THE CHEMICAL DECONTAMINATION COMPANY

[Music] [Music] this is chemical warfare the sea of CBR like all CBR weapons it has a two part role in modern warfare it kills the unprotected and contaminates widespread areas so that no human being and aided by protective devices can move into it and remain unharmed because of CBR effectiveness as a killer and a contaminator recent years have witnessed its accelerated development and not only in our own country today we can expect that hostilities would bring attacks by these weapons which contaminate as well as kill the weapons of chemical biological radiological warfare CBR our military planners who are responsible for the defence of the nation's security accordingly have spurred on CBR work Raik stress has been placed on defense against CBR attack in our army primary responsibility for a CBR defense rests with the individual soldier if his unit undergoes CBR attack each soldier is trained to take care of himself this is called first echelon decontamination the equipment of his unit would be vulnerable to and soldiers are trained to decontaminate their equipment quickly so their outfit can get on with its job this is second echelon decontamination most important though vital military areas would be the targets of the enemy's CBR attacks the enemy would contaminate such strategic installations as rail heads and supply depots to hinder our use of them and to stall our operations at such critical times trained personnel must move into the contaminated area and help the local unit to decontaminate and recover the installation for use this important work is referred to as Third Echelon decontamination and is done by the chemical decontamination company the company is composed of three platoons each platoon has four sections each section of each platoon has identical duties each man in each outfit is trained to handle all decontamination duties and to handle all types of equipment cb4 are the decon company is prepared to handle any or all of them in attacks involving radioactivity men of the decon company are trained to survey the extent of the hazard they know what to do about attacks by biological agents and attacks by chemical agents for chemical decontamination the principle chemical decontaminant sauce slurry a mixture of bleach and water with antacid added to prevent the slurry from setting the decon company prepares slurry and a 400 gallon power driven decon apparatus usually referred to as a PD da which keeps it thoroughly mixed until it is used tank is a d contaminant in an organic solvent it is sprayed by hand over small areas dry mix which consists of bleach and dry dirt caustic solution and water are also useful chemical decontaminant burning and weathering are other means of decontamination each situation calls for a decision as to the proper decontaminant and all decon personnel must know how to utilize all of these d contaminants to full advantage sometimes the company performs secondary missions aside from its decontamination work such as using its apparatus in the field for shower baths it is occasionally called upon for firefighting work it's equipment is sometimes used to halt drinking water but the prime mission is to decontaminate vital areas behind the frontline let's follow the action of a decon company commander as he reports to the chemical section of corps to receive an order which tells what his next job will be word has just been received that the enemy has bombed one of our vital areas a quarry supply airstrip in a surprise mining attack along with a chi blister gas was used a landing of cargo aircraft is due at 1700 the time is now o 9:30 so the strip must be recovered promptly the local air force unit there is doing the best it can but it does not have the equipment to undertake the large-scale decontamination which is necessary to get the strip back in operation in other words it's a job for the decon company it's now oh nine fifty hours the company commander has returned to his CP with the orders he is familiar with the area hit by blister gasps for he has previously reconnoitered it along with the other areas for which he is responsible he briefs only two of the platoon leaders since the 3rd platoon will not be used in this operation the monitoring party is alerted to move out with the unit commander and the platoon leaders are given their order of march the company commander and his monitoring party proceed to the airhead upon his arrival he is met by a representative of the local commander who briefs him on the situation and the priority for decontamination first the landing strip and the operations building which is within the contaminated area the troops have been moved upwind into this wooded area with this information and the initial report from his monitoring team on the type of agent and the extent of contamination our unit commander can plan his operations he meets the first platoon at an assembly point near the airhead to give them final orders for their portion of the operation the 1st platoon will have the responsibility for setting up the 3,000 gallon tank the shuttling of water the operation of the personnel decon station and the decontamination of the operations building meanwhile the second platoon will handle the big job of decontaminating the airstrip the personnel decon station will be located in the upwind side in the wooded area adjacent to the Air Force troops the station will be laid out to take advantage of overhead concealment and will consist of three parts a nun dressing area properly laid out for the removal of contaminated clothing a shower area where soap is issued and warm water is provided from the decon trucks and a dressing area where impregnated clothing is issued first let's take a look at the first platoon which is begun heating water for the showers in the personnel decon station this heater provides continuous hot water during the entire operation water is pumped from the shuttle truck into a 3,000 gallon canvas tank in any decontamination operation an adequate supply of water is essential and will be used in showering and in the mixing of slurry standard undressing procedure is followed by all personnel going through the decon station the contaminated clothing is not destroyed but will later be laundered and re impregnated for future use the shoes will be salvaged if possible the showering is from top to bottom with special attention to soaking under the arms in the crotch back of the knees and on the ankles and feet a complete change of impregnated clothing is issued meanwhile over on the airstrip the second Platoon monitoring party has been monitoring continuously and will keep on monitoring throughout the operation this close check is necessary to prevent overlooking any contamination within the area first a road to the airstrip is decontaminated using slurry that has been mixed on route as soon as a load of slurry is exhausted the PD da is returned to the water point established by the first Platoon for reloading decontamination efforts are concentrated in the vital areas only such as unloading points routes for the removal of supplies and maintenance areas for aircraft a PD da loaded with slurry decontaminates about 1300 square yards of hard stand by the use of overlapping spraying a uniform covering of the area is more easily accomplished thus assuring complete decontamination guards have been posted around the contaminated area by the local commander to prevent unauthorized and unprotected personnel from entering on the advice of the company commander the local command personnel are putting dry mix into craters and covering this vics with uncontaminated earth contaminated vegetation adjacent to the airstrip can be soaked with gasoline or kerosene and burned off this is a fast and efficient method of decontamination gods are alerted to prevent personnel from entering the smoke from burning vegetation a monitor from the first Platoon determines by the use of detector crayon that the operations building is contaminated to such an extent that it must be decontaminated with slurry to decontaminate some of the outlying areas bleach is spread by using an explosive this is a field expedient the bleach will settle out and cover the area on the downwind side to decontaminate the operations building one section from the first Platoon sprays the building with slurry the same principle is applied as in personnel decontamination you start at the top and work down during the first spraying when the building is scrubbed so that slurry gets into the cracks then to complete decontamination it is sprayed again after the spraying is complete dry mix is placed around the building to decontaminate any agent that might have washed off the walls onto the ground the company's mission is not complete until the monitors have made a final check each man with a responsibility for a specific area a check of the operations building indicates that it is again usable because of double slurring the airstrip seems to be thoroughly covered however this visual check is not enough and a check using the detector kit must be made to be sure that the toxic agent is no longer dangerous the areas adjacent to the airstrip are also checked for completeness of decontamination but time is now 1700 and the decontamination of the airstrip has been completed an hour ahead of schedule however the work of the decon company is far from complete it was still clean up all of its own equipment and decontaminate all of its personnel to be prepared for the next mission because the chemical decontamination company has done its work efficiently the air head is again operational [Music]