Day 4: My vision is returning slowly. Apperently I had early stages of pink eye at the time that I was sprayed. Plus, the pepper spray dried into small crystals. When I cleaned my eyes that night, the crystals scratched the cornea of my left eye. Between the eye trying to heal and the pink eye, my eye blurred up with discharge. I've been granted 48hrs of quarters (time off) to heal, so it's not too bad. I've been catching up on important things, like podcasts, blogs etc.
The past few days, the weather took a turn for the worse. Sunday morning, it was around 28 degrees with snow on the ground. This is the day we did a 5 mile road march, wearing 30lbs of body armour. It warmed up to the lower 40s, and that's when we got sprayed.
"In an Army training event, individuals were sprayed with 5% OC. The spray pattern was a single pass horizontally along the eyebrow with eyes closed. The initial contact causes no discomfort, but when the eyes are opened, a burning sensation is felt immediately. The spray makes it nearly impossible to open the eyes and have useful vision. This is the primary effect when first sprayed. There is no incapacitation, and the performance of physical tasks is still possible, but after approximately 15 seconds to one minute a severe burning occurs wherever the spray has come in contact with the face. The sensation is reminiscent of the after-effects of a burn from scalding water. Comparable eye pain would be putting contact lens cleaning solution into one's eye, but much more lingering and distracting. The pain persists for quite some time, about 45 minutes of intense burning. The only relief was to press the face against air conditioning vents. Washing was not possible as oil-based OC is not water soluble." -- Wikipedia
We stood there with our eyes closed and they sprayed our eyebrows. We then had to open our eyes and run through a defensive course. We had to defend ourselves using a foam baton against mock enemies. About 2 minutes after being sprayed, we got our face washed with water. Let me tell you, the water was such a shock, it literally takes your breath away. The water was so cold! When your face is on fire, it feels good, but wow. We then spent 10-15min in front of a large fan before packing up and leaving. I'm pretty sure this past Sunday was the worst experience of my life!
Fortunately, things are getting better now.
P.S. If someone threatens you with pepper spray.....just stop. It's not worth it!
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