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CSSG-3 hears 'Beep, beep, beep!'

USMC News

Story Identification Number: 200331220211
Story by Lance Cpl. Monroe F. Seigle

MARINE CORPS TRAINING AREA BELLOWS, Hawaii(Feb. 27, 2003) -- MARINE CORPS TRAINING AREA BELLOWS - To many, this might sound like rush-hour traffic in a big city. However, if you are in a combat zone, this means you have a few precious moments to properly react to a nuclear, biological or chemical threat.

Warriors from Engineer Platoon, Combat Service Support Group 3, exercised their capabilities in equipment and troop decontamination at Marine Corps Training Area Bellows, Feb. 27 in order to prepare for their upcoming deployment to Cobra Gold 03 in Thailand.

The process of decontaminating troops and vehicles is a lengthy and difficult task, and must usually be done in Mission Orientated Protective Posture 4.

The first step is the initial washing of the vehicles. This is a general spray-down of the vehicle to remove all the obvious and visible decontamination.

The second step requires a more detailed washing with bleach or DS-2, an agent that neutralizes contaminants. A Marine must scrub the vehicles with brushes to remove the smaller, non-visible portions of contaminants.

After the outside of the vehicle is free of debris and contaminants, the inside must be cleaned as well. This is called the interior-decon-wait period. After the decontamination solutions have been applied, there is a period of time the Marine must wait before the contaminants are dissolved and considered to be non-harmful.

The final phase of the process is the rinse. The vehicles are sprayed with hot water and rinsed from top to bottom, left to right. The vehicles are then monitored with a Chemical Agent Monitor, which detects the presence of chemicals. If the vehicles are deemed to be clean of contaminants, they are then allowed to continue with the mission.

"The Marines must pay close attention to detail, focus on the mission at hand while ensuring that every nook and cranny on the vehicle is clean," said Staff Sgt. Caleb Eames, the NBC officer for CSSG-3. "Any contaminants that are left on the vehicles can present grave danger."

During the decontamination, there are five different stations for each phase of the thorough process. Approximately 10 Marines at each station decontaminated a total of 21 vehicles in three hours.

"I haven't seen this level of training accomplished since I have been in the Marine Corps."