Gas mask suits and boots

[Ranger]

from what i can remember the suits, gloves and overboots were only meant to protect you for 24 hrs in a moderately contaminated enviroment (less in a more heavily contaminated one), after which they were to be disposed of and a new vacuum packed one to be used. the suits don't stop radiation effecting you, but stop radioactive particles from getting on your everyday wear and, more importantly, on your skin. to remove them you had to operate in pairs and remove each others. to do this you cut up the front of the smock(scissor/shears, but knife would do) and then peel the smock back so it turns inside out and pull arms inside out. smock then goes in binbag. cut off gloves and into b/b. cut down front of each leg and peel back, inside out(whilst shrugging off braces). b/b. cut off boots and b/b. then stripped man would don his new outfit and remove his buddys. if in a clean place like a building then you would strip each other and then use fullers earth to decontaminate the respirators before removing. as i said, the suits don't protect you from radiation and in theory we should have been issued dosemeters to measure rad levels so you could get out of the contaminated area when you started receiving too high a dose. as others have pointed out, in reality, we'd have been left to soldier on as dead men walking. for civvies an nbc suit is really part of a GOOD kit to allow you to evacuate the contaminated area and keep you sterile. an asbestos suit would be good over the top as another layer to keep the nasties out. i personally think a good improvised substitute, imho, would be an industrial rain suit from the likes of screwfix, greenhams, arco etc with an asbestos suit over the top, as once the asbestos suit is removed, you could stand under a shower to clean the rain suit before removing. you would, of course, still need a full face respirator(oh yes, cannisters on the S6 and S10 respirators were only designed for 24 hrs in moderate contamination)