in MOPP4, hell we used to sleep with our mask on.
You see, my MOS was 54B20 (NBC specialist) (Thats what it was when I was in anyway) Try wearing the TAP suit.

If you dont know what that is its a MOPP suit on steroids, instead of being made like MOPP its made out of rubber.

X's Revenge

01-21-2010, 09:44 PM

I have never been in a mask for military, but I did wear a 40lb Scottpak for almost 12 hrs during an H2S leak on a serice rig, not only was it pain in the ass, but having to fill it every 35-40 mins when calm and not under duress was even more tough, good thing I had 9 rather large cylinders in my work truck for filling and another 8 in the air trailer, turned out some rig jerkoff nicked a pressure bleed off line..... I can only imagine what it would be like in the desert of Iraq wearing this almost 24/7, man I doubt I'd be strong enough to hold out.

HiPwr

01-21-2010, 10:04 PM

I don't think I ever had to wear it for more than two hours. But, I sure hated qualifying with the damned thing. Don the most ill-fitting mask you can find, run in place for thirty seconds until it is good and fogged up, then drop to prone and angle the rifle out to the right so you can halfway make out your sights.

Black08Chally

01-23-2010, 02:17 PM

26 hours in MOPP 4. As the OP, it was in Germany during Reforger 88. hehe

Interesting......I had the joy of participating in Fallex '88/Reforger!! I bet it was your M1 that drove over my PVS4 LOL.....I remember sleeping top high and worried I was going to roll over and plug the hole on the filter canister. Wore the damn suit for a week, all soaked in rain and covered in mud, it probably weighed 50 lbs!!