Posted on 02/25/2003 1:44:10 PM PST by knak
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Defense Department on Tuesday began issuing "escape masks" to nearly 25,000 workers at the Pentagon and training them in use of the devices in case of chemical or biological attack.
The department has purchased 80,000 of the head-covering masks at a cost of about $150 each to protect employees and visitors to its headquarters and at more than 40 other buildings leased by the military in the nation's capital.
The move, sparked by hijacked airliner attacks on America in September 2001 and accelerated by the prospect of terror strikes using deadly gases or toxins, began with the training of some 170 workers and trainers on Tuesday.
"We've completed the pilot stage and will begin giving masks and training to about 500 workers a day," said Army Col. Armando Lopez as dozens of civilian workers slipped on the masks, adjusted nose clips and were told to "relax and breathe through your mouth" in a 5th floor Pentagon auditorium.
The "Quick2000" respirators, manufactured by Survivair, a unit of the French firm Bacou-Dalloz, weigh one pound and can be donned in 10 seconds. They have been tested for safety at the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center and at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland near Washington.
DEADLY PARTICLES AND GASSES
The Quick2000 includes a blue plastic hood that covers the wearer's head and fastens around the neck. It has a breathing filter cartridge made of carbon and provides protection against a wide range of deadly gases and inhaled toxins, according to the firm.
Between 23,000 and 24,000 military personnel and civilians work at the Pentagon and, because it is the nation's military command center in addition to being an office building, it is manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Employees at the Pentagon and those who work there daily, including contractors and reporters, will be instructed to keep the masks in their desks. Thousands of other masks will be stashed strategically around the building for those who are away from their offices when any incident occurs and for visitors.
Others will be stockpiled outside the building for contractors working on renovation of the building.
Now, now, go get your duct tape and plastic, and get back in line. You act like it was your money they are spending to take care of themselves. At a $150.00 a pop, they simply can't afford to send us all one, besides they're the elite, they must survive. Blackbird.
These are the people who I'd want to be ready to work and carry war to the enemy - not some redneck in camo, gleeful that society might break down into civil war and people could be shot without repercussion.
Quit whining.
The sad thing is that they got all those masks from FRANCE of all places!!! Can you believe it? They should have been bought from ANYWHERE EXCEPT FRANCE!!!!!
Actually, one of your neighbors would give you a 7.62 millimeter rectal orifice between your eyes, and then you wouldn't be surviving, you'd be fertilizing the soil that would then belong to your neighbor.
In case you didn't notice, most of the folks working at the Pentagon are uniformed military personnel, and they are involved in the business of commanding and controlling the great machine that is the US military.
Once again the great poohbah chimes in, once again I'll explain to ya', you are clueless about me and now my neighbor's. We established some many moons ago you were clueless about war, or have you forgotten that? We haven't spoken since, so it shouldn't be too hard for you to track it down. I have nothing but reverence for our men and women in uniform, but did you notice a large number of these are to be set aside for civilian contrators, probably doesn't mean anything to you? It doesn't mean anything to you, that the elites are inviting the NBC attack, does it? I hope you live near DC, so you get first hand experience with choking to death whilst they stand over you with their tax payer funded protection. They aren't concerned, they have our tax dollars to help them through anything. 7.62mm, haha! Blackbird.
Given that civilian contractors are required, thanks to hypocritical laws that mandate the work be done yet forbid actually hiring people onto the payroll to do it...yeah, it makes sense. A large number of those contractors, for example, are running the telecommunications systems in the Pentagon.
Oh, that's right, you WANT the military unplugged from the duly constituted civil authorities.
It doesn't mean anything to you, that the elites are inviting the NBC attack, does it?
Just like they "invited" 9/11, I take it.
I hope you live near DC, so you get first hand experience with choking to death whilst they stand over you with their tax payer funded protection.
This is a rather specific bit of information regarding an upcoming WMD attack. I do know that al-Qaeda has been looking into using "local talent" as they may have done in Oklahoma City. This conversation is getting forwarded to the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. Give my regards to your future husband, Spike.
Don't put words in my mouth, never said any such thing, but with open borders while at war, it's an open invitation. Can't deal with the obvious huh pooh?
This is a rather specific bit of information regarding an upcoming WMD attack. I do know that al-Qaeda has been looking into using "local talent" as they may have done in Oklahoma City. This conversation is getting forwarded to the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. Give my regards to your future husband, Spike.
Talk about stepping off the deep end, I've always suspected you had a screw loose. This is just confirmation. You've mastered the left's greatest tactic, twist words to form your own demented meaning. Feel free to waste the time of the FBI and Homeland Security with your twisted sense of understanding of the English language, and you'll be bumping with Spike, not I. Knowingly wasting their time wouldn't sit well with them right about now, so knock yourself out. In your words, al-qaeda did OKC? That's a first. Perhaps you have more insider information than what's available to even the FBI. Perhaps they should give you the once over, to see how much more info on OKC you can provide. You are truly out there on a plane by yourself! Taste of crow must be bitter? Get a grip. Blackbird.
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