Narrator: This is the moment
right before these Navy recruits
experience the full effects of tear gas.
[coughing]
Kimberly Holman: It was definitely a shock,
because when you're in there, you have your mask on
and you can't feel anything, but as soon as you take it off,
then it all just hits you at once.
[coughing and gagging]
Narrator: Experiencing CS gas,
more commonly known as tear gas,
is a standard exercise
that happens four weeks into their 10-week boot camp
to teach recruits about the effects of the gas
and how to properly use a gas mask.
Narrator: It happens here,
at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes,
inside the "confidence chamber."
Narrator: Insider visited Navy RTC in May,
and for the first time ever, our crew was allowed to film
inside any branch or agency's tear-gas chamber ...
Instructor: All right, go.
Narrator: And experience the effects of CS gas
for ourselves.
Ugh.
Ryan Vanderstouw: This is called the confidence chamber, OK?
I don't call it the gas chamber.
I don't call it the torture chamber.
It's none of that stuff.
It is the confidence chamber.
Reason being is we're teaching you
how to wear M50 gas masks.
The reason you go through this is so we can prove to you
that the mask works. Does that make sense?
Recruits: Yes, chief.
Narrator: Recruits spend more than two hours
in the classroom
learning how to properly don their gas masks
before stepping foot in the confidence chamber.
Vanderstouw: All right, and I got an old saying with the
confidence chamber, with the M50 gas mask in general:
Life is better with a proper seal.
And you're going to shortly find out why.
Understand?
Recruits: Yes, chief.
Vanderstouw: Is everybody ready on a moment's notice?
Yes, chief.
Vanderstouw: Gas, gas, gas.
15, 14, 13 ...
five, four,
three, two, one,
stop.
Is everybody ready to go?
Recruits: Yes, chief.
Narrator: Donning their gas masks,
the recruits head inside the confidence chamber.
Narrator: The recruits wait for their turn
to step to the line at the front of the room.
An instructor breaks open a CS capsule over a hot plate,
which burns the powder inside and fills the room with gas.
Narrator: They feel the effects
of the CS gas within seconds,
and every recruit handles it differently.
Vincent Gidaro: It pretty much instantly hits you.
It feels like an eternity, I guess, in a sense,
but not really. It's right away.
Jonnie Villa: As soon as you take off that mask,
you get that big waft of the CS gas.
So it's a little bit spicy.
You start feeling a little tingle in your nose,
feeling a tingle in your eyes.
You start with your breathing complications.
That's why we tell them to breathe normal,
blink your eyes as much as possible.
Don't take a deep breath.
Zayda Marshall: Your nose will be running,
your throat will get itchy.
Your eyes will burn a lot.
Hurts. Burns a lot.
Narrator: They're instructed to cup their hands
under their chins
to prevent bodily fluids from leaking onto the floor.
Dearria Sims: I was looking forward to that challenge.
Like, can I take it? Is it that bad?
So when it finally came up to it,
it was kind of just like my mom cooking in the kitchen,
you know, all the seasonings and stuff.
Just sweating it out. [laughs]
Narrator: Recruits must say their names
and division number followed by a "hoo-yah"
before they're able to leave.
Narrator: After about 15 seconds of exposure to the gas,
they're allowed to exit the chamber.
Instructor: Just keep blinking. Just keep blinking.
I'm good.
Narrator: Once outside, the effects of the gas
wear off within a few minutes.
Giadaro: It was exciting. I'm not gonna lie.
I was actually excited to do it.
Some of us had some more excess coming out than others,
of our nose and mouths,
but I don't think it was too bad.
Marshall: It wasn't as bad as I thought I was going to be.
I was bracing for completely incapacitated,
not able to see anything.
It definitely wasn't fun. Definitely wouldn't, you know,
sign up to do it again, but it was bearable.
Recruit: Hoo-yah, 215!
Hoo-yah, 215!
Hoo-yah, easy day.
Narrator: But in order to truly understand
the effects of CS gas,
Insider chief video correspondent Graham Flanagan
decided it was time to experience
the confidence chamber himself.
Graham: For years, I've been filming
different armed-forces branches and law-enforcement agencies
undergoing exposure to tear gas,
and I've never been able to go in
and experience it for myself.
I think that now that I've got this access here
at Navy Recruit Training Command,
I want to be able to experience those feelings
that those recruits feel
and be able to describe what those feelings are like.
I am nervous for the initial shock
of the exposure of the gas
and definitely for those hopefully limited amount
of minutes afterwards where I'm feeling those effects.
No, let's get it over with.
Hang on.
Ugh.
[Instructor laughs]
Instructor: Name?
Graham Flanagan,
chief video correspondent, Business Insider.
Instructor: One more time, go.
Hoo-yah.
Instructor: One more time.
[coughs] Graham Flanagan, chief video correspondent,
Business Insider. Hoo-yah.
Instructor: All right, you can go head out.
Graham: Ugh, man, it burns. It burns the eyes.
The eyes are really burning, big time.
Ugh.
It hurts to close the eyes. Or to open them.
It's just, you can't even,
I can't even figure out what to do,
close or open them. It's not fun. It's not fun.
And when you have that gas mask on,
you don't feel anything.
But when you take it off, it took honestly, like,
it felt like two or three seconds
before I started to feel anything.
I was like, when's it gonna happen?
And then it hits you.
And then when you start talking, that makes it even worse.
Graham Flanagan, chief video correspondent,
Business Insider.
When I started to speak, it triggered, like,
painful sensations in my throat.
And I was kind of like, what's going on right now?
Before I had to, like, force it out.
I don't know how much time's elapsed,
but it's really starting to wear off.
Now I can, like, my eyes are starting to open up more.
I'm still crying,
but I can just feel it just starting to go away.
This is not fun to do.
It was painful.
I really appreciate the fact
that they're willing to expose themselves to it.
And hopefully they never have to experience it again.
But, yeah, I feel fine.
It really does wear off pretty quickly.
Yeah. Yeah, they're like, "Don't touch the eyes."
I don't know what, they should've told me that again.
Yeah, that kind of burns, actually.