"question nbc suits access to ammo?" Topic

just looking at a few pictures of guys in nbc suits on the net and didn't see any exposed webbing and ammo pouches, so am I right thinking when the alert comes the nbc suits are put on over all the gear?
so how do you get to your spare ammo?

At least for the US military you wear your webbing over your chemical suit.

In the UK webbing over NBC suits,

Tally Ho!

Yup, webbing goes over the suit.

Yup webbing over the NBC suit and it is absolute hell attempting to get magazines out of the pouches while wearing the thick rubber gloves.

For me, U.S. Army 1980-2000. I was a 19D Cavalry Scout and a 54B NBC Specilist.

MOPP suit over Green fatieges or BDU's or DCU's, then LBE over them.

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Wardog,

Here's what British troops looked like in NBC suits during the 1980s:

If you had to put the complete suit on when the NBC alarm went off, you were seriously in the poo. There was/is a system whereby the NBC threat level dictates how much of it is worn. Ideally, if a chemical attack was imminent, you'd already be wearing the suit, gloves and overboots and would only have to whip the respirator on (in 9 seconds). At lower levels of threat you might be wearing the suit with no gloves/overboots or might simply have it all in your webbing.

Cough , Cough , *Generation Kill* , cough…

Nice pic Tim, some of us infantry guys scored the 1 piece track suits and AFV jackets to and some CSms even allowed them to be worn. IIRC ( and it's ver 30 years0 weren't the NBCD states 1-3 with the highest being masks, gloves etc and the lowest everythign stowed in the Bag ( large pack). Bunny suit unzipped and hood down was actually quite comfortable for cooler Bavarian evenings in the fall on Reforger.

Edit to add a pic of me in the Bunny Suit circa 1980, you can see the shell dressing attached to my 64 pattern webbing on the left shoulder

In this one of our "trench" you can see the NBCD packs ( old issued 1951 pattern large packs) with our suits, boots and gloves in them close at hand andready to be dragged out if/when needed. The masks were on the webbing on our left hips.

Yes, webbing/LBE/TA-50 on the out side of MOPP Suits … You still have to shoot and do your job in any environment … Chem, Nuc, Bugs or otherwise. Of course in the ROK, we'd put our canteens under our Parkas to keep them from freezing ! In many cases if you had on your MOPP gear you wouldn't need a parka !

God, I hated MOPP gear. I remember doing a range in MOPP 4 and having the charging handle on my M16A2 kick back and break the outer lens in front of my right eye. Note to self: make sure the charging handle is fully locked in place!

I think the most miserable experience I ever had was spending 20 days in the box at NTC/Ft. Irwin in MOPP 3. We also had to sleep in MOPP 4 one or two nights; talk about claustrophobia…

Yeah … MOPP 1 or MOPP 4 … the NTC sucked !!!!

I was a Chemical Officer and had a decon Platoon. Yep MOP gear sucks – but it is better than doing the real live choking chicken.

A worse than usual way to die. So I still have my mask (legally) just because.

You got that right Sir, as we recently saw in Syria … but you know troops … we just like to complain !

"Yeah … MOPP 1 or MOPP 4 … the NTC sucked !!!!"

Hey your talking about my home sweat home! Kasnovia Live's

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PS, I love MOPP-4!

Somewhat amazingly, NBC Black never stopped my guys from 'choking the chicken' (allegedly).

Yeah, I was at the NTC for 2 rotations … great training [even if we did get our kick !] … but it still sucked !

Mark some skills are just mastered by troopies. We even practiced drinking beer drills :)

Home Team. I have 52 Rotation under my belt.

I had 7 rotations at NTC and 4 at CMTC Hohenfels; always as the visiting team. Never minded the MOPP suit at Hohenfels though. We always went in the winter time.

Beer drinking drills were frothy affairs when they issued the S10 with integral drinking straw…….also went a bit 'fausty' if you didn't clean them out properly…..spent 72 hours in NBC Black…..based in a disused bomb store and patrolling out for 5-7 kms at a time……lost loads of weight……could do with doing that again now!!

Yea, we the (11th ACR) did 5 or 6 rotations at CMTC, "Hohenfels" always started in MOPP-1 and progressed to MOPP-4 over the hr's in the box.

Hell now that I think about it, we were on our second day in the maneuver box when Iraq invaded Kuwait.

One thing with the MOPP suit is it kept you warm in the winter and at night even in the summer at night. If you want to lose a few pounds, do PT in MOPP-4!

Was helping out at my Legion Branch early this month for Legion Week, when we invite classes of school kids to look over displays of military memorabilia and chat with Vets. Several of our older Vets (WW2 and Korea) were being quizzed by a glass of 7-8 year olds and one piped up with what I understand is a question that every class asks every year "in the war how did you go to the bathroom?"

While the old guys at the front of the hall fumbled through their answer I had a vivid recollection of "defecation drills" in full bunny suit, mask gloves and boots from 35 years ago.

DefDrills in a noddy suit…..memories of much hilarity when one of the guys forgot to retrieve his 'braces'* and had to rescue them after he had completed the act……no 'buddy-buddy' drills in that circumstance……laughing in a respirator isn't easy either!

British NBC suits had cloth ties that looped up and over your shoulders like braces…..

Did 3 rotations at NTC (one in full MOPP) and got B'slapped up one side and down the other every time. Like Legion said, good training, but boy, is it ever humbling…

@11th ACR- You guys got far too much fun out of those ops!

Yea, being OPFOR Recon, we would infiltrate through Blue Fore lines at night make our spot reports, call in fire missions, and air strikes.

Then have some fun. We would put our masks on and do some drive by shootings on the R.E.M.F's. Ash And Trash you know the Support types unit's.

They would freak out once they saw the enemy wearing protective masks.

They would be running to get in to MOPP-4!

Then we would leave and sit up on a hill top watching them trying to operate under a chemical attack that never happened!

I loved every second of that five and 1/2 years in that desert.

Aargh, this discussion is bringing back suppressed memories of a nasty attack of gastric flu in NBC Black on STANTA, circa 1989… :(

And a Troop leader dropping his ressie down a field toilet!!

Tally Ho!

Aargh, this discussion is bringing back suppressed memories of a nasty attack of gastric flu in NBC Black on STANTA, circa 1989… :(

And a Troop leader dropping his ressie down a field toilet!!

….. " and what did you do in the Cold War Daddy?"

I Love The Smell Of CS In The Morning,
It Smells Like Victory!

Some good info link

Nick,

I love the smell of rakkasan in the morning… :)

Hey ! I was a Rakkasan, 3-187 INF/101, '80-'83 !!!

You were blue stuff poured into field toilets?!

Very funny … NOT ! link

The Attack of BIG BLUE!

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Thanks for enlightening me! :)

No offence intended – Rakkasan in HM Armed Forces was the trade-name for the foul blue chemical in chemical toilets.

Well … now we all know … The nickname "Rakkasans" is derived from the Japanese word for umbrella. The name was given to the 187th during its tour in occupied Japan following World War II. When a translator dealing with local Japanese dignitaries was trying to explain what their unit was trained to do (and not knowing the Japanese word for "airborne soldiers") he used the phrase "falling down umbrella men", or rakkasan. Amused by the clumsy word, the locals began to call the troopers by that nickname; it soon stuck and became a point of pride for the unit.