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Chemical/Biological Warfare
The Cold War was an environment in which there was a significant threat that this unfamiliar class of weapons might be used. The troops were always very aware of the chemical and biological threat that time, and were nervous about it. USA and URSS had developed several types of chemical weapons, and had also used in wars like the Afghanistan and Vietnam. In case of War, many of the forces expected to encounter chemical and/or biological weapons, and had trained extensively for this encounter (NBC Nuclear Biological Chemical defense programs).
That time the attention of military has focused on the possibility that troops were targeted by chemical weapons (for they immediate effects), or were exposed to low levels of chemical warfare agents in an contaminated area.
It is important to recognize that the nature of an attack with chemical weapons is to produce a localized concentration of chemical warfare agent that is sufficient to kill or incapacitate unprotected personnel in the immediate area of attack. The cloud of chemical warfare agent vapor resulting from an attack is dispersed through diffusion into the atmosphere both horizontally and vertically. The rate of this process of dispersion is determined by the nature of the local meteorological conditions. During conditions of atmospheric stability, the cloud can present a hazard for a kilometer or so downwind of the point of attack but this distance is significantly reduced under unstable atmospheric conditions. As a result, the concentration of chemical warfare agents in the air is reduced to an insignificant level very rapidly as a function of distance and time.