Posted on 07/18/2007 10:37:20 AM PDT by PsyOp
Soldiers Defend Body Armor
FORT BELVOIR, Va. - Soldiers are volunteering dramatic personal accounts of lives saved and injuries avoided thanks to the Army's body armor. Their first-hand accounts of what happens demonstrate confidence in what the Army is doing to protect them.
Interceptor Body Armor is a modular system that features an outer tactical vest with hard protective plates. Spc. Gregory T. Miller, 101st Airborne Division, told Congress at a hearing last month that this body armor saved his life while he was on patrol in Kirkuk in preparation for Iraqi elections in December 2005. He was hit in the back by a sniper with what was supposed to be an armor-piercing round. Spc. Miller, who wound up with a bruised back, said he didn't even realize he'd been hit at first.
It all seemed to happen in slow motion, he said. The water bottle he was holding flew out of his hand; he thought his team leader had hit him on the back - hard. When he realized he'd been hit, he checked himself and then turned to return fire.
When the round was pulled from his armor back plate, ballistics tests identified it as a 7.62 armor-piercing round. "I trust my gear," he told the congressional panel. When asked why, he replied matter-of-factly: "It saved my life."
Staff Sgt. Jeremie Oliver of Fort Hood, Texas, has been in Iraq since October 2006, wearing his body armor every single day. "It works very well," he has reported. The husband and father of four children was shot on Father's Day this year.
"We were on patrol securing a site ... a shot rang out and I got hit in the chest. I was in a Bradley, standing up in the hatch, plotting a grid on my GPS. At first I didn't know what had really happened, but then I felt the pain. I sat down, realized what happened, and opened my vest. The bullet had not penetrated the vest, so we continued the mission and went after the enemy."
Sgt. 1st Class Jody Penrod described his combat experience with IBA: "I took a couple of IEDs and some shrapnel, and I had a fire bomb and it didn't light on fire. So I was pretty pleased."
Because the IBA vest protected his entire chest area, Sgt. 1st Class Penrod didn't have so much as a scratch from the shrapnel in the blast. He recounted how insurgents had made Napalm-type bombs with soap so that it would stick to Soldiers while on fire. "I got some on my vest, but it just went right out. So I was kind of happy that the vest didn't go up in flames."
Spc. Jason C. Ashline, an infantryman with Fort Drum, N.Y.'s 10th Mountain Division, survived a round from an AK-47 in Afghanistan in 2002 thanks to his body armor. He stated at the recent dedication of MIT's Institute for Nanotechnologies: "If it weren't for technology I wouldn't be standing here today."
Spc. Ashline was hit twice in the chest during a 12-hour firefight with al-Qaeda insurgents in 2002. The slugs lodged in his body armor. He was stunned but unhurt, and was pulled to safety by his buddies.
Documenting personal accounts of positive body armor experiences is difficult because the Army doesn't keep count of Soldiers not killed or injured. Still, there are more stories like these and Army leaders at all levels recount apocryphal tales by the dozens.
Capt. David Beard, now stationed at Fort Myer, Va., previously served in Iraq. "I remember a guy in Najaf got shot with an AK right in the chest," Beard said, "and his IBA plate saved him!"
Capt. Daniel Leard, also at Fort Myer by way of Iraq, called his body armor "a great protective asset." He said it routinely stop rounds. "In our own unit we had, on several occasions, Soldiers pulling bullets out of their body armor or helmet. It clearly saved their lives."
Brig. Gen. R. Mark Brown, Program Executive Officer, has repeatedly asserted that the Army is providing Soldiers with the best, most protective body armor - bar none. He particularly resents the fact that Soldiers' Families have been misled by conflicting media reports that left them concerned that the Army might not be doing all it can to protect its Soldiers.
"Force protection is the number-one priority of the Army. We value our Soldiers very highly and we do everything we can do to ensure they have the finest in force protection as they go into the battle," Brig. Gen. Brown said. "I want to assure the American public, the Soldiers and their Families that they have the best equipment when and where they need it."
PEO Soldier designs, produces and fields virtually everything the American Soldier wears or carries. The organization's Soldier-as-a-System approach ensures that equipment works in an integrated manner, thus preparing troops for peak performance.
Gee, whose interests would be served by doing that?
</sarc>
The makers of that Lizard Flesh stuff.
I am living proof that these things work. I took an AK round square in the middle of my chest during a firefight back in 2004. My SAPI plate stopped it and all I had to show for it was two cracked ribs, bruises in the outline of my dogtags and soiled underwear. The rag who shot me did not fare nearly as well thanks to my guys.
There are reports out there of irregularities in the statements and tests by Dragonskin's manufacturer and in news reports broadcast by NBC News, in particular Lisa Myers. If the reports of misleading the public are true, and it appears that they are, Dragonskin's manufacturer and Lisa Myers have put our troops at risk.
The Moonbats are killing their own kids by buying into any and every Bush Bashing BS that comes along.
MFSO & NBC Lied
Moonbats' Kids Died
Thank you for your service.
God Bless Our Troops.
Marine Mom
I would, too. Especially if my hide were inside it.
You won’t see this on NBC News.
The also had a Marine SGT school the dumb bastards about body armor. The discussion centered around "shoulder pads" which the Marines can have, but few use. The reporters were aghast. The SGT looked at them as they were a bunch of dumbasses (which they were) and told them that the key to saving his life on more often being able to get over a wall. And that the "shoulder pads" restricted his ability to do that.
We need a legal licensing requirement for reporters. We don't let lawyers, doctors, pilots or truck drivers practice their profession if they are not qualified.
My stepson came home with one of these vests to show me while he was on leave. Cool stuff. Heavy but cool.
could this be Darwin’s theory at work if the children of the moonbats are the ones more likely to die because they are not wearing the armor that has been shown to be superior?
It’s not fair to those kids. We should call whatever agency in that state deals with child protection and report that Dad for endangering his son.
They’re over 18...not much to do with child protective services anymore by then...
The guy driving the Jeep took a round in the back through two layers of his flack jacket, draped over his seat. One of our medically inclined did a quick survey and found a surface wound, scraped the round out with a knife.
You guys have a lot better stuff than we did, we used to call the inserts that Huey gunners wore "Chicken Plates"
We went through the war in 03 with the Vietnam era flak jackets. We used to sit on them in the HMMWV’s, they for damn sure were not much good to us any other way.
who’s to say that the armor isn’t good, just that the dragon skin is better? i saw an actual demonstration on future weapons on the discovery channel. looked to me like dragon skin is amazing.
Glad to hear it. My brother was saved by a Second Chance vest years ago when he was working as a security guard. Nothing as powerfull as an Ak round though.
After all the articles slamming the body armor our folks are wearing (like my own kid currently in the green zone), I thought this one showed the up side we’ll never hear on CNN.
Last night on the Military channel the program “Future Weapons” hosted by that ex-Seal had a segment on the DragonSkin body armor. They shot it full of 5.56 and 7.62 steel-core AP rounds and it stopped them all. Then they threw the shot up vest over a fragmentation grenade. No penetration.
If it works as demonstrated in the show, the stuff is pretty awsome. Perhpas better than what is being used now. But the point of the article is that the stuff we have now works pretty good.
I saw the same show last night. It looked like solid stuff to me.
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