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Subject: Throwing Off The Weight Of Good Intentions
SYSOP    5/13/2012 7:57:12 AM
 
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Booban       5/13/2012 3:41:16 PM
Cant there be several different vests to use?
 
One heavy one for short urban patrols, one light one for long range mountain patrols where you don't need the close range protection.
 
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myhandlewontfi    okay   5/13/2012 5:47:48 PM
that would just make way too much sense
 
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WarNerd       5/13/2012 5:52:01 PM
Cant there be several different vests to use?
 
One heavy one for short urban patrols, one light one for long range mountain patrols where you don't need the close range protection.
No need, the current designs are modular, you can just remove pieces or the armor plate inserts to convert them to the lighter configurations.  The problem is the political interference and pressure coming down from the top that makes the commanders leery of allowing the troops to use anything other than the maximum configurations in all situations.
 
All it takes is one allegation in congress that someone’s life would have been saved if they had been wearing the ‘correct’ or ‘better’ protection as they should have been to end an officer’s career.
 
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Bill Befort       5/14/2012 5:07:05 PM
 What it takes is a division-level commander with some guts.  In the Mekong Delta in 1969, Maj. Gen. Julian Ewell of the 9th ID declared the flak jacket optional for field operations, in order to lessen the load on his troops.  You can read about it in his book "Sharpening the Combat Edge."  In those days the flak vest only weighed 8 or 9 pounds.
 
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