Kemira NBC M/95

From The D Archives

The current Finnish defence forces protective mask. It's a good enough of a mask, I suppose. Pretty easy to use, too.

I was naturally issued one of these during my service, and got to use it about five or six times. Three times we used these during the endless-seeming "air tightness tests" in which everyone was ordered to put on the mask along with the rain gear and helmet - and then go sit in a tent full of tear gas. A guy from my team didn't have his mask on correctly, and ended up sucking some of those fumes - making him a rather teary-eyed fellow very shortly after exposure. Another guy puked after his mask failed on him. Luckily mine never did, although whenever we used to go the gas tent, I was so sure that mine would start leaking and I'd end up puking inside the mask. Never happened, though, thank god.