The Chicken Defense

A war against Iraq will see the debut of some of the most sophisticated weaponry ever used. But U.S. Marines will also rely on one of the most low-tech detection devices around: chickens. Worried that the pollution from blown oil installations will clog up complicated detection equipment and make it difficult to pick up deadly chemicals and nerve agents, U.S. marines will drive into battle across the dusty plains of Iraq with caged chickens atop their Hum-Vees.

The chickens, which were otherwise destined for Kuwaiti dinner tables, will work in the same way as canaries in coal mines used to. Small traces of poisonous gases or chemical agent will kill the birds — or Poultry Chemical Confirmation Devices, as the Marines call them — and warn troops to put on their gas masks. "A sky full of oil can mask some chemicals," says Warrant Officer Jeff French, a nuclear, biological and chemical officer for a marine battalion in Kuwait. "Using chickens may sound basic but it's still one of the best ways we have of detecting chemical agent."

Dubbed Operation Kuwaiti Field Chicken (KFC), the use of chickens is sure to enrage animal activists. But chickens were used to detect for chemicals during the first Gulf War and, says French, consider that the alternative may be dozens of dead troops. Consider too that marines and soldiers will face nerve-racking moments with or without chickens. U.S. troops in Kuwait have been training to fight and live in their protective suits but at some point after a chemical attack they will have to take them off.

After testing for chemicals, one or two men — usually of different sizes and races — will remove their masks in a "selective unmasking." Those who keep their masks on will study the skin and pupils of the unmasked for symptoms of lingering airborne chemicals. "Using chemicals is a really unfair way of fighting," says French. "The best way to describe it is if I blindfolded you and came and kicked you in the groin as hard as I can. It's just not fair. But whatever Saddam throws at us, we'll be ready."

The idea to use chickens was Marine Chief Warrant Officer Stacy Jeambert's. Jeambert served in the Marines in the Gulf War and remembers buying five chickens to use as detectors. This time around he has ordered 250 from a local Kuwaiti supplier. "We've built a chicken coop and we're going to fatten them up so they're real healthy." A lot of people ask Jeambert "why chickens and not sheep, pigs or goats? The truth is they eat too much." What about pigeons or the classic canary? "You and I both know those birds are not that hardy and will try to fly away." Chickens, on the other hand, are more docile creatures. "I think it gives everyone a little more sense of comfort," says Jeambert. "The men are already joking that we'll have to give them medals for valor."