This is very interesting, I would very much like to learn more about the newest things which are being created to protect our men who are fighting for our freedoms and the freedoms of others. I have a very good friend who is a Marine and in Iraq right now. So the more armor and training equipment that we are able to create really interests me. For I am here at home praying for his safety and that he comes back to me alive.are there only ten of these Kevler shorts or lower body armor been made or are they in the testing period right now?

Could the Glock 18 pistol replace the 9mm pistol? I understand they come with a 31 round mag and can fire on full auto or semi-auto.

Absolutely not. The Glock 18 is a neat little pistol, but is unsuited for combat use. It fires at 1,800 cyclic rounds per minute, which means that the entire thirty round magazine would be depleted in one second. On top of that, such a rapid rate of fire would cause the weapon to rise very quickly. The first few rounds might hit the target, but the rest of the rounds would fly off into the stratosphere. The Brits came up with a nine milimeter pistol called the Bushmaster that was equipped with an electric (and later hydrolic) rate reducer that reduced the rate of fire to around 450 RPM. Not much has been heard from it in the last ten years. I would expect that the military may switch to another pistol such as the HK USP, which is already in service with special ops in .45 calibre. I would love to see the US military adopt the Glock, but I don't see that happening, since the Glock lacks an external safety. Another possibilty might be a weapon similar to the FN P90, but this would require the military to adopt a new cartridge, which seems unlikely.