Cyalumes

From Airsoft Community Wiki

Chemical light sources used for a number of purposes. Cyalume is a company name, and the items can also be referred to as "lightsticks", "Glowsticks", or similar.

A Cyalume is normally a tube, coming in a many sizes, the most useful and common being about 6" long, and about 1/2" wide. comprising of a plastic outer sheath, holding chemical A, with a glass vial in the centre containing chemical B. In order for the reaction to begin that gives off the light, these two chemicals must be mixed. This is done by bending the lightstick, thus snapping the glass vial, and shaking.

Cyalumes are totally safe, do not give off heat, present no fire hazard, and come in a variety of colours and sizes. They can last for many hours giving off their maximum output throughout, and many more hours with residual light (fairly useless levels to be honest). A Cyalume also will not give out light untill it is needed, and there is no blind fumbling for switches etc.

Cyalumes have many uses, from the obvious use of a light source for navigation, reading, looking for dropped earrings, etc etc, to identification. I often tuck one of the "pencil" sized glowsticks under the shirt collar in low light environments, as it shines out a small patch of colour between the shoulderblades. This identifies me as being of a certain team, and furthermore, the colours can be used to denote position within team structure. Similarly, In building clearance operations, I have seen a Cyalume strapped to the upper arm of team members, to prevent blue on blue at the LOE. Cyalumes are used most commonly in building clearance to denote the status of a room, for example,

• Yellow lightstick in doorway - Room is cleared
• Red lightstick in doorway - Room is cleared (man or more down, for medics benefit)
• No lightstick in doorway - Room has not yet been cleared/is being cleared (unsafe)

The introduction of the UV Cyalume increased the useability of cyalumes as markers for impromptu Helicopter LZ's, as the light output isn't visible to the naked eye, and the heli pilot is likely to be on NVG's.

The tactical uses of lightsticks are surprisingly diverse.