Week 2 (Tuesday) - Gassed!

Well, today was the day that many have dreaded for two reasons: fist day of marching with full packs and the, of course, the gas chamber. After marching over to the NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) area, we spent the morning learning how to don and clear the gas masks within the required nine seconds. Actually, whenever someone yells "Gas," you can get A LOT done in nine seconds! After allowing (aka: making) us eat our MRE first (actually, they're pretty good - tastes a lot like Chef-Boy-RD stuff), we then got the chance for fun.

People tell all kind of horror stories about the gas chamber, but if you just keep your wits about you, go into it with a...wait a minute here, folks...let me tell you - it SUCKS!!! Given that the enlisted soldiers who attend the chamber love to ratch it up for officers combined with the fact that my mask still leaked even though all tests showed that it had a full seal resulted in a very interesting few minutes. Well, it was definitely UN-FUN, but it's done. The rest of the day was spent with classes and lectures, but after the gas stuff, the remainder was rather anticlimatic.