ROCKAWAY How do soldiers know what will happen when they fire rubber bullets into a hostile crowd?

How do Marines know if shining a beam of light in a drivers eyes will be enough to deter the vehicle as it approaches a checkpoint?

What percentage of a mob can be turned away by a piercing sound?

The answers are found in Building 3518 a single-story warehouse in Morris County thats in need of a fresh coat of paint. The building on Lake Denmark Road, which you would be forgiven for never noticing, is a couple of miles from the entrance to Picatinny Arsenal, the Armys research and development site in Rockaway Township.

Inside, past the cafeteria and the restrooms, is the Armys only behavioral-science laboratory where real-live volunteers, young and old, men and women, learn what its like to be on the business end of a baton or hit with a laser that makes your skin feel like its on fire.

Picatinny Arsenal is best known for developing weapons, and engineers on base can tell you in precise detail how each one works. In Building 3518 also known as the Target Behavioral Response Laboratory the nine-member team can tell you why they work. And when dealing with non-lethal weapons, that is the most important information a soldier can have.

"I cant just shoot a laser or loud sound at a piece of wood and expect it to run away," said John Riedener, the labs technical director. "We need to know how well it chases someone away. Its all about data, controlled experiments. Its about the probabilities of what can happen."

Applicants are screened so the Army does not end up with all male volunteers or a group all under the age of 30. The research requires a wide swath of the population to measure the effectiveness of the experiments. Flyers are put in libraries and college campuses.

Volunteers paid $20 per hour sign an informed consent form alerting them there is a chance of serious or even permanent injury, and all experiments are conducted under the purview of Picatinnys Internal Review Board and the Armys Human Research Protections Office. There have been no serious injuries to date and volunteers can pull out at any time, said Charles Sheridan, research teaching specialist.

"We dont want them to be surprised, but they have the right to run away," Sheridan said. "And thats a data point for us."

Go here to see the original:
Take a beating, make a buck: Rockaway lab tests U.S. Army weapons on paid volunteers