NBCW/CBRN Accessories: Tools for Survival

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Our series on British and Canadian NBCW/CBRN equipment concludes with a look at accessories carried by soldiers to maintain CBRN gear and to detect and treat the effects of chemical warfare agents.
L1A1/C2 Chemical Warfare Detection Kits: • NBC/CBRN Suits: The Th...
NBCW/CBRN Series:
Part I - M256A1 Chemical Agent Detector Kit: • M256A1 Chemical Agent ...
Part II - Canadian Cold War Gas Masks: • Canadian Cold War Gas ...
Part III: Canadian/British NBCW/CBRN Suits: • NBC/CBRN Suits: The Th...
0:00 Introduction
1:00 Anti-Dimming Outfit Mk.7
1:26 C3 Gas Mask Carrier Contents
1:45 Mustard Gas Countermeasures / RSDL Wipes
2:07 Nerve Agent Countermeasures (Combopens / NAPS tablets)
3:37 Liquid CW Agent Detector Papers
5:05 Nerve Agent Vapour Detector (NAVD)
5:35 Corrective Combat Spectacles
6:03 Decontamination Kits
6:56 Support Kit, Overhead Protection (SKOP)
7:25 Outro
SOURCES:
Canadian Armed Forces Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare Publication - Defensive Clothing and Equipment, 1960, Department of National Defence, Ottawa
JSP 410 - Survive to Fight, Edition II, Command of the Defence Council, Ministry of Defence, 1990
publications.gc.ca/collection...

[@NikeaTiber]

Another interesting and maybe little-known fact about chemical warfare preparedness during Operation Overlord was all the white stars painted on the hoods of jeeps was reactive to chemical agents that were common at the time and would turn orange when exposed to them. Great video!

[@vapormissile]

My friend came back from Basic training in 1985 & described how they had these complicated nerve-gas kits with atropine/2-Pam chloride injectors. Lots of details about auto-injectors and the training. I said Wow & asked if it actually worked. He said "No - it just gives them something to do until they die."

[@erikthered4929]

The manner in which you're exposed and the amount you are exposed are a big factor here. They weren't just giving soldiers fake drugs, but if you received a major chemical dose you are most likely screwed, that is how I would put it; these emergency kits weren't designed for worst-case scenarios, but minor to moderate exposure. For a moderate exposure, they can give you more time to evacuate and receive proper treatment which greatly increases the chances of survival, but that's often not an option in such areas of operation. They definitely work to some extent to counteract the effects of a gas or liquid, but gas attacks are going to be highly variable and unpredictable in a myriad of ways, which is one of the main reasons aside from the moral/ethical implications (and for those countries that care about international law, the fact they are illegal to use in warfare) that chemical weapons have mostly been abandoned in modern warfare.

[@ericm381]

Fogging even in a separated mask is an issue. I am familiar with the use of modern SCBA, and until you go on air, the masks commonly fog up quite badly. We use a very light film of soap (watered down) to mitigate fogging. The only thing that clears the fog is the constant flow of dry air, I would think that a gas mask (I have note worn one for extended periods) would have a similar behavior, as humans are soggy things, minus the free flow of dry air.

[@jdogi1]

Soggy indeed. Especially if you're exerting yourself.

[@tissuepaper9962]

Shit, I can't even wear a pair of regular safety glasses without fogging being an issue, I can only imagine that my sweaty-ass forehead would nearly immediately blind me if I were to don a gas mask. Chemistry classes in school involved *constant* wiping of my goggles, at least once every two minutes or I would be blinded by the condensation, and that was with all of the vents open (a questionable practice in terms of safety, I might add).

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

That ancient anti fog kit did work quite well in the old British S6 and S10 respirators

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

Your mention of air reminded me of the ‘fuel suit’ which was originally intended for the crews of liquid fuelled missiles but was then adopted - as a corgi* - without proper testing for use in chemical weapon disposal. Instead of an S6 or S10 we had an SCBA. Problem was that, even on training, you had a significant risk of suffocation if your air ran dry, as your gloves were too clumsy to remove the mask. Later versions included the option to switch to a standard respirator filter canister in such situations. * Commanding Officer’s Really Good Idea

[@mfbfreak]

The Soviet GP-5 mask has a lovely design to mitigate the fogging - the breathed in air flows directly over the eye pieces through openings/ducts placed right below them, so with every breath you take, any fogging is cleared again. I can't say anything about the other qualities of the mask, though.

[@unclecordite9208]

I was also a reservist in the 1980‘s & 90‘s and remember my trips to the dreaded „gas hut“ for an intro to NBCW. Thank you so much for memorializing the „material culture“ and modern artifacts of the cold war we served in. I especially appreciate your emphasis on Canadian invention and ingenuity. There was a great deal of thought, cost and effort put into our national defence, and it deserves remembering.

[@Zbigniew_Nowak]

I remember the dramatic scene with atropine in the movie "The Rock" :) And an older guy told me how in the army he had to pass an exam in which he injected himself with a placebo, but it certainly didn't look that dramatic. As for these glasses, during World War II, German soldiers were said to be willing to use them instead of "normal" glasses because they stayed on the face better during combat.

[@doddsy2978]

You brought some memories back there. You describe the one colour detector paper turning red. I remember being instructed that it turned blue and thought that that was the reason the spine was blue - to remind you. The Combo-pen had a pill that was meant to be consumed in the cap. We were told that it was Valium but could be any of those style drugs, for all we knew. Those Canadian 'Defence Glasses' are of a slightly different design than the ones I was issued with, although the case was quite similar and similar enough for me to instantly know what was contained within. I was issued with two pairs, one pair were similar to the pair you showed but were round, 'John Lennon' shaped, metal framed affairs with a couple of prongs, facing forward. There were no arms. The prongs were designed to fit into one of a set of holes in the front of your S6 Respirator (I think that the S10 was designed to have integral corrective lens fitted but, by the time they were issued, I was not wearing glasses and so, cannot remember). The other pair were more similar in shape to yours but with a thick faux tortoise shell frame and thin, flat arms with springy ear parts (similar to the legs of a child's NHS pair of glasses, back in the day (more research for you - perhaps)). The springy parts were meant to keep the glasses in place, on your face, when things became - er, more energetic. Oh! I still have a copy of JSP410, the publication from which the illustrations you showed came from, somewhere. Anyway, another great video, Gilles, thanks.

[@redbarond1]

It's intersting to me that there are so many possible ways to secure prescription lenses to one's face under a respirator! At my work, we are all trained at the very basic HAZMAT Awareness level, but I am still provided with a full face respirator. My prescription lens holders are similar to the first set you described, with a pair of plastic prongs that face forwards, securing the lenses to the inside of the mask semi-permanently (they can be removed if your prescription changes, but they are held in very tightly so doing so is a PITA). I really like this setup, because can doff my prescription safety glasses and toss my respirator on quite quickly without having to put on a set of glasses separately.

[@stevestruthers6180]

From 1979 until 1981, I was a reservist in the Canadian Army. During our basic training, we were taught how to use the SKOP (Support Kit, Overhead Protective). Our primary application for it was to provide some overhead protection against shrapnel coming from artillery shells bursting in air while we were dug in. I even remember watching the training film for this simple but effective piece of kit. Oddly enough, we were shown how to use gas masks, but never did any gas hut training, nor any other CBRN-oriented training, and we never learned how to use an NBC protective suit. I suspect that the reason why we never got this training was for reasons of cost, mainly, and the possibility that as reservists, we would not have needed to know how to protect ourselves from CBRN threats unless war had broken out and we were deployed to front-line positions. Given the generally poor state of the Canadian military at the time, I suspect we would have been relegated to 'F'-echelon taskings like training and force generation, as well as general support duties, and would not actually have gone to war unless the need for combat replacements was fairly dire. The 1979-81 period was a bad time for the Canadian military overall, as the government of the day seemed to be doing its best to starve the military of necessary funding in the name of dealing with budgetary pressures and concerns. Reservists generally were treated as the poor cousins of the Regular Force and tended to get little in the way of kit or support - but at least my unit got some brand-new vehicle-mounted radios (AN-VRC46 sets) in 1980 to replace the ancient and ultra-heavy '42' sets that had been built by Plessey in the 1950s for the Canadian Army. Thanks for this very interesting video.

[@doddsy2978]

We were taught to use a poncho that we were issued with. I could imagine the odd argument over whose poncho of a pair was going to be used. It would have invariably been left behind whether you advanced or retired. You KNEW it was not going to be dug up either way.

[@the_real_Kurt_Yarish]

In the case of the US M17 gas mask, spectacles designed to be used with it had a special wire frame made to clip into the sockets of the mask's eyepieces, and could be left mounted to the mask while it was stored. I imagine this was more expedient than having to switch to a separate pair while donning your mask. I believe this type of spectacle mounting was retained with future US gas masks, or at least with the M40, but I may be mistaken.

[@tomhenry897]

More common got the model with prongs that went into the holes by the eye glass When opening the mask one side popped out and wanted to poke you I bought what you described from an army supply catalog Later used sport glasses that didn’t interfere with the mask

[@jastrapper190]

This is becoming one of my favorite channels. Great video.

[@janneaalto3956]

For some reason the opening reminds me of the Mitchell & Webb Remain Indoors skit.

[@jp-um2fr]

England. I have always admired the Canadians, and this channel just reinforces my belief. It must have taken a lot of research and time to produce this relatively short video. Great stuff. Regards.

[@kingfish4575]

I'm always fascinated by the CBRN field.

[@nightwhish1]

Love theses intros. Great video Gilles

[@ibrahimkocaalioglu]

Thank you to your friend for the materials and to you for the presentation.

[@Kargoneth]

Sad that such things are necessary. Thanks for the upload, Gilles.

[@Phoenix407]

You do such a good job on this stuff I would love to see the Russian Civil Defense kit with your level of detail and personality brought to it

[@51WCDodge]

A few years back Ex Soviet equipment was available for pennies on the European surplus market. So was British NBC gear.

[@GeFlixes]

As a heads up: At least for me, parts of your suit show very distracting interference patterns, like if you look through two polarization filters.

[@eyerollthereforeiam1709]

I love the dig at AI.

[@galeng73]

Idea: When referring to earlier videos, provide a link to them in the description. In this case, you merely link to the previous articles in this series. Bonus: You'd possibly get more views for those older articles.

[@dustinbrueggemann1875]

I don't know how your suit has moire patterns on it, but now I desperately want a moire pattern suit.

[@deanp2012]

While I love your fashion sense, I've got one word for you Moiré.

[@darnoc4470]

Were the NAPS tablets generally a placebo or did the illustrator simply use some training/prop tablets as a reference?

[@davidwhiteford4936]

AI bashing! I love it Gilles. Your the first one I've seen do it, bravo! I'm certain that The Silicon Defense League will be up in armatures over this?

[@elijahrebello1]

lol. Best intro ever 😂

[@caseyrevoir]

I missed you Microsoft SAM

[@Madness832]

"...I'm 'Jeo Messier'..."🤣

[@Floodbait_117]

My vote is for u.s. and russian cbrn kits next pls

[@____________________________.x]

2025 is going to be lots of fun then 👀

[@anonymouse4938]

AI... well played 😂

[@Mountain-Man-3000]

I thought the RCMP had finally come for you... LoL

[@oldspicey6001]

Thry had so much preparation for something that would never happen.

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

As we said in the job “better to have it and not need it…”

[@mfbfreak]

Definitely, but don't judge. Enough atrocities had been committed in WW1 and WW2 to make it very reasonable to assume that someone, some day would use chemical warfare again. And eventually - in Syria - it was in fact used again.

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

@@mfbfreak by Saddam before that too

[@bearlytamedmodels]

It's the stuff you assume 'would never happen' that blindsides you when they end up, in fact, happening.

[@tomhenry897]

We didn’t know that

[@jimsvideos7201]

If that's live RSDL - and it looks like it - it'll probably burn on skin contact if you choose to open it.

[@wtfbuddy1]

Why - is he covered in bleach?

[@frogz]

8st!!!

[@fft2020]

I would love if you would make more videos about civilian everyday curiosities rather than militaria ... those mean nothing to me and are only used on very specific places... the batleground

[@robertschnobert9090]

Isn't morphine just heroin? That should be illegal. There's no reason for soldiers to abuse hard drugs like heroin for fun. 🌈

[@Cory_]

Extremely disappointed at your use of AI. Unsubscribed.

[@tomhenry897]

Let the door hit you in the ass