0 1-C GAS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 15, 12 October 1918, Page 13

0 1-C GAS

There are two phases in gas instruction, "putting 'the wind rip" tho recruits and reassuring them. Tho first phase is delegated to tho N.C.O. instructors, and very well they carry out their' duty. .The horrifying descriptions they give of the effect of inhaling one whiff of- gas would unnerve tho stoutest heart. And the necessity for donning'the mask at the first sound of tho gas alarm and in the shortest, possible time is' drilled into the men from day to day.

Then conies the turn of "The Stinker," whose official title is "Officer in Charge of Gas Instruction." On a small .eminence, about a mile from camp, stands an ■'••inoffensive-looking 'wooden hut, towards which, from time to time, parties of men may bo seen converging; This building, popularly known as the .'"Stink' Hut,':' is dignified by 'tho; title" of the Gas Chamber. It is hero that "Stinker —:". takes his daily .stand and awaits the victims, his box'' respirator slung over \ his shoulder and his mask ready to don.

Tho squad having been halted in front .of the hut,..he proceeds to address the men.' After confirming, the alarming- statem outs' of vthe-: instructors as to the deadly.nature of tho gas, and informing them that the hut is filled with : fumes of'a strength many times' 'exceeding' tliat which they are likely to encounter overseas, he attempts to'allay, their fears by assuring them that, protected by. the service mask, they will be as safe in the poisonous atmosphere as they would be in their own' little.: buriks.

This ho,..proceeds' to 'demonstrate by putting pri his mask and disappearing .into ..the' noisome den, whence he emerges, a-few-moments afterwards;, to invito the "squad to don .their masks and follow, him into the "Stink Hut,"

Very gingerly the squad files through tho narrow.door,, each man-offering up '■a''silent prayer that his:gas mask 1 may not''prove defective, although it has, of courso,.' been" previously "tested.- ; ■ ' The ; final test' consists •iii : taking off tho mask in the chamber, while holding the breath, and donning it again. Then off marches the squad and up conies tho next. Thus "Tho Stinker" passes his 'days and earns.his princely pay. In • slack times ho haunts the battalion headquarters and bogs for officers; from the various;.:adjutahts to put through a "Refresher Courso." ■-

■ A "Refresher Course'.'v;iir. gas.. ■Ye gods!—" Centurion," in the ' "Daily .Jlail.", ,;:•:■ ; : ,;: ; ../.