What's going on at Dugway AF Base?

[TalkingDog]

Anybody know?

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=14154471


The U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground was on lockdown Wednesday evening as part of "an ongoing security operation," according to spokeswoman Paula Thomas.

Reports of nearly 1,000 employees stranded at the base, some in their cars, went unconfirmed but Dugway Proving Ground Commander Col. William E. King, IV, said food and beverages were being brought in.

"As you know measures like these (lockdown of our gates) are not taken lightly," he said. "No one is in immediate danger but these steps are required." King said he would open the gates "as soon as I can."

[LiberalLoner]

1. They lost track of a vial of nerve agent (chemical warfare agent)...

Then they located it and everyone's pucker factor went down a whole bunch.

Nerve agents are real nasty stuff.

[bobthedrummer]

4. AP was reporting a vial of VX-but who really believes that?

VX
http://www.cbwinfo.com/Chemical/Nerve/VX.shtml

[NuclearDem]

10. Damn you General Hummel you win again

[sufrommich]

5. "everyone's pucker factor went down " lol, Totally understandable.

[TalkingDog]

7. No shit!

also n/t

[LiberalLoner]

19. P.S. They list "convulsions" as one of the effects of a nerve agent...

during training I got as an NBC Officer for my reserve unit, I learned that the convulsions can be so severe they break every bone in the body...and you are still conscious at this point and alive.

"Convulsions" indeed.

[Generic Other]

25. why the hell do they make shit like that?

makes me shudder.

[NuclearDem]

27. VX was originally developed as a pesticide...

It wasn't realized until later that what had actually been created was _the_ most toxic nerve agent known to mankind.

[NuclearDem]

26. I know nerve agents can cause convulsions...

But is it really bad enough to cause bones to break?

[TheWraith]

28. Yes.

It's because the muscles that control both directions of travel can fire at once.

[NuclearDem]

29. Yikes...they never covered that in NBC training...

[TheWraith]

31. If it gets to that point, you would already be way beyond help.

They probably figured that sharing such delightful details might make people more likely to realize how little they really wanted to be around chemical weapons.

[NuclearDem]

32. Eh, the Air Force briefings on nerve agents just left out the parts about convulsions...

They covered just about everything else but that.

[LiberalLoner]

33. In the Army, they tell us everything and expect us to be tough enough to deal with it...shrug.. rop

There is a difference in the command philosophy from AF to Army. But I have to say, having worked with the AF during deployments, I really grew to respect those serving in the AF.

[Statistical]

34. Yeah. If someone starts showing signs of tremors you have maybe 10 seconds.

Pop them with 2PAM Cloride and Atropine. Maybe they live, maybe they die. Once the hard convulsions hit it is too late. The PAM2C will neutralize the VX but not before it kills the victim. VX has rapid lethality. From exposure to death is usually 10-30 seconds depending on dose.

Soldiers also carry CANA which is a strong muscle relaxer and anti-convulscant but if you don't get the 2PAM into the system almost immediately it won't matter.

[MilesColtrane]

36. When I was on a DOD tour playing military bases in Asia, we stopped to do a concert at...

Johnston atoll, a tiny rock in the middle of the Pacific.

Upon arrival we were issued gas masks and atropine injectors that were to be carried with us at all times.

Turns out that the atoll was a storage facility for about 3 million pounds of mustard gas, sarin, and VX, in addition to having a good portion of the land contaminated with plutonium from nuclear weapons tests.

They basically told us that if you ever heard a siren go off you only had a couple of seconds to get the mask on and hit yourself in the thigh with the atropine.

Yeah, I didn't mind leaving that place.

[Statistical]

37. Yeah not a cool place.

The Auto-injectors do work but only if you mask almost immediately to cut down on the absorbed dose.

Funny thing everyone remembers the atropine but 2PAM Cloride is actually the antidote. Atropine by itself will simply speed up your heat and allow you to die faster. :)

In the past it was a pair of auto-injectors 1) Atropine to raise heart rate, 2) 2 PAM Cloride to neutralize the nerve agents. The Army recently moved to a single injectors with both drugs. A much better solution IMHO.

[slackmaster]

2. An Army unit was sent with instructions to put the base commander on the phone with the President

Base commander has sealed off the base and cut off all phone lines.

That's all I know.

[The Traveler]

3. Surely you jest

You just viewed "Dr. Strangelove" or "The Satan Bug" again, didn't ya???

[TalkingDog]

8. General Ripper?

Is that you?

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. The most dangerous Nerve agent on the planet made illegal by the UN

I've been following it and reporting in LBNs

[TalkingDog]

9. Thanks! I'll check that out....

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Ah just a little VX went missing...nothing to see here

there are days....

You do not misplace this... just like nukes they have very strict controls... so forgive me for reaching for that tin foil hat.

:tinfoilhat:

[NuclearDem]

13. Uh, Tech Sergeant? Can you come take a look at this?

Are those...nukes on that plane that just flew in?

They are? Well...oops.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Ah somebody else who remembers that story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_United_States_Air_Force_nuclear_weapons_incident

No, I do not think there are coincidences when it comes to the mishandling of these things.

[NuclearDem]

15. Yeah, I remember hearing the stories of all the people getting in trouble over it

CSAF had to resign, a lot of nuke commanders were reprimanded, and a lot of the people lower on the food chain got discharged or demoted. They actually made a brand new Command specifically for nukes IIRC.

[kctim]

12. Aliens

[leveymg]

16. There was a significant accidental release at Dugway in 1968

From the link: http://www.cbwinfo.com/Chemical/Nerve/VX.shtml

Significant Accidental Releases

On March 13, 1968, at the Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah, a malfunction in a spray tank used in a test of aerial spraying with VX coupled with unfortunate winds resulted in the contamination of a significant amount of grazing land in the vicinity of Skull Valley outside the boundaries of the test site. Over the course of the following week more than 6000 sheep grazing in the area died.

After initially denying any connection to the deaths of the sheep, the army paid damages - without, however, accepting blame.

The official estimate of the amount of VX that was disseminated outside the test site was 9 kg; unofficial estimates have suggested that this is low. However, many of the larger unofficial estimates fail to take into account the fact that a primary route of exposure for the sheep seems to have been ingestion of grass contaminated with VX. This route of exposure makes the official estimate more credible.

In July of 1969, a VX leak from weapons at a storage facility on Okinawa led to the hospitalization of 24 people (23 U.S. military and 1 civilian), and caused considerable consternation to the Japanese government, which had apparently been unaware that chemical weapons were present. The Japanese government, and the government of the Ryuku island chain, asked the United States to remove all chemical weapons from Okinawa.

[pinboy3niner]

17. This could be GA (Tabun) rather than VX

Or it could be blister agent. The Army reported destruction of all VX--except for one stockpile slated for destruction in KY--by the end of 2008. At that time Dugway still had blister agent and GA (Tabun) scheduled for destruction:

Last VX Nerve Agent Munition Eliminated from CMA’s Destruction Stockpile

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. - The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) marked the destruction of all VX nerve agent munitions at its destruction sites on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2008. This milestone occurred with the destruction of the last land mine containing VX at the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (ANCDF) in Anniston, Ala.

<snip>

CMA continues to safely and securely store the remaining VX in the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile at the Blue Grass Chemical Activity near Richmond, Ky. A separate Department of Defense organization, the U.S. Army Element Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives, is charged with its destruction, with construction currently under way on a neutralization facility there.

<snip>

Destruction of chemical weapons is complete at Newport, Ind., Aberdeen, Md., and Johnston Island. Operations continue at Tooele, Umatilla, Anniston, and Pine Bluff, CMA’s remaining destruction sites. These sites are destroying or preparing to destroy blister agent and the only remaining nerve agent for CMA’s destruction mission—GA (Tabun) at Tooele. In addition to Kentucky, CMA continues to safely store chemical agent munitions at Pueblo, Colorado.

http://www.cma.army.mil/endofvx.aspx

[Ichingcarpenter]

18. I love how the Military always tells the truth

and nothing ever gets redacted or revealed..... especially when
its 'national security'.

Try to get this out of the Freedom of Information Act....its a joke.

[theHandpuppet]

20. Another link

What the hell is going on there?

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5imeVHU_F43JAilTso-9c7T0f-CbA?docId=ad6180e108404372b6b55615bf87cb18
Utah Army base locked to solve 'serious concern'

(AP) – 14 hours ago

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah military base that carries out tests to protect troops against biological attacks was locked down Wednesday to resolve a "serious concern," officials said.

Base commander Col. William E. King said no one was in danger and the gates will reopen as quickly as it's feasible.

His statement did not provide any details of the problem.

Base spokeswoman Bonnie Robinson told the The Associated Press early Thursday that officials hope to have the problem resolved shortly.

"We are working as quickly and as thoroughly as possible to resolve a serious concern within the Test Area," King said.... MORE

[kickysnana]

21. Gosh when we had the full scale race riot at Ft McCellan, AL in 1970

they called it an "incident on the base". We were on lockdown from dusk until down for 2 weeks (then I left) and the rioters that had fled into the woods with guns and ammunition were shooting at anything that moved at night and during the day the MPs were out "shooting wild dogs".

Wonder what is happening when they actually own up to the lock-down.

[Ichingcarpenter]

22. Care to read the rest of the thread?

Before you make such a comment?


How about a deadly virus chemical that can kill everything?

[kickysnana]

24. "Such a comment"? You are defensive because? You dislike my avatar? n/t

[NuclearDem]

23. Wait, didn't Stephen King already do this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Trips

Oh yeah...

[NuclearDem]

30. Oh, and I hate to nitpick but...

Dugway's an Army base...not an AF base.

There's four Proving Grounds in the US...Aberdeen, Dugway, Belvoir, and Yuma (interestingly enough, also one of the largest military bases in the world). All of them are run by the Army.

[LiberalLoner]

35. Yes....you are right.... n/t