Gas Chamber

Our unit went for a chemical defence package for the past two days. This package was meant to boost our sense of confidence and proficiency against chemical agents should the enemy make use of them in war.

The first half of the package were the lectures, which did nothing much to help us keep awake. :)

The next half was more interesting. We had training in our full chemical defence suits to familiarise ourselves the actual drills that needs to be done in a real attack. The instructor would shout "Gas gas gas!" Upon that command we had to don our masks in 9 seconds. Everyone looked like spacemen after wearing the masks.

We also had to decontaminate all body parts which we were going to touch with our gloves with powder. What happens if you want to take a pee outfield while in that suit? The answer is easy. "Decon dick!"

The finale of the package was a stint in a gas chamber. We split up into details of 10 before entering the chamber. Inside, we were made to do some exercises like push ups and jumping jacks. We weren't made to do a lot though, just sufficiently enough to make us catch our breaths in the full body suit.

After which we had to perform the "changing of gas canister" drill while catching our breaths. The PT done earlier was meant to enhance the difficulty of the drill which would be too easy if we were breathing normally.

The climax of the gas chamber training finally came. We had to remove our masks and say out our rank, name, and IC before making a dash for the exit. I was smart enough to take in one deep breath of clean air before removing the mask and blurting out the required information. I thought I would not be too affected by the smoke as long as I did not inhale it and choke.

I was wrong.

The moment I stepped out into the fresh air, any skin which was previously in contact with the smoke burned as if there were flames on them. My eyes teared like nobody's business, and phelgm kept on flowing out of my nostrils. It was really an uncomfortable experience. (To make it more alarming, I was only exposed to the gas for less than a minute before walking out!)

I was glad nonetheless that I had a chance to experience the effects of the CS smoke. CS smoke is a toned down version of the tear gas used by riot polices, but it was enough to cause significant discomfort in the victims. To many of us, the training we had was an introduction to chemical defence and perhaps some appreciation of the potent effects of chemical agents. Many of us had treated the day in the chamber as a day of laughing at one another in our disgraced appearances.

We were fortunate that we could treat it as a fun day.

Somehow I couldn't help but to think of the millions of people who died in similar gas chambers in the holocaust. I reembered watching a japanese drama sometime during december last year. A doctor in that show went to a POW camp in Poland for sight seeing. He stood right at the centre of a fork of a railway in the camp. The left fork leads to a terminal where the able bodied males would depart. They were sent to barracks as inmates. The right fork was meant for the rest (women, children, sick, and the disabled.)

To be sent to the gas chambers.

As aptly coined by a lady tour guide in the show, the fork was literally "the crossroad of life." If less than a minute of exposure of CS smoke could cause so much discomfort in us, I couldn't imagine how the last moments of the people in the chambers were like. To make it worse, there were women and children among them. What had they done wrong to deserve such cruelty?

I never knew that a little bit of smoke could inflict so much thinking in me. Perhaps I am just over reacting. But the smoke did trigger an indirect correlation to a great evil decades ago.

Evil is something I could never tolerate or forgive in my whole life.

I think it would be appropriate now to moderate my tone. Anyway it is fortunate that all my friends and family are happy and healthy now.

Just had lunch with a uni friend today. Listened to her problems at work again as with my previous lunches with her.

After which I went to visit my grandmother who lived a few blocks away from her. (Suddenly remembered that she had been discharged from hospital.) Grandma's fine too :)

Finally in the day I went to play football with my friends at Pasir Ris. Although we lost 2-1 but my defence had a pretty good game today. Winning should not be the most important thing in a game. Playing well, and enjoying time with your friends should be.

It is the simple things in life that keeps me happy and gives me motivation to strive harder. I am glad that my friends and family are healthy and doing fine. Yes although they may bitch a bit here and there but it only shows that they are trying to make the best out of their lives.

I hope that no evil like those that happened decades ago would ever descent upon them.

And protecting them from harm's way is what gives us pride in donning the green uniforms.