M256A1 Chemical Agent Detector Kit: Simpler Battlefield Chemistry

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In Part 1 of this 4-part series on Canadian and British military Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) gear, we examine the M256A1 Chemical Warfare Agent Detection Kit, the successor to the L1A1 and C2 kits examined in my previous video: • Chemical Warfare Agent...
Today I Found Out Video on Nerve Gas: • Inventing Chemical War...
0:00 Introduction
1:29 Development of the M256 Kit
2:38 Component Parts
4:19 Detectable CW Agents
5:05 Lewisite Test Part I
5:28 Blood Agents Test
6:32 Mustard Gas and Phosgene Oxime Test
7:39 Nerve Agent Test
9:37 Lewisite Test Part II
10:05 Comparison to Older Kits
10:25 Training Variants
10:48 Intended Use / Electronic CW Detectors
11:41 Outro
SOURCES
www.armystudyguide.com/conten...
gulflink.health.mil/m256/sect...
www.chagrinsehazmat.com/PDF%20...
ntrl.ntis.gov/NTRL/dashboard/...

[@andrewgillis3073]

I remember in the US Army the instructions were to get someone else to read the instructions. It was considered too hard to do both. There was also a tape that could be applied to people or equipment that would detect liquid agents. 🤓

[@mattheide2775]

This was part of my NBC training in the early 90s. I have actually done this😂 ❤

[@mattwilliams3456]

I believe the tape was carcinogenic as well. Just make sure you have a sufficiently long tail sticking out from the upper arm and calf.

[@bower31]

They actually taught us to do the whole thing ourselves, which for the same reasons is a headache. Not exactly a fast process lol. Though I don't really see these ever being of use, we having too many other faster electronic detection methods.

[@chemistryofquestionablequa6252]

As a chemist this is awesome to see. I’ve read a couple books on the production of chemical weapons (scary stuff) so it’s great to see the countermeasures and detection sets. I’m going have to look into these more deeply. You have an amazing channel, love this kind of old stuff and I’m constantly on the lookout for similar things at my local antique stores and flea markets.

[@billyjones9907]

I'm a chemist as well and my first thought was what are the reagents and their reactions. I found a report from 1988 by the "technical analysis and information office" at the "US Army Dugway proving ground" that explains the reactions. Neat stuff.

[@chemistryofquestionablequa6252]

@@billyjones9907 nice, it was my first thought too. I’ll have to look up that document, thanks!

[@billyjones9907]

@@chemistryofquestionablequa6252 Your welcome. 🙂

[@CanadianMacGyver]

I used a similar report for my research; the link is in the video description.

[@billyjones9907]

​@@CanadianMacGyverI probably should have read the description before commenting. I did not intend for my comment to imply that there is anything wrong with or lacking in your explanation. I appreciate that you include the chemistry component of objects when applicable (such as the Polaroid series for example) and explain it in such a way that the average person can understand.

[@crankysaint]

I spent twelve years of my Army career in CBRN; primarily biological agent detection. The M256 is why I always carried an oversized analog watch on my lbe. It was much easier to track the time elapsed for these tests than with a digital watch.

[@Alcyeragraeth]

Love the opening gags.

[@MatthewDoye]

I remember the UK versions of these and our PPE, I thought they were terrible until I saw the Warsaw pact kit years later.

[@WOFFY-qc9te]

NBCD training was to say the least miserable.

[@Laundry_Hamper]

5:18 Please, 4,4'-Bis(dimethylamino)thiobenzophenone was my father's name. Just call me Michler's Thioketone.

[@glenndennis6801]

Brought back some memories, served in the Canadian Army (1981 - 2013) and used all of this.

[@morenauer]

Potassium carbonate, or a cute symmetrical drawing that spells KOOOK

[@ChiefTiff]

The CAM was a great device; during the 1st Gulf War when Iraq was suspected of holding chemical weapons they were jury-rigged as early chemical warning detectors on ship’s bridges. For training exercises they could be intentionally set off with a wintergreen-based chemical aerosol discretely released in the vicinity.

[@tfrowlett8752]

One piece of military tech I’d like to see a video on, if you could find a pair, are the Tabby night vision binoculars. I have two pairs in my collection and a spare CV144 tube for one of them. I don’t know how many are left now but only about 3000 of the type E binoculars were produced.

[@rrcaniglia]

I went through CBR (now NBC) school at Vilseck, FRG in 1978 and this was the ‘new’ system we were taught after learning the prior ‘squeeze bulb and ampule’ system. We trained on non-lethal surrogates, but tested on live agents.

[@hedgehog3180]

For chemistry this really is quite simple and user friendly, I mean this is way easier than the kind of tests you'd usually do in a lab. But I can see how to a soldier in the field this test would be quite difficult especially since you were doing it under pressure.

[@drupiROM]

5:50 You already have a bad day if you are testing for VX or other similar stuff :) Great videos btw !

[@Everett-xe3eg]

Great video, thank you. I would really like to see the CAM

[@juliusxeno6537]

You're amazing man, never forget that. Been binge watching every video. A true hidden gem

[@richsackett3423]

Looking forward to your piece on MOPP suits.

[@SabotageGarageUSA]

I love the cold opens the best. They always give me a giggle.

[@Tunkkis]

Not only is the test fiddly like you point out, it also doesn't seem terribly user-friendly for those of us who're colorblind. I am fairly lightly red-green blind, and those crayon example colors are already a bit difficult to get a good read on. I couldn't imagine trying to make sense of those thin streaks under stress, in poor conditions, while wearing PPE.

[@dustinbrueggemann1875]

There's a reason colorblindness is disqualifying in peacetime recruiting.

[@Tunkkis]

@@dustinbrueggemann1875 Not where I live it isn't.

[@johnqpublic2718]

Bendix: "The Tomorrow People"

[@TheKencoffee]

Been there and done this A LOT! Gotta love NTC in the 90s. So hard to do these in nbc gloves especially with sweaty hands.

[@bradlevantis913]

I’m looking forward to this series. And that intro is your benchmark 🤣

[@Madness832]

"I thought I'd start off this series..." ...w/ a can of beans!🤣

[@jastrapper190]

Awesome video.

[@davidwilliams1060]

It seems that a unit would need a significant number of these kits as they move through different areas. Even in the same area, conditions could change over time and need to be retested. I never used a kit but did train in the protective gear - no fun.

[@kingfish4575]

Fascinating 😮

[@f0restmen]

Will the NAIAD (Nerve Agent Immobilised Enzyme Alarm and Detector) be included in this series? Would be nice to see more about it, because the Hungarian AVJ-1 uses very similar reactions.

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

“H hurts; G goes away; V hangs around for a very long time”

[@markrix]

Intro 🎉

[@daveys]

Fascinating!

[@SHaDow82898]

Very simple. The Soviet military chemical reconnaissance kit (VPHR) is much more advanced

[@f0restmen]

Yes, the detector tubes ued in the Warsaw Pact were at least one order of magnitude more sensitive. Especially for nerve and blister agents. The US report on Gulf War Czechoslovak chemical equipment show this well.

[@LiborTinka]

5:20 is it "thioketone" ? I've found what is called "Michler's ketone" and that is ketone, not a thioketone (i.e. a derivative of benzophenone, not thiobenzophenone) - the latter would have to contain C=S group rather than C=O (carbonyl) group - the thioketone modification of Michler's ketone can exist would be comparably more reactive - is it that reagent ?

[@billyhouse1943]

Thank you..

[@williamromine5715]

I wonder how many animals died before it was discovered that the electric eel would work?

[@h0lx]

no need to kill the animal to get a blood sample

[@juliusxeno6537]

Imagine being the guys who found that out. Either yhey tested all the animal blood they could get, or someone 100% made a bet that the eel would work and had a crazy win. Eel is so random lmao

[@CanadianMacGyver]

Electric eels are actually a pretty logical choice, since they use specially-evolved muscle cells to build up an electric charge. That requires large amounts of neurotransmitters like acetylcholine; indeed, the molecular structure of this neurotransmitter was determined from samples extracted from electric eels.

[@daviddavidson2357]

"Treated with barbituric acid" Urge to eat random fibreglass chemical warfare detection kit increases.

[@jimsvideos7201]

The only thing I ever heard about these was that you need to be fully encapsulated to open them.

[@philsmith2444]

Some of the most boring training but absolutely essential. Pay attention as though your life may depend on it! Other than burning to death I can’t imagine a worse way to die than by nerve agent or suffocating from blood agents or blisters in your lungs. I enlisted in the US Army in July 1986, spent a couple years at Ft Bragg NC in XVIII Abn Corps Arty, then did a year in Korea before being assigned to the 24th infantry division (Mechanized) at Ft Stewart GA. A month after I got there Iraq invaded Kuwait. A month after that we were on our way to Saudi. In Jan-Feb 1991, my unit was in a division marshaling area somewhere near the Iraqi border. The platoon’s 3 rocket launchers were about 100m from the platoon CP, spread out over our section of the battery’s perimeter. Each launcher crew and the platoon’s M577 track crew had emplaced their M43 chemical detector 400m (the length of a spool of commo wire) from the CP, with the wires connected to the M42 alarm in the M577’s tent extension, as well as their own alarms at their tracks. Every 12 hours we were supposed to test the detectors and alarm (after ensuring everyone knew it was a test), and replace the dust filters in the detectors. Restricted filters could cause a false alarm. I’m sure you know where this is going. Since around the beginning of the air war in January, we’d been in MOPP (Mission-Oriented Protective Posture) level 2, which was chemical suit and rubber overboots worn. MOPP 3 added the protective mask, with the hood allowed to be unzipped and rolled back at the commander’s discretion (never ever happened), and MOPP 4 added the chemical protective gloves. Now, 2-3 weeks in MOPP 2 was a long time, so we’d all had a few quick washes out of basins in that time. Some guys had started taking their MOPP gear off when they went to sleep, however. Maybe they thought their sleeping bags would protect them, but more likely thru just didn’t think. Anyway, in the middle of one night the 5 or 6 of us sleeping in the 577’s tent extension were very rudely awakened by WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP from the alarm. To everyone’s credit, masks were donned in record time. To the discredit of a couple of the guys who’d been sleeping out of their MOPP suits, they stopped at masking. At the time I was the senior SPC in the HQ section, holding the recon sergeant slot. We had a SGT who was in charge of the FDC crew (2 or 3 PV2s/PFCs), the platoon sergeant (sergeant 1st class) and his driver (an E2 IIRC), and the platoon leader (I think he was a 2LT.) It was an absolute shit show from that point onward. The FDC SGT was hyperventilating so loudly you could hear him over the alarm, one of the FDC guys (a PV2 who’d been in maybe 7-8 months tops) who slept without his MOPP suit on was raised up on one arm in just his underwear & T-shirt, and the platoon Sgt & LT were trying to get the situation under control. I was just staying out of the way and telling the guy in his underwear “Chubb Rock! Get your fucking shit on!” Thankfully the launcher crews had their shit together, amidst the confusion you could hear them calling in status reports to battery HQ and saying they were starting M256 kit tests. The plt sgt had hyper-v start one, and as Gilles mentioned, the first step is to pull the detector paper off the Lewisite test spot. Well, he pulled the whole Lewisite test off the kit, crayon and all, and it fell on the ground. Instead of starting a new kit he continued with this one. “SGT H, you need a new kit,” I said. “Shut up, Smith!” So I concentrated on getting the E2s & E3s out of the way, sending them out to the launchers to bring the section chiefs to the CP and staying at the launchers to watch our section of perimeter with NVGs so the 2 guys left in each launcher could conduct their M256 tests. Because using chemicals and not following up with some kind of ground assault made no sense. Before long the M256 test was complete, except for the Lewisite test, and the platoon sgt was on the radio with battery HQ. The problem was, he had one of the strongest Deep South accents I’d ever heard, and was hard to understand even when he WASN’T talking from inside a gas mask. “M256 kit completed, negative for all tests except for the Lewisite test that fell off on the ground.” What it sounded like to me was “shdyjvagjiyfswgbjgdwrtqxnmo.” Apparently that’s what Btry HQ heard as well: “say again, over.” “Svheycwivmildcehvjsfxdklj.” “Say again, over.” This went on 2 or 3 more times until he somehow managed not to sound like he had a whole can of dip and 10 saltines in his mouth and someone at btry HQ understood him. The btry commander jumped in “break break break! Do another test, a complete test, and stay off the air until it’s done. Six out!” So the 2nd test also came back negative, for Lewisite as well, but we didn’t do unmasking drills as per SOP after a negative test. I think SGT H (hyper-v) should have been the least essential person used for the drill. He was scared shitless the whole time and let everyone see it. The whole thing was a false alarm caused by a dirty filter, so from then on they were changed 4x daily. Batteries were changed daily, too, in case low voltage caused the intake fans to slow down and not pull enough air through a serviceable filter. And I told myself I was never going to put on a show like I’d seen SGT H do when I made E5, I wasn’t a model NCO when it came to starched uniforms and spit-shined boots and I didn’t always think before speaking, but I knew my shit, both job-specific and general.

[@GenaTrius]

So that's why government labs are so full of electric eels

[@juliusxeno6537]

Theyre cool ig

[@P_RO_]

20 minutes to test results is an eon on a battlefield. Better than nothing but these tests need to be much faster. Hopefully all results will be zero, but there's always some people who will use anything to achieve their goals with complete disregard to rules or even common sense.

[@CathodeRayNipplez]

0:14 🤣

[@fredblonder7850]

And I thought using an at-home Covid test-kit was a nuisance.

[@richardwahl6667]

Terrifying, really. On all sides, there's so much intelligent effort expended to maim, blister, blind, and kill human beings, necessitating an equal effort to develop protection strategies. It's a trite observation, yet true nonetheless: What a waste and what an indictment on our collective wisdom. Nevertheless, soon, by continuing to ignore the damage we are inflicting on our climate, we might wipe ourselves out, allowing the Earth to possibly recover. I just hope that if cockroaches are the survivors, they manage to build a better societal structure than we have.

[@peterzavon3012]

It is NEVER appropriate to wear something like that full-face "Gas mask" on your head like a hat. and, of course, wearing it over a beard is a recipe for personal disaster.