Day 2 -"Go Team" On Duty

We were told that we were to stay within the hanger, that we were not permitted to photograph anything and that we were not to wander around the building as there were top-secret operations going on nearby.

In a talk from the MSU (management support unit) we learned that the 40 lb. packs we were to carry would each contain a Mark I injector kit. This kit contains three spring-loaded hyopdermics, delivering in rapid succession, IM (intramuscular) atropine, 2-PAM and Valium in fixed doses.

Danger Zones

They said they would explain the purpose of this kit later, but at present we should know that in case of a mass casualty there would be three designated zones:

• The red inner zone would be the hot zone-to be entered only by a highly trained group of experts with special equipment. They would establish rapidly the cause-nuclear, biological or chemical [NBC].
• There would then be established a yellow zone which requires totally self-contained class A gear, and then
• the green zone, which is where we would be operating, presumably in a decontaminated area.

  (They didn't explain our need for the Mark I kit if we weren't expected to be exposed to contamination.) From the green zone, survivors would be transported [to medical facilities] for more extensive medical care.

  Lectures were given by military experts on treating exposure to biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. In the lecture on biological contamination we learned that aerosols of bacteria including botulism toxin, or botulism organisms, anthrax and staphylococcus toxins have been used in a number of military situations. In the chemical disaster talk we learned of organophosphate poisoning, which requires immediate self-injection (within seconds) of the Mark I to prevent a painful death. We were shown how and where to self-inject and allowed to practice by injecting the meds into a Styrofoam slab.

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