Just six months after the Pentagon agreed to reimburse soldiers who bought their own protective gear, the Army has banned the use of any body armor that is not issued by the military.
Army officials told The Associated Press on Thursday the order was prompted by concerns that soldiers or their families were buying inadequate or untested commercial armor from private companies — including the popular Dragon Skin gear made by California-based Pinnacle Armor.
Early in the Iraq war, soldiers and their families were spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on protective gear that they said the military was not providing. Body armor generally includes armor and ceramic plates that cover the front, back and sides of a soldier’s torso.
“We’ll be up front and recognize that at the start of the conflict there were some soldiers that didn’t have the levels of protection that we wanted,” [Colonel] Spoehr said. Now, he added, “we can categorically say that whatever you’re going to buy isn’t as good as what you’re going to get” from the military.
In interviews Thursday, Army officials said aggressive marketing by body armor manufacturers was fueling public concerns that troops are not getting the protection they need.
I could wax historic and say the Army “is being hoist by their own petard”.
What assholes. This is akin to a police department that doesn’t provide bullets for its patrolmen, banning them from buying their own.
Just another reason why this admin has GOT TO GO. Sheesh.
This kind of upsets me.
This upsets me.
The only reason I could see them enacting this policy is if someone was killed using personally purchased sub-standard armor. But on the flipside all the DoD has to do is say, “if you buy armor it has to meet the Class III standard” and then leave the NCO Corp to reinforce this standard.
I am particularly dismayed because I own Pinnicle body armor; which is arguably better than what is issued.
I think what may be happening here is politics as outlined in the article at the following link.
Oh, one other thing I did want to mention.
Personal body armor was only reimbursable if you purchased and submitted the claim by 1 April 2006. This was stated in the original order when DoD announced that it would reimburse soildiers.
as much as I would like to hold this against the Bush Admin and there are many, MANY other reasons that Rumsfeld and everyone around him should be sacked, this sounds like a typical military FUBAR situation. The brass gets all excited about the expensive, high-tech wiz-bangs (that are made in the districts of important Congresscritters), while neglecting the nitty-gritty, like armor for the soldiers and vehicles. The shame is that this seems to be the trend – replacing armor with “lighter, more agile” forces. In other words, billions of dollars in silicon, very little for the stuff that can actually stop the IEDs, RPGs and AK rounds.
That’s because Halliburton is not getting any cash from it.
Um, so they aren’t going to give the soldiers military issue body armour, and then ban them from using their own, to keep them safer … how does this work? Or do I just have it mixed up?
“Personal body armor was only reimbursable if you purchased and submitted the claim by 1 April 2006.”
April fools!
A little side note:
Some
Marines Declining Extra Body Armor
FTA:
“Before you know it, they’re going to get us injured because we’re hauling too much weight and don’t have enough mobility to maneuver in a fight from house to house,” said Bain, who is assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment. “I think we’re starting to go overboard on the armor.”
makes you wound were all the calls for heavier body armor are coming from, the soliders or the politicians?
“makes you wound were all the calls for heavier body armor are coming from, the soliders or the politicians?”
Please don’t speak sense, we’re hating Bush and blaming him personally for the failures of the entire US military supply line. Supply lines have historically, in every army in the known world, been a mess each and every time they fight.
But again…that’s sensical, and we can’t have that here.
Does anyone know where a copy of the military test of the Pinnacle Body armour is on the net, that and or a comparison of the current standard and Pinnacle’s? Both the Army and Air Force have conducted the tests, but I can’t find links to their results on the net.
I thinking of buying some and like the sound of small layered plates as opposed to one ceramic plate. From experiance I know the ceramic plates are worthless once hit, for about 4 to 5 inches around the impact point.
Thank you Jim W. and maren for that posting from the Republican party talking points in response to this issue.
Have any of you ever tried Interceptor body armor? That’s the stuff that the guys are getting now. I do this for a living, trust me, it’s much better than that commercial stuff that the police wear. If you let the soldiers wear their own stuff because they think it’s better, then you are not giving them the best protection they can have. Force them to use the stuff that was designed for urban combat, IEDs, and how AK-47 bullet work. The police stuff is geared towards civilan ammo, the Interceptor armor has been designed to work in combat situations against foreign ammo. Yes, the ammo does work differently.
“If you let the soldiers wear their own stuff because they think it’s better, then you are not giving them the best protection they can have. ”
How about if they wear their own stuff instead of nothing? That is after all what this story is about.
Milo……the military has been issueing the stuff for over 18 months now. When we first went into Iraq, our guys didn’t have it. As is typical of the military, it took time to realize what was up, during that time many guys bought their own armour from civilian makers. Better that than nothing. That is no longer needed, and hasn’t been for some time.
As to the tests, I saw that the company pointed out in the original article has stated that their *new* stuff will now meet the Army’s requirments. That says to me that what they were getting the guys or their families to buy didn’t meet the minimum requirements prior to this.
Bush and company have screwed up badly. But there really are other reasons for these kinds of things. It’s called bloated buracacy.
The U.S. sends $5 billion (for free) to Israel for *their* defense.