Mission Oriented Protective Posture (MOPP) Gear: Military PPE

• MOPP Gear: personal protective equipment (PPE) ensemble worn by troops in CBRN-contaminated environments
  • Protects against
    • Chemical agents
    • Biological agents
    • Radioactive material: external contamination and internal contamination
  • Cannot protect against exposure to high energy, highly penetrating ionizing radiation
    • Neutrons and gamma radiation pass through all forms of PPE
  • Reduces spread of contamination
  • Not intended for hot zone entry.
• Pictures of MOPP Gear
  • Respiratory Protective Equipment
  • Dermal Protective Equipment
• MOPP Gear ensemble components
  • See Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protective Clothing Information (Army Study Guide, not a US Government web site)

MOPP Gear ensemble components	Description & Notes
Protective over-garment (Joint Service Lightweight Integrated Suit Technology or JSLIST)	Two piece overgarment (coat and trousers) worn over Battle Dress Uniform (BDU) Adopted by all 4 services to replace Battle Dress Overgarment (BDO) Allows increased mobility (less bulky, lighter in weight) May be worn up to 24 hours in contaminated environments
Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear (Army Study Guide)	See multiple components of protective uniform
Mask and respiratory protection	Does not include Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA)
Helmet cover
Gloves	JSLIST glove upgrade program is seeking to identify a new glove to replace current butyl rubber glove
Additional components	Detection equipment Individual decontamination kit Antidotes for chemical hazard events

References:

1. Health care facilities' "war on terrorism": a deliberate process for recommending personal protective equipment. Koenig KL, Boatright CJ, Hancock JA, Denny FJ, Teeter DS, Kahn CA, Schultz CH. Am J Emerg Med. 2007 Feb;25(2):185-95. [PubMed Citation]
2. Joint Service Lightweight Integrated Suit Technology (GlobalSecurity.org)
3. MOPP (protective gear) (Wikipedia)
4. 5 Levels of MOPP (Army Study Guide, not a US Government web site)
5. Mission-Oriented Protective Postures (MOPP) (AFVA 32-4012, 1 February 1998)