Watching how unserious these revolutionary LARPers, are I am painfully aware how much heavy lifting "genuine" and "properly used" are doing.
A full military gas mask doesn’t fully protect you from even basic prison pepper spray. Shit gets everywhere and you still have a sad time.
You've both got the truth of it right here.
During basic training (at least in the Air Force back in the Vietnam era, though I don't see any reason why they wouldn't still do it today), squads of 10-12 privates are fitted for proper gas masks, shown how to wear them, and marched into a wooden shed with benches on opposite walls. They're ordered to sit down and shut up. The door is closed. A gas grenade (of whatever kind they're playing with that day) is activated. Once it's been farting foul chemicals for 15-20 seconds, the order comes -- take off the masks, get up and do the best you can to GTFO of the shed without being overcome by the gas.
It's a rough exercise, but generally each private only needs to run it once. It teaches several things: how to fit/wear a gas mask, how ineffective they actually are at blocking the discomfort of the gases, how much fucking worse it is without the mask, and how it's damn-near impossible to function once any of it finally gets to your eyes or lungs. Naturally since it's boot camp they emphasize the fear factor for the recruits, but there's always medics in attendance to help drag anybody out who doesn't make it under their own power and get their lungs working again.
These dipshits are
woefully under-prepared for any incident where these gas masks might be helpful. They're not ready. They've never experienced it (even if they've been pepper sprayed before, it's still quite a bit different if your
mask gets hit with pepper spray ... it "lingers"). The military exercise gets the hard part over with well in advance of a combat situation -- those recruits know what it's going to feel like because they've been put through it (same as how civilian police are required to be hit with a live taser shot, eat a face-full of mace/pepper spray, and in some places ride a stun gun to the ground too).
These would-be revolutionaries have never experienced
any near-military hostilities. If gas actually goes out, these people will be desperately scrambling for air and escape amid a cloud of foul pain and chemical heat, and just as they're figuring out what their best "survival" option is, they'll be set upon by an angry mob of ICE and DHS agents (and possibly National Guard or even regular Army if we get the Insurrection Act) looking to crack skulls and bring home trophies. And unlike these pussies, the folks wearing the badges and insignia
have gone through the infamous gas mask training.
You guys do realize if this shit actually goes down, we're going to get some incredibly kino footage, right?
