1963 US Army Vietnam War Armor Operations ... - Survival Books

WWW.SURVIVALEBOOKS.COMAPPENDIX XXIVCHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, AND RADIOLOGICAL PROTECTIVE MEASURES1. Purpose clear radiation. Blast injuries are caused byThis appendix presents individual and unit collapsingdamage to buildings materiel and is due flying primarily debris. to Blast theprotective measures and damage control opera- violent displacement of the mariel by thetions common to all armor units. Included are s wave. hock Thermal radiation casualtie by themeasures employed to reduce the probability of caused by burns resulting from flash heat.detection and minimize the effects of enemy Nuclear radiation casualties result from damnuclear,chemical, artillery, mortar, andNuclearairageto or destruction of living body tissue. Forradiation casualties result from dam-delivered weapons; and procedures for conductingdamage control operations in the eventseeinformationFM 101-31.of theForeffectsinformationof nuclearonexplosions,the enemy usesresidualmass destruction weapons. radiation, see FM 3-12 and TM 3-210.Many of these measures apply when nuclearweapons are employed in close support of 4, General Protective Measuresfriendly armor units.a. Training. The nuclear weapon, although2. Definitions a tremendously destructive military device, isnot a weapon against which there is no defense.a. Active Protective Measures. Active pro- This fact must be firmly established early intective measures include all positive means the training of any unit. The more each soldiertaken to engage, destroy, or neutralize the knows about what the weapon can and cannotenemy forces, his weapons, and his intelligence do, the more effective he will be on the nuclearefforts.battlefield and the greater will be his chancesb. Passive Protective Measures. Passive for survival. Training must stress the interprotectivemeasures are means taken before, related importance of discipline, camouflage,during, and after an action to prevent detec- cover, concealment, dispersion, and immediatetion or to minimize the effect of enemy attack, reaction for battlefield survival. (See FM 21-c. Chemical Weapons. Chemical weapons 40 for small unit procedures, and FM 21-41 forare toxic chemical agents, not including non- individual protective measures.) Field exertoxicagents such as flame and smoke,cises should always include application of unitand individual protective measures. The factd. Nuclear Weapons. Nuclear weapons are must be emphasized that armor units becauseweapons that result in a nuclear explosion, re- of their equipment and method of operationgardless of delivery means.are much better suited for the nuclear battlee.CBR Monitoring and Survey. See para- field than any other combat unit. Personnelgraph 15, this appendix.must be fully aware that the immediate effectsf. Area Damage Control. This consists of of a nuclear explosion may last for 90 seconds,measures taken before, during, and after a while the residual or delayed effects may lastmass destruction attack or natural disaster to for several days.minimize its effects.b. Unit Standing Operating Procedure. Conditionson the nuclear battlefield will require3. Protective Measures in Nuclear Warfare that many individual protective measures beNuclear detonations have three primary ef- performed without detailed direction. Thefects-blast, thermal radiation (heat), and nu- SOP of each armor unit must include proce-AGO 9139A 361