Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 7, 1991 TAG: 9102070187
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CARYLE MURPHY THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: WITH U.S. FORCES IN NORTHEASTERN SAUDI ARABIA LENGTH: Medium
To the beat of rock music, the dancers pounded their black boots, waved their arms and mimicked donning their chemical-protection masks. "MOPP Level 4! MOPP Level 4!" they chanted as others spun their red-glassed flashlights over the floor like disco lights.
For this communications company of the Marines' Force Service Support Group, the club - named MOPP Level 4, for the highest state of alert for a gas attack - provides an opportunity to let off steam and make light of one of the most serious risks in their desert camp just south of the Kuwaiti border: an Iraqi chemical weapons attack.
"We're just having fun, trying to make the best of it," said Cpl. Joey Anderson, 23, of Alexandria, Va. Anderson did a slow rendition of the Gas Mask, illustrating how first you bend over and put your hands to your chin, imitating the proper way of putting on a mask: chin part first.
Then you stand up straight, put your arms at shoulder level and move your fists toward and away from your head, the universal military signal for gas attack.
The guys got the idea for the Gas Mask dance after watching Lance Cpl. Neil Burke, 22, a reservist from New York, run up and down a sand berm in his gas mask and gear one night last week when the whole camp went to a MOPP Level 4.
"I'm over on the top of a hill with my gas mask on and I'm suffering in some serious way," said Burke. "I started flipping . . . running back and forth. I always knew how to use [the mask] but I was sweating from running up and down the hill."
MOPP stands for Mission Oriented Protective Posture, and it's the military designation for alert status in anticipation of a gas attack.
Four is the level at which everyone in camp must don complete chemical protection gear: pants, jacket, boots, gloves and mask.
Cpl. Lamar Franklin, 23, of Memphis, provided MOPP Level 4's stereo system, which he lugged out here to this spartan camp. Franklin doubled as a bartender, passing out soda pop from behind a wooden makeshift bar.
"If you have a big imagination," said Franklin, pointing to the barrel of drinks, "that can be anything you want it to be.
Even cans of Budweiser." Since Saudi Arabia is a dry country, this is probably the first war U.S. troops have fought without alcohol.
by CNB