Testing NBC Kit
 

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BBC News - Petman the robot soldier put through his paces

Erm, wouldn't it be cheaper to simply put a real person in it? After all, the testing in a chemical environment doesn't mean it has to be toxic or lethal

Ohh and if that is lifelike movements, do all US troops walk around like they have just took a dump in their suit?

Ah, memories of being a young, nieve LAC, reading the words "applicants must be physically fit and have well-worn boots" in DCIs and failing to heed my boss' advice of "never volunteer for anything".

Still, the extra money was good.

I can claim to be years ahead in the development and testing of advanced NBC kit. At Gutersloh in the mid 80's, I had an NBC suit with the lining removed, a respirator filter with the element removed for easier breathing, and a steel helmet which was, in fact, made from fibreglass (by laying up glass cloth and resin over a real helmet as a mould). The helmet was fitted with the proper inner fittings & strap, and was dressed with cam net and scraps of hessian. Controlled testing, however, showed it to be incapable of stopping a .22 airgun pellet fired from a Webley Senior pistol.

All of these accoutrements were viewed with some suspicion by the RAF Regiment staff who accompanied us on our SH holidays in the German countryside on deployment and Exercises. However, I always think that personal comfort is a great thing...........

And yes, I did have the 'real stuff' close to hand in my vehicle.........

HB

So I assume that in your training they never put you in the tear-gas tunnels? Now that would have been very funny...

Naturally, TS, one would not venture into the gas chamber without the correct kit.

On a 2 week field exercise with SH in RAFG, comfort was all; it takes no skill or intelligence to be otherwise........

HB

I remember being on a Resettlement Course with a NBC instructor (Pongo). We were looking at joining the Police and went on a 2 week course at Catterick on how to pass the tests etc.

We visited a Police training camp and while there they asked for a volunteer to do CS Spray test.

This NBC guy volunteerd and when the spray was sprayed initially in his general direction he didnt flinch.:p

In fact he took the spray off the nice young Police person (not sure what you call lady police now), and sprayed directly into his own face only to collapse screaming. :{:{

When she bent down to see if he was ok and if needed give Firt-Aid, he sat up and said I hate that stuff in my eyes and walked off. We all thought she was gonna s@it bricks and faint lol....:eek:

Afterwards he told us he had not used a Respirator in 10 years and used to set 2 cs cannisters off in his office as joke when he had visitors he didnt like (maybe the reson he wasnt on the 2OE list lol).... :=:D:ok:

I don't believe it myself, but I did hear that some aircrew used to wash their charcoal inner before use, thus removing all the charcoal and making it much more comfortable.

I think that's one of those urban myths CM, such as politicians having integrity.

HB

Courtney Mil/

The Booties I worked with did that when on Ops in Kuwait in 91, bloody idiots.... They said it was too hot and would rather be chemmed than die of heat exhaustion.....
Luckly I was too young for that and stayed in Blighty and watched CNN like everyone else....:cool:

Right.....(said in four Yorkshiremen accent)
Back in the late seventies, our little AAC unit normally based at Wildenrath, used to take part in a families repatriation exercise which took place at Dulmen. There I met a Female RMP sgt who could re pack her full, unmodified NBC suit back into the original vacuum packed plastic bags that they used to come in!:p

Halton Brat is totally correct in his assessment of the strength of the Fiberglass copy of the old 1950s tin hat as one of the JT's on the Missile Servicing Flight at West Raynham that I worked with did the same but tried to make it really lightweight. The Mk 1 one version looked the biz, until he showed it off to some mates in the queue at the exercise mess on the missile site in the middle of a Minieval and one of them said 'God, this is really light', flexed it a bit and the thing broke in half (and guess that item the helmet designer didn't have to hand at work, the original:ugh::ugh:). Anybody on here do that NBC trial at Honington in 87???

Its a girl thing...................its why if every giving a present SWMBO packages it, this after bringing a gift to someone we visited who had a new baby, new mum looked at package and at me saying, so you did ths wrapping, its obvious with a roll of sellotape and loads of paper.

Did offer to change baby which new dad wondered what i was on, just said can't be any harder than wrapping a present, it worked as new dad and me handed a beer and shown where patio was.
He so pleased as was told he was on nappy duty that afternoon.............my response was if you don't want to do a job, volunteer, :mad: it up and they don't ask again.

You think anyone had a hand in its design? It wasn't fit for purpose unless that purpose was to be uncomfortable and unstable, true it would our probably save your life, but only because you would suddenly dip down to pick it up... Ohh and that stud that pressed into your head, I still have the indentation from that.

I often wondered how the Army ran around in them, being RAF one took a more leisurely approach.

Back in the very early '80s I bought a couple of sets of current Mk 3s rather than wear the 10th hand Mk1 rubbish the sqn used on exercises. At the same time it was quite common to see studes etc wearing the Mk 2 top as a fashion item.

Best I saw was this gorgeous female on the train who was wearing a look-a-like Mk3. I kid you not, it was the pukka design, same colour, but properly lined without any charcoal.

It might be cheaper, but less effective. This gives a constant standard across years of trials that human subjects could not. It can be fitted with sensors that enable it to be used in a real environment that you couldn't expose a human to. Lots of other reasons but mostly about better rather than cheaper.

Not strictly relevant but, again Gut in mid 80's, a new Flt Cdr was ex SAR. Some 'erbert nicked his battle bowler and had it sprayed yellow just before the owners first SH exercise.

He took it well!

Similar to Pontious, back in the 90's some enterprising young man in Edinburgh bought a batch of out of date Mk 2 jackets and was selling them to the Neds as summer jackets. I remember seeing two young chaps going clubbing on a Saturday night wearing their new jackets, only to have a shock when they took them off to find their best dancing clobber was covered in black charcoal dust. Showed up great under UV light......

Ahhh night clubbing, I remember writing some rather derogatory words about a couple of chaps on the back of their shirts before they got ready to go out with one of those invisible UV security pens, in fact one had a rather nice arrow pointing at his head and Cnut written below, another referred to his small penis.... The place was in hysterics when we walked in and their shirts illuminated under the UV lights. :suspect::E

MMmmmm. Gas mask test = pear drops!

Ah, yes. A large glass of acetone for that man.