Off Duty, Technology - Marine Corps Times

Gellin', tactical style

Your hands are filthy. Dirtier than Paris Hilton's home movies, even.

Sure, you might not see any grime. But what you're also not seeing is the millions of bacteria and viruses that are hitching a ride in the palms of your grubby mitts.

Any of those microscopic critters could give you a nasty case of the crud if you don't wash your paws before tearing into your next MRE.

But what do you do when there's no bar of soap nearby?

If you're not part of the "just rub some dirt on it" crowd and packed smart before you deployed, you might go rooting around in the bottom of your ruck for that bottle of alcohol-based hand sanitizer. (Around these parts, we know it as "hannitizer" -- a 7-year-old's verbal mash-up that makes us laugh every time we hear it.)

But given the way most of those sanitizers are packaged -- in wimpy little crush-me-in-a-heartbeat plastic bottles -- you might find the USS Clean Hands has sprung a leak.

That's where Purell comes in.

Gojo Industries, well-known among roughnecks for its line of industrial-strength hand cleaners, now offers its Purell hand sanitizer gel in a 3-ounce bottle designed for hard living.

The olive-drab bottle is relatively durable. It stood up to a vigorous beat-down, holding its own after a good handful of thumps on the edge of a desk. It failed the 5-foot drop test, though, springing a small leak on impact. (It definitely wouldn't survive if your pack gets run over by a 5-ton truck in the war zone, but at that point, you've got bigger problems.)

Inside, the hand sanitizer is no different from the stuff you've used before. The active ingredient, ethyl alcohol, is at 62 percent concentration -- enough to meet the minimum recommendations of most health professionals. Anything less than 60 percent isn't enough to kill most bacteria and viruses, they say.

It doesn't smell perfume-y and dries quickly, so you won't be working your way through the chow line with wet hands.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends washing your hands, either with soap and water or an alcohol-based sanitizer:

• Before preparing or eating food.

• After going to the bathroom.

• After changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has gone to the bathroom.

• Before and after caring for a sick person.

• After blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing.

• After handling an animal or animal waste.

• After handling trash.

• Before and after treating a cut or wound.

The Purell FST 3-ounce Military Bottle is available through the military supply system. Call Gojo directly at (800) 321-9647 or visit www.gojo.com on the Web.