FORT RILEY, Kan. - A crackling buzz, a groan and a wince.
"It was pain I had never felt before," said Sgt. 1st Class Michael Hile, 116th Military Police Company, 97th Military Police Battalion. "My entire body tensed up. I couldn't move, couldn't talk. I know I was yelling … but I couldn't control anything at all."
Soldier after Soldier hit the mat as members of the 97th MP Bn. "took the ride" -- short for "riding the white lightning," an expression describing being hit by a stun gun -- during new equipment fielding and training Oct. 15 on Main Post.
The unit received 10 Launched Electrode Stun Devices, or LESDs, as part of a fielding process that began Armywide in 2012.
The advantage of the LESDs over pepper spray or batons is they completely incapacitate a subject in a safe manner, said Donald Gerspach, nonlethal weapons specialist, Army Nonlethal Scalable Effects Center, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
"This is better all the way around," said Gerspach, who led the training. "A Soldier doesn't actually have to lay hands on a subject, so he doesn't get injured. The subject has a less chance of being injured than if they were to use a night stick or (pepper spray). Everybody's safer, and the Taser actually stops a situation in progress right now because it completely incapacitates the person it's being used against."
The LESDs are easy to fire because they have no recoil and laser sighting makes it easy to aim, he added.
"It's really a simple tool," he said. "It's on, off, pull the trigger."
Two barbed darts attached to 25 feet of wire with 50,000 volts coursing through them shoot from the device at 180 feet per second. Once the darts make a connection, they deliver 1,200 volts for five seconds.
"That is a lot of power going through your body," said Sgt. Vickie Ortega, 287th Military Police Company, 97th MP Bn. "It's one of the weirdest sensations you'll ever feel. But it'll stop you."
Such a tool could come in handy for Ortega, she said, because of her petite frame. Should she need to subdue a threat, the LESD would be a safe, yet effective tool.
"I could zap someone (much larger), and I would be able to de-escalate that (situation) very quickly," she said.
Hile agreed the LESD would be a welcome addition to the unit's arsenal.
"It's a level of force in law enforcement that we can use to better protect ourselves and the local (population)," he said. "It's a great tool for all law enforcement to have … I consider it a force multiplier as well."
Experiencing being stunned was a valuable component of the training, which also covered the LESD's operation, safety and target practice, Hile said.
"It was amazing training," he said, adding all law enforcement personnel would benefit from it.
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