US Military M17 Field Protective Gas Mask Canvas Carry Bag Case Straps EUC. Vintage M17 A1 A2 Gas Mask w Nylon Bag Manual 1985 Dated XSmall Post Vietnam Era.

The M40 field protective mask is one of various gas masks used by the United States Armed Forces and its allies to protect from field concentrations of chemical and biological agents, along with radiological fallout particles. It is not effective in an oxygen deficient environment or against ammonia.

• 3Users

History[edit]

The M40 was the result of a program in the 1980s to develop a successor to the M17-series protective masks which had been in service with the US armed forces since 1959. The M40 was to be a return to conventional gas mask design with an external side-mounted filter canister, rather than the internal cheek filters of the M17, which were awkward to change, especially in a contaminated environment. The final prototype, the XM40, was approved for service and then designated the M40.

The M40 was phased into service with the U.S. Army and Marine Corps in the mid-1990s, with another new design, the MCU-2/P also replacing the older M17 in service with the U.S. Air Force and Navy. However, both masks suffered from the inadequate protective capabilities of their face pieces, which was of a silicone rubber susceptible to corrosion from blister agents.^{[citation needed]} Thus, the masks were effectively ill-suited for protecting against much more than riot control agents, and a butyl rubber 'second skin' had to be quickly issued for fitting over and reinforcing the M40 facepiece to make it effective in its intended role.

The M42 series masks are a variant of this mask with alterations that make it better suited for use by armored vehicle crews, who have to connect their masks to and draw air from their vehicle's own filtration system.

The M40 field protective mask is currently being replaced by the M50 joint service general purpose mask.^[1][2]

On September 2, 2017, the Philippine Marine Corps received 1,000 M40 gas masks and C2 filters through the U.S. Embassy's Mutual Logistics Support Agreement program.^[3]

Design[edit]

The M40 field protective mask features three voicemitters, one on either the right or left side, and one in front. A voicecom adapter may be placed over the front voicemitter to amplify the user's voice. The mask can be adjusted in the field to accept the filtering canister on either side, so that a weapon may be shouldered. Right-handed shooters will normally locate the canister on the left side of the mask and vice versa.

The C2 canister on the M40 mask can protect the user from up to 15 nerve, choking, and blister agent attacks, and two blood agent attacks.

M-17 Field Protective Mask User Manual Download

The M40 comes with a drinking system that allows the user to drink water after donning the mask for long periods of time in a chemically contaminated environment. In order to use the drinking system the user must also have suitably equipped canteen lids or an adapter for other containers.

Users[edit]

Current[edit]

• Philippines: In service with the Philippine Marine Corps, supplied from the Joint U.S. Military Assistance Group.^[4][3]

Former[edit]

• United States: Replaced by the M50 joint service general purpose mask.^[5]

References[edit]

M-17 Field Protective Mask User Manual Free

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Marine Corps.

1. ^American Horse, LCpl Vanessa M. (12/2/2009). 'M50: New Look Same Protection'. United States Marine Corps. Archived from the original on 9 March 2010. Retrieved 22 December 2009.Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. ^Sanborn, James K. (June 2, 2010). 'Marine Corps fielding new gas mask'. Marine Corps Times. Archived from the original on 9 June 2010. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
3. ^ ^abhttps://ph.usembassy.gov/us-transfers-m40-field-protective-masks-afp-support-counterterrorism-operations/
4. ^http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/02/17/us-turns-over-1000-gas-masks-to-ph-military
5. ^Military.com: New Gas Mask on the Way

The M17 Protective Mask is a series of gas masks that were designed and produced in 1959 (as a replacement of the M-9 gas mask) to provide protection from all types of known chemical and biological agents present. The M-17 was issued to troops in the Vietnam war, and was standard issue for the U.S. Military until it was replaced by the M40 Field Protective Mask for the U.S. Army and USMC in the mid 1990s while the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy replaced it for the MCU-2/P Gas Mask in the mid-1980s.

Features[edit]

Basketball Protective Mask

The mask has different components including a filter, a face piece and outserts. Filter elements in the face piece prevent harmful agents from entering the mask. The M17 series includes three types of masks, the M17, M17A1 and M17A2. An experimental transparent-silicone model called the XM27 was designed in late 1966, but was turned down in favor of the XM28E4. Many countries have copied the M17 design. Notable copies include the Bulgarian PDE-1, Japanese Type-3, the Polish Mp-4 and the Czech OM10 or M10M.

These protective masks have inbuilt voice emitter systems that facilitate communication, a tube for drinking water from the M1 canteen cap (A1 & A2), and a pair of outserts to protect eye lenses and an air pathway that reduced fogging. Three varieties of outserts were available for the mask; clear for general operations, gray tinted for bright environments, and green tinted to protect the wearer from battlefield lasers. Old, clear outserts tended to yellow with time and was considered a deadlining condition for the mask since accurate color vision was required to assess sometimes subtle color changes on the M256A1 chemical detection kit required for unmasking procedures.^[1] The mask is packed in a carrier that also contains other items like a nerve agent antidote kit (NAAK), a convulsive antidote for nerve agents (CANA) and an M-258A1 decontamination kit. It also contains a M1 waterproof bag to protect filter elements from water damage. Other components attached are mask hoods to protect the head and neck area, a winterization kit to prevent frost accumulation during cold weather conditions and optical inserts for soldiers with vision defects. The M17A1 was designed with intent to allow a masked soldier to provide artificial respiration to an unmasked casualty, the resuscitation tube was a noble idea gone wrong. The problem with it being the exposure of both soldiers to contamination, the soldier giving aid ran the risk of encountering resistance from the airway of the casualty, pushing air back into his mask and breaking the seal on it. The casualty would remain unmasked, and would continue absorbing the contaminated environment. It was for this reason that the resuscitation tube system was no longer issued for the A1 and was dropped on the M17A2.

The design of the mask with its internal cheek filters means that it must be removed by the wearer to change the filters once they are expired or clogged, thus compromising its protective capabilities in a contaminated environment. The US armed forces henceforth returned to 'traditional' designs of mask where filter canisters are mounted externally and thus can be changed if needed without the wearer having to remove the mask.

The mask offers protection from chemical and biological warfare agents, but does not function properly in places where oxygen content is low.^[1] The mask is not meant to be used for firefighting and does not provide protection from radiation, however the filters will stop irradiated particles from entering the respiratory system of the wearer. It is recommended that users continue wearing it until the biological or chemical agent is identified and verified cleared from the area using standardized unmasking procedures.

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abhttp://sc-ems.com/ems/NuclearBiologicalChemical/NBC%20Protection/NBC%20Protection.pdf

External links[edit]

• Media related to M17 Gas Mask at Wikimedia Commons