The laws of Newton being what they are, it stands to reason that - at least where I am concerned - whatever can go wrong will go wrong. Therefore, it was no surprise to me on a cold November night as I huddled around a burn barrel trying to keep warm and I was wearing my newly acquired military issue gasmask, that I kept hearing a whistling type of noise and feeling a draft across my face from within the mask. Commander Cunnigan was shrieking and yelling at the troops in his normal manner as we stepped up two by two to enter the gas house, a square utility shed made out of sheet metal into which we were to be thrust, while a cn/cs gas canister was exploded and we were exposed to it's vile contents.
As I stepped up to take my turn, Cunnigan clapped a meaty hand across the filter of my mask and screamed: "inhale" into my rubber masked face. I pulled in air and was immediately rewarded with a cool breeze across my lips. Peering into my mask closely Cunnigan asked: "Have you gottcher glasses on?" I nodded in the affirmative and he shoved me into the gas house...
Over the years I have learned how to don a gasmask sans my eyeglasses. It's not the easiest thing to do, I kind of need them to see, however, it isn't the easiest of times to see anyway because chemical irritants have a tendency to cause a disruption in eyesight.
In any event, these days we do have an insert that can be used to give you the opportunity to wear your glasses under your gasmask; however, this is an uncomely and burdensome thing and is the same design, roughly, of what they had come up with as far back as WWI when the use of gasmasks became prolific. I have discovered, firsthand, the folly of using a set of contact lenses with a gasmask. The biggest problem with this insert is the fact that it has to be completely dedicated to the gasmask, (it can serve no other purpose or function), and as such isn't necessarily considered a reasonable accomodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Perhaps the time has come for some entrepreneur to come up with a customized lense for a gasmask that can be modified to hold a prescription so that each individual can see clearly through the haze of the gassy fog he or she finds themselves in.