EIGHT THOUSAND US Troops Were Tear Gassed By Mistake In What One Unit Is Calling A Whoopsie Daisy

A spokesperson for the division acknowledged that tear gas did get onto the course, but told Task & Purpose that most of the smoke in the video was regular smoke as part of simulating the battlefield. CS gas was used, along with barbed wire, to mark the boundaries of the course and keep soldiers on the field. Additionally soldiers were advised to wear eye protection.

“The limited use of CS was not [intended] to interfere with the formations but to deter participants from leaving the course, however a shift in wind direction did bring portions of CS onto the course,” the spokesperson told Task & Purpose.

When the wind did pick up, the CS gas was blowing into the soldiers’ faces, as well as their leaders, who were also participating in the exercise, according to the division. Video shows soldiers coughing and covering their eyes after experiencing it.

There is no more perfect video to accurately describe what a day-to-day training exercise looks like than this. You're out there for some pre-Thanksgiving training that is supposed to be a good time and build some unit cohesion while teaching about battles of yesteryears. Next thing ya know, the wind shifts, and people are puking their brains out through every hole in their faces except their mouths. People's eyes are burning, their lungs are restricted, and their noses are getting cleaned out like it's the strongest neti pot on earth being shoved to their brain stem.

Sure, there are some bad things about that. For instance, it fucks up your eyes if the gas gets in your contacts. It can fuck up some of your reproductive systems for those trying to have babies, and it can cause burns if exposure lasts for long enough. 

But is that bad? Well yeah. It's bad because people weren't given the proper safety briefs. They should have been told about the gas simply from a contact lenses point of view. Tell everyone to wear glasses, safety glasses, and then get nuts. That's like prepping for training 101. Hard training is great. Foolish training that risks injury for zero tactical gain is dumb and it always has been. 

We talk about that type of training and the benefits/drawbacks from running a unit that way. Give it a listen.