We had to be in a shipping container with tear-gas in it. Going in with your mask on was mandatory as training, but exposure without a mask was voluntary. Most if not all did do it though.

It's been a long time so the memory isn't the freshest but... For one, it's nothing like chili. I would rather be maced than be exposed to tear gas. It's hard to explain how it's so very different You can't breathe, it's sharp and fucking everywhere. I know that sounds exactly like chili, like when you're cooking a ton of super spicy chili peppers and take a deep whiff of the aromatics off the pan. But it wasn't. Chili was like organic and warm, even if too strong and irritating. Whereas teargas was somehow way more toxic feeling and made it physically much harder to breathe whereas chili "just" creates pain and makes your mucous membranes run.

But here's the kicker. The thing we were exposed to was iirc 10% strength of teargas. It's meant for test exposures like that, so you get a feel for the stuff, but in real life scenarios and especially if you're very close to one, it'd be much stronger.

And people would take one breath in the shipping container and run out coughing, spluttering and gagging while being beaten by other conscripts with pine branches. (Cleaning off the tear-gas.)

And none of us had any breathing problems. This unit is just balling through with his leather lungs. Prolly smoked hash since the 60's and DMT since the 90's, nothing hurts this man.