Pepper Spray

A weekend or so ago, I had the opportunity to do some training with PepperSpray. Mind you I have done this on two other occasions and as I recall it wasn't very fun. Those two other occasions were basically; "here step up and get sprayed and then enjoy rinsing your face off in the puke basin". This time was a bit different; it was run in stages.

1. Stage 1; Get sprayed
2. Stage 2; Move to a punching dummy and engage for 10-30 seconds
3. Stage 3; Move to an empty semi-automatic rifle. Load empty magazine, cycle the weapon, drop the trigger, reload, and then do it again, then drop the mag.
4. Stage 4; Then move to a dummy drag to simulate a man down. Pull 'him' to a safe location.
5. Stage 5; Radio in for assistance at safe location.

Doing all of this was difficult, to say the least. I can say upfront that by the time I got to Stage 2 I knew I was in trouble. My eyesight was pretty well gone and the pain was coming on like a freight train. I knew that the impending decontamination stage was not going to be fun. Pepper Spray always effects me badly. For this training we were using FOX Labs 5.3 SHU Law Enforcement Grade Pepper Spray. SHU means Scoville Heat Units. According to FOX Labs:

Most pepper sprays are between 1/2 million and 2 million shu. Fox pepper spray is refined to 5.3 million shu, that's like the difference in heat between paper burning and a blue-hot blowtorch (about 451 degrees F vs 2000
degrees F.) However, because of its unique formulation it does not blister
the skin. Public law enforcement agencies across the USA are using Fox Labs
OC pepper spray and Fox Labs Products.

I don't know about the last part though, as several of us had some light
blisters/ 1st degree burns below our eyes. Nothing earth shattering, and it cleared
up in a few days, but it was still mildly irritating 24 hrs later. Now for
the stuff they don't tell you. The Paramedic on standby said the
pain would last about 20 minutes. Yeah right. More like an hour and a half.
One guy had trouble controlling his breathing (he could breathe, but there was a
definitive psychological component to it). My face felt like it was
literally on fire, my eyes were swelled shut, and I had a load of snot coming out of
both nostrils. Also, I have experienced a feeling of being 'locked up' that stems from having a partially engaged gag reflex as well as hyperventilation. This time though I was able to control my breathing better and get through this. Though it did not diminish the pain in any way. The only light in the tunnel was a cold water hose and the cool breeze that was also blowing (which later led me to get out of my wet clothes as I realized I was getting into mild hypothermia). Of the 8 guys who
went through this, only 2 of them completed the entire course stages. However, all of us were incapacitated within a few minutes after being hit with the spray.

If you are going to carry Pepper Spray I recommend you carry the FOX Labs 5.3 SHU Law Enforcement Grade. I was able to buy this at D&G Uniforms in Akron. But just about any gun store or uniform shop should carry it. Also, I would get the stream, instead of the cone. The reason I advocate 'streams' over 'cones' (which has to do with the output of the spray; a straight line or a cone shaped pattern) is that there is less chance of overspray or blowback. We were training on a windy day and some of the staff were caught with the overspray from a different PepperSpray brand that dispersed as a cone. Though no one experienced blowback from the fine stream. Also, I'd recommend that you experience pepper spray by putting a little bit on your hand (be prepared to put it in a cold bucket of water) so that you have some idea of what it does in case you do experience a blowback. It is wicked stuff!