U.S. Soldiers Question Use of More Armor

AP ^ | 1/7/06

[Sensei Ern]

When you are a hopping armored tactical nuke, your ARE the tank.

[Supernatural]

Or like putting on a lot of cloths to work at a blast furnace or as a lid man on a coke over battery. Hotter than hell there but without the protective clothing on you cook, with them you really sweat your butt off and feel like you are going to explode. But you just gotta have some kind of protection, you're right.

[Wiz]

Just stick ice in a container under a towel and that would get rid of the heat... yes, for an extra weight.

[bnelson44]

You've done this?

By the way, it is not too early to send cooling devices to our troops.

[SBprone]

Let the NCOs at the company level decide what to require and what to make optional. How about Kevlar jockstraps with ceramic cups?

[solitas]

They use MR-fluid technology now - on vacuum seals (i.e. a vac-tight rotary shaft feedthrough).

...when there is a ballistic threat present.

Yah, right - the MIT-wits are going to develop a reliable 'bullet-headed-right-toward-me-right-now' detector.

[StarCMC]

Whoa!! Now THAT IS COOL!!!

Ping to #19

[Little Ray]

Don't forget the "nano" armor some Israeli firm came up with - five times stronger than steel at a fraction of the weight. Its made out of fullerenes.... Carbon 60!
Other folks are workin' on armo made out of carbon nanotubes.
Pretty soon you're gonna need a railgun to get through personal armor...

[robowombat]

I think you may be referring to this book:

Rigg, Robert B. War--1974. Harrisburg, Pa.: Military Service Publishing, 1958.
A detailed account of war in the future intended, like Walter Karig's War in the Atomic Age?(1946), to prove that conventional warfare has not been rendered obsolete by atomic weapons. Russia's ICBM bases are disabled by daring U.S. commando raids. A panoply of mechanized and electronic weapons is used in a prolonged world war which demonstrates the technical superiority of American know-how. A good deal of emphasis is based on satellite reconnaissance. Small battlefield nuclear weapons are used freely, but their effects are not stressed. Lightweight battle cloaks ward off radiation. A variety of aerial vehicles, many of them nuclear-powered, is depicted. Profusely illustrated by the author.

Rigg was an interesting writer and his output ranged from Chinese tactics in the Korean War (Red China's Fighting Hordes) to an early critique of press coverage of Viet-Nam ('How No To Cover a War', Military Review 1969.

[jjm2111]

It sucks. Trust me on that one. And I just had to wear the Class III vest with SAAPI inserts.

[agere_contra]

Troops need lighter, better armour of course.

But what would be really interesting is a peltier effect coolant suit with heat sinks etc. The world of Mechwarrior is approaching faster than we think.

[Dementon]

I forget the name of the author and I forget the name of the book, it was written in the 1960s I believe and it was about soldiers that had armour that was powered, servo motors that kicked in when the soldiers moved,they had computers that aimed their rounds for them and even carried small tatical nukes with them, they could run, jump and move faster than without the armor.

I believe what you've got ahold of there is Armor by John Steakley.

[Rockitz]

Are you kidding? Those guys go down at slightest hit from a blaster or a light saber.

[Flightdeck]

You should've been an MIT scientist. See post 19.

[Americanexpat]

I worked civilian security in Iraq and we did not wear all that armor the troops have to wear plus their other weapons and gear. It got above 120 degrees and I thought i was going to die. I have always admired the ability of our soldiers and Marines to be able to move and fight in all the crap they have to wear.

[A Texan]

Yup, but storm troopers are crappy shots.

[Wiseghy]

I once read of something like this is an relatively unknown sci-fi novel called "Their Master's War". It was formula Mil-sci-fi, but I really enjoyed it.

[freema]

And don't think for a minute the left isn't going to beat the crap out of this drum, scaring the life out of many who are too busy being scared to look for the facts.

[RightWhale]

The Left ran out of ammunition 30 years ago.