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Gen.: Troops in Iraq Now Have Body Armor
Yahoo! News ^ | Mon, Jun 07, 2004 | BILL BASKERVILL, Associated Press Writer

Posted on 06/07/2004 2:21:41 PM PDT by AM2000

COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. - The Army's top supply commander said Monday that all American troops in Iraq (news - web sites) are now equipped with bullet-resistant vests, after a shortage that led many soldiers to pay for costly body armor themselves.

As late as March, some soldiers headed for Iraq were still buying their own body armor, despite assurances from the military that the equipment would be available before they were in harm's way.

Gen. Paul Kern, commander of the Army Material Command, said the shortage eased after manufacturers stepped up production of the lifesaving vests.

Kern spoke at a news conference where Honeywell Specialty Materials announced it would increase production of Spectra fiber, a key component of the vests. He said the vests had saved dozens of soldiers who were shot at close range.

Kern recalled that troops in Vietnam had to be ordered to wear cumbersome flak jackets. "You don't have to discipline them to put on protective gear today," he said. "They are looking for it."

Last October, it was reported that nearly one-quarter of American troops serving in Iraq did not have ceramic-plated body armor, which uses four-pound armor plates to stop bullets and shrapnel.

The vests can cost several thousand dollars each.


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: bodyarmor; iraq; military; terrorism
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To: Gucho

Care to guess how many of those compolainng about not having vests weren't the ones 'needing' them and probably wouldn't wear them anyway?

Soldiers in Desert Strom didn't all deploy and fight with level IIIa armor and ballistic plates and no body demanded heads for that.

Personally I've not seen any troops operating outside the gates without body armor and I've been here more than a minute.


21 posted on 06/07/2004 3:15:46 PM PDT by Eagle Eye (Coming to you live from HESCO city...)
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To: Eagle Eye

"Personally I've not seen any troops operating outside the gates without body armor and I've been here more than a minute."

And tell me how many Humvees are on patrol or escort with troops who don't care about armor.


22 posted on 06/07/2004 3:35:02 PM PDT by Gucho
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To: Gucho

Stupid question.


23 posted on 06/07/2004 3:38:28 PM PDT by Eagle Eye (Coming to you live from HESCO city...)
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To: Eagle Eye

"Stupid question."

Yes, I guess it is, but somewhere along the line I missed your main point.


24 posted on 06/07/2004 3:42:39 PM PDT by Gucho
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To: AM2000

Remember this next time you see insipid sign saying it would be great if the military had to "hold a bake sale" so we could pour more money into school administration.


25 posted on 06/07/2004 4:00:46 PM PDT by Dilbert56
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To: Gucho

OK. You said that heads should roll for the outrageous oversite. I'm saying that the problems are overstated, that those that need them have them. Perhaps some exceptions, but that is always the case. Most of those complaining are not those needing. I use my vest more than many troops and for the most part on a daily basis, their utility is overstated.

I travel unarmed and in a normal SUV but with a vest with plates and kevlar helmet. The vest is just another peice of equiment and the more you wear it the more you see the fallacy of thinking that it is what is going to save your life.

Care to imagine what one looks like when the wearer burns to death? Vests don't do much good when one is trapped inside a burning vehicle.


26 posted on 06/07/2004 4:08:44 PM PDT by Eagle Eye (Coming to you live from HESCO city...)
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To: Eagle Eye

"I'm saying that the problems are overstated, that those that need them have them."

Ok,..........Sounds like the media went overboard again in broadcasting all negative highlights. Good luck and take care EE.


27 posted on 06/07/2004 4:23:13 PM PDT by Gucho
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To: AM2000

I called the company that makes them and wanted to buy a set for my son. (I just wanted to make sure he had the armor.) They don't sell retail, but he told me that EBay had them for sale. Evidently someone is stealing them off the docks and trucks and selling them. Needless to say, I called J.D. Hayworth's office to let him know. I did check EBay and sure enough there they were for sale.


28 posted on 06/07/2004 4:43:55 PM PDT by NavySEAL F-16 ("Proud to be an American")
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To: zarf

Hmmm no amount of money in the world can boost production over night... Expansions had to be made in order for the vests to be made. It's the one problem with calling over thousands of reserves and going to war overnight.


29 posted on 06/07/2004 4:44:49 PM PDT by Almondjoy
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To: AM2000; Brad's Gramma

Just off the top of my head I remember a Clinton budget that took (20 million?) a large sum of money in the defense budget and dedicated it to breast cancer research.

Now don't get me wrong, I have no problem with breasts, but they left the money in the defense budget so it didn't look like a defense cut. That's what they call a stealth cut.


30 posted on 06/07/2004 4:47:33 PM PDT by TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig (She's got it all, beauty and looks.)
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To: NavySEAL F-16

I think the military just caught, prosecuted, and sentenced a Marine for stealing vests and eBaying them. At least 6-figures worth, as I recall. Hard time in Leavenworth, or equivalent.

Military justice happens much quicker than civil justice.


31 posted on 06/07/2004 6:06:28 PM PDT by FreedomPoster (hoplophobia is a mental aberration rather than a mere attitude)
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To: GradientEcho

"The flak jackets from Vietnam were ballistic nylon"

I thought I read somewhere that the vests in Vietnam had aluminum plates. Am I wrong?


32 posted on 06/07/2004 6:21:31 PM PDT by SoCal Pubbie
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To: AM2000
[ Gen.: Troops in Iraq Now Have Body Armor ]

Must really sadden the democrats to hear this. Are they THAT crass ?... No, they are much worse than crass.

33 posted on 06/07/2004 6:24:16 PM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole....)
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To: Dilbert56

Reminding us that most of the federal money pouted into public education has been eaten up by administrative costs.


34 posted on 06/07/2004 6:39:25 PM PDT by RobbyS
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To: AM2000

Again, the media gets it wrong.

The troops now have the NEW body armor.

They've always had body armor. Just of a different variety. A variety, had they not had it EIGHT YEARS ago in Bosnia and then in Kosovo, I'm sure the media would have raised a stink. (Hint: they didn't ALL have it.)


35 posted on 06/07/2004 6:49:49 PM PDT by xzins (Retired Army and Proud of It!)
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To: AM2000

Awful piss poor planning...Rumsfeld should be looking for work the fxckin douch bag,
And I am 100% behind the effort...the cluelessness that those people brought to Bushes presidency is astounding...they should be in cuffs.

I hate to 2nd guess but they should have been prepared for anything when dealing with those shamless people.


36 posted on 06/07/2004 7:26:13 PM PDT by TShaunK
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To: TShaunK

Please read the thread..It will help give you information.


37 posted on 06/07/2004 7:38:51 PM PDT by MEG33 (John Kerry's been AWOL for two decades on issues of National Security)
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To: xzins; Poodlebrain

You are absolutely RIGHT that troops all had body armor, just not the NEW stuff. My fiance was high up in logistics with CentCom and I specifically quizzed him on this issue when Kerry began to use it as a political football. He assured me that it was the media's refusal to try and comprehend the difference between old and new versions. He said the old timers like him don't even WANT the new stuff...they're more comfortable with the old.

Am so tired of seeing this myth perpetuated. Left using same tactics they used 35 years ago, and we shouldn't be allowing them to get away with it.


38 posted on 06/07/2004 8:29:55 PM PDT by campfollower (crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you)
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To: counterpunch
No thanks to John Kerry.

He doesn't understand the need for them, after all he got by with band aids in Vietnam and acquired multiple purple hearts. : (

39 posted on 06/07/2004 11:25:56 PM PDT by EGPWS
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To: counterpunch

40 posted on 06/08/2004 1:34:15 AM PDT by devolve (---------------- [--------------Hello from Sunny South Florida-------------)
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