Gas Gas Gas: Surviving The Gas Chamber When Your Oppo Leaves You Behind

If this year's SAS Who Dares Wins recruits think they are having a tough time on the course, they are in for a surprise when they come face to face with a merciless challenge designed to prepare Special Forces for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) warfare. 

“Start moving with purpose because you’re just about to be in a world full of pain.”

The tear gas challenge ramps up the pain and tests how committed the recruits are to continuing on the Channel 4 show. Chief Instructor Ant Middleton also advises the remaining recruits to start being brutally honest with themselves and each other because the course is only going to get harder with more psychological pressure being applied.

Credit: Channel 4 / Contains Swearing

What Is CBRN? 

Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear training is hated by most of the armed forces, as the heavy protective kit makes a tough job even harder. The respirators make it hard to breathe plus the suits can become stiflingly hot in high temperatures. Something the SAS Who Dares Wins recruits need not worry about on the Isle Of Raasay in Scotland. 

Major Rob Garside, the commanding officer of Bravo Company, 40 Commando, spoke to Forces News in February 2018 about combatting the effects of chemical attacks. He said that wearing a chemical protection suit and a respirator presents significant challenges:

"You're generally a lot heavier and more cumbersome, and it makes even walking and talking very difficult. 

 "The respirator makes it harder to look around, and therefore aiming and firing your weapon is a lot more difficult."

(For more on 40 Commando's CBRN training, see the video below.)

Trust Issues 

While at base camp, Ant instructs the recruits to say who they trust the least. This short task is designed to see which recruits can be trusted to be there for each other when push comes to shove. This cringe-worthy moment of TV reveals the majority do not trust recruit 19, Adam from Cardiff. 

The 34-year-old has already been exposed to a gas attack. When he was a teenager, he started selling drugs which led to him eventually becoming a full-time drug dealer. Speaking before the show started, Adam said: 

“I have been gassed by the police when I was younger and involved in a fight, so I knew it burns like hell.” 

Adam admits he is not an open book and may seem mysterious to people because he does not like giving too much away, saying: 

“I like to get to know someone first before I start giving them my life story. 

“I certainly won’t drip feed my weaknesses.” 

The Gas Chamber: A Toxic Storm 

Directing Staff (DS) Jason ‘Foxy’ Fox instructs the recruits to pair up and put their CBRN gas masks and suits on. Using the buddy-buddy system, the recruits ensure their oppo has their mask correctly fitted so that no tear gas can get in. 

Oppo is a military term for a buddy, someone who you can rely on to always have your back and be by your side. 

Up until this point, each challenge has been an individual task but now, they need to work in pairs. Whether they trust each other or not, are the recruits disciplined enough to put their concerns to one side and crack on with the job at hand? Ant warns the recruits just how difficult they will find the task, saying:

“It’s f****** hardcore with them on, hardcore. 

“You’re literally blowing out of every orifice trying to get the air in.” 

Wearing the gas masks, the recruits must jog two kilometres up a hill to make it to their first task. Adam is paired with self-confessed highly competitive Lauren, 30, and they swiftly take the lead. As though to tempt people to give up, Ant reminds the recruits there is an easy way out, saying: 

“Respirators off, armbands in and then you can head down the hill into the nice warm wagons.”

When they reach the gas chamber, DS Melvyn Downes explains to the recruits how imperitive it is for armed forces personnel to feel the effects of what the tear gas, commonly referred to as CS gas, can do to them physically. DS Billy Billingham explains further, saying: 

“CS gas is like a multitude of attacks on your respiratory system which creates panic. 

“It creates mayhem. It’s like being suffocated. 

“For me personally, the first time the respirator came off I was coughing and spluttering, my eyes were running, my ears were stinging and I felt like I was dying.”

The recruits are instructed to rescue a hostage in a room that is filled with tear gas while not wearing their gas masks. The armed forces operate and train in a gas mask environment so they can prepare for what they might possibly face in their career. Billy said: 

“Most of our enemies we go against nowadays have the capability to of using chemicals or gas, so we’re always prepared for the worst-case scenario. 

“During training, it is probably one of the most unpleasant things that you do.” 

All the recruits manage to rescue the hostage as a pair by communicating with each other the best they can or by sheer determination. Next up are Lauren and Adam who claims to be "quite good with stressful environments” because his hero is his mum who encouraged him to be independent, saying: 

“I’m the only person who can push myself forward. 

“There’s no one else that’s going to carry me, I’ve got to carry myself.”

When Lauren takes off her respirator in the gas chamber, she reacts physically extremely quickly and needs to be carried out of the room by the DS. Despite being abandoned, Adam rescues the hostage but, much to the dismay of the DS, leaves his respirator in the room.

This infuriates the newest member of the Directing Staff, undercover mole and Special Forces veteran, Anthony ‘Staz’ Stazicker. The veteran was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for combat actions conducted in Afghanistan in 2013. 

Ant addresses all the recruits and praises them for the good effort they put into taking on the challenge, saying: 

“It’s f****** horrible. It’s not designed to be nice.” 

VIDEO: Forces News joins Bravo Company, 40 Commando as they take part in CBRN training on Ex Toxic Dagger in 2018

Gas Mask Chamber Task Debrief 

The DS meet to discuss which recruits are shining and which are dropping into last position. It is quite clear to them that Lauren and Adam need to be brought in together for questioning.

Once the recruits are settled in their seats, Ant claps in a patronising manner and refers to them both as "the world's s******* partnership”. Ant is outraged that Lauren ran out of the gas chamber, leaving her partner Adam behind to complete the task. Staz said: 

“I get it number seven, you want to be f****** autonomous, run around on your own, give it the f****** big one, shut the world off. 

“I get that but it doesn’t f****** work in our world.” 

Despite not completing the task as the DS required, the recruits admit they do have confidence in each other. Lauren admits that Adam leaving his respirator in the gas chamber was a mistake but he redeemed himself when he "took charge for me when I went to s*** basically.” Adam feels confident in Lauren because “she got me through the run and she made sure I kept pace.” 

Ant is not convinced and warns them they are both on the cutting block.