Gas Chamber
“Oh man, what a crazy day yesterday was. Crazy week, for that matter. Yesterday we hit the gas chamber! I thought I was going to pass out!!! It was so bad.
We went in with gas masks, but mine wasn’t really sealed right because I could smell it right away. I’m not sure how to explain the smell except that it was almost like a burnt something or other.
After we all squeezed in there, they went around making us pull the mask a few inches from our face to tell them our name and last four of our social. I put my mask back on and tired to clear it but apparently that didn’t really work right. My eyes started tearing up and I started coughing uncontrollably, so hard I was drooling all over myself. They were taking us out in small groups so I had to stand there sucking gas for what seemed like forever but was probably only 2 minutes.
When they finally got to my group I could barely stand up for coughing so hard. A couple of guys fell over and were rolling on the floor. It was almost funny, even to them, except we all felt like we were dying.
The Drill sgts told us to take off our masks….
Ouch!
Somehow, I managed to choke and cough even harder! My nose completely drained all over the place. My eyes burned so hard I could just barely crack them open. So I’m holding my mask, my M16 held up by my knees and I’m trying to put my helmet on. Stupid chin snap. That thing got caught somewhere behind my ear.
At long last, chin strap buckled, mask in left hand, rifle in the right, the doors opened and I stumbled out there as quickly as I could.
Overall, it was probably just a little bit worse than I expected, but I would do it again.”
note: this is posted by Katie Marie. Jake is still in Ft. Benning, GA, experiencing boot camp. I received this from Jake today and he asked me to post it here. This is actually dated on the 16th of November, but I just received it today. On December 21st, Jake will be back for in Oklahoma for a few weeks of Christmas break.