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COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. - The Army's top supply commander said Monday that all American troops in Iraq 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...

The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com Pentagon seeks ideas to fight 'urban' warsBy Jennifer HarperTHE WASHINGTON TIMESPublished September 12, 2004 Urban-canyon flying vehicles, persistent staring reconnaissance and perching machines may one day prove the weapons of choice among American troops doing battle in dim city streets far from home.     That is, if someone comes up with a workable design.     A public call for ideas to help soldiers on the unpredictable, unorthodox "urban battlefield" has been issued by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA -- the unabashedly inventive arm of the Defense Department that specializes in "revolutionary, high-payoff research," according to its...

  Navy Doctor Earns Award For Developing Better Body ArmorStory Number: NNS040903-07Release Date: 9/3/2004 1:44:00 PMBy Ellen Maurer, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery Public AffairsWASHINGTON (NNS) -- Navy Orthopedist Capt. Marlene DeMaio received the Frank Brown Berry Award in Federal Health Care in August in recognition of her research and development of better body armor for Marines in combat zones. Awarded annually by U.S. Medicine magazine, in partnership with Delta Dental, the Brown Berry Award recognizes an outstanding contribution to medicine emanating from the federal sector. DeMaio’s project, completed while she was assigned to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology,...

Latest hurdle for commando-gear maker is rule on Vietnam By ALLISON CONNOLLY, The Virginian-Pilot © August 29, 2004 Last updated: 12:53 AM Mike Noell, co-founder of BlackHawk Products Group, contracted with a plant in Vietnam in 2001 after that nation signed a bilateral trade agreement. Ariana Lindquist /The Virginian-Pilot Background Coverage:Norfolk outfitter fights for right to serve military NORFOLK ­­­— Mike Noell can’t keep his hands off the merchandise. As his research and development team discussed which products to shoot for BlackHawk Products Group’s 2005 catalog, the 37-year-old picked up a chest holster and grabbed at the blue plastic Glock...

A new, locally made military helmet being used by troops in Iraq provides less coverage and may result in more serious head traumas, the Army's senior neurosurgeon told The Wall Street Journal. Lt. Col. Jeff Poffenbarger, stationed in Baghdad, is critical of the helmets, which are smaller and offer less protection on the back and sides of the head, according to an article published Wednesday. He estimates a 30 percent increase in serious head traumas if the helmets are distributed throughout the entire force in Iraq. Despite Poffenbarger's misgivings, the Army hasn't changed its original specifications, and production of 107,000...

Although M-16 and M-4 assault rifles are much more effective when used with up-to-date optics (scopes, night vision, red dot and so on), not all the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have these accessories. Even with the Rapid Fielding Initiative (RFI), which provides additional money to buy needed equipment from manufacturers and ship it straight to the troops, many troops are without these more effective tools. Sometimes there’s a reason for some troops not getting the optics. Support units won’t have much opportunity to use these expensive items, except that many support troops are running combat missions several times a...

OK, this is too late for Christmas (unless you're Orthodox), but if you have a friend of family member serving with a combat unit in Iraq, there are a few non-lethal items that have proved highly popular over there and would make a great, maybe lifesaving, gift. Hand held laser pointers have been popular for troops expecting to get ambushed. The laser pointer makes it easier to show where everyone should shoot. Sounds crude, but it works, and has worked many times. It also proved popular for raids as well. The army issued GPS receiver (the PLGR) is old and...

With the growth of professional infantry over the last three decades, there has been, not unexpectedly, a growth in companies that supply equipment for the troops. That is, gear that is demonstrably superior to what the troops were being issued by the government. This is not an entirely new phenomenon. American professional soldiers had long purchased superior gear from commercial firms. But after World War II, with a large peace time army and marine corps, better pay for the career soldiers, and a growing industry supplying new products for hunters, campers and police, it was only natural that many of...

I belong to a small organization that has about $1500 in its coffers. One of our number is a young man who volunteered for the USMC last year and recently got sent to Iraq. As I posted on this forum a few days ago, he got shot at by the bad guys last week but was saved from injury when some of his radio gear deflected the shot. It made us all think: is there some extra gear--a fancy kevlar vest or a special type of helmet--that would be a cut above standard issue, and that we could buy for...

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — The trusty old “black Cadillacs” that get Marines where they’re going are taking a hike soon, and the Marine Corps is trying to make sure replacements are plentiful. The Corps slowly has been phasing in new suede combat boots. The cutoff date for Marines to own one pair of both the temperate and hot-weather versions is Oct. 1, according to Kristy Chaplin, project officer at Marine Corps Systems Command. Once the mandatory date to own the new boots rolls around, Marines no longer will be able to wear the “black Cadillac” combat boots or jungle boots,...

MCRD/ERR PARRIS ISLAND, S.C.(March 19, 2004) -- The Infantry Combat Equipment team from Marine Corps Systems Command was aboard the Depot March 11 to show off improvements and replacements currently being made to the Corps' combat gear. While bulletproof vests and bug repellant utilities may seem like gear from a James Bond movie, Lt. Col. Gabe Patricio, project manager, ICE, said these and other improvements are already being used to help bring Marines home alive. "The new gear has improved functionality and user friendliness," said Patricio. " Some of the new gear has already been tested in combat and the...

Months after the military began scrambling to equip soldiers serving without body armor in Iraq, many of those now being deployed are opting to buy their own rather than trust military reassurances they will have the gear by the time their boots hit the battlefield. Some body armor distributors have received a steady stream of inquiries from soldiers and families asking about purchasing the gear, which can cost as much as several thousand dollars. Many want it before leaving for Iraq, regardless of the military advising them not to rely on equipment from third-party suppliers. "In war, as we've learned...

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, March 12, 2004) – The Army continues to meet its Operation Iraqi Freedom force protection equipment requirements in a timely manner and Congress is helping to do that, the Army’s top leadership recently told some of the nation’s top lawmakers. Acting Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker appeared before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations – Defense to give testimony March 10 on the 2004 Army Posture Statement, the Army’s blueprint of what it wants to accomplish in the coming year with appropriated funds. “Many of...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee-in-waiting, challenged the Bush administration Saturday to reimburse the families of U.S. troops "who had to buy the body armor" needed for protection in Iraq. "If I am president, I will be prepared to use military force to protect our security, our people and our vital interests," the Massachusetts senator said in the Democrats' weekly radio address. "But I will never send our troops into harm's way without enough firepower and support." The five-minute speech gave Kerry an opportunity to speak to a nationwide audience five days after wrapping up his party's...

CAMP NEW YORK, Kuwait — Had they seen stockings and a tree, Task Force 1-77 soldiers might have thought Santa had just arrived. Hundreds of troops at Camp New York woke up before dawn last week, marched through the sand to a giant warehouse tent near the front gate, and lined up to grab their long-promised new gear. They passed by table after table, picking up new shirts, long underwear, summer and winter boots, fleece wear, knee and elbow pads, and vests. “It was like Christmas,” said 1st Lt. Jason Royston, 24, of Ada, Okla., an officer with the 9th...

Saturday, February 21, 2004 Army to lighten ‘monster ruck’ By Lisa Burgess, Stars and StripesEuropean edition, Saturday, February 21, 2004 ARLINGTON, Va. — Every soldier in every infantry unit in the U.S. Army knows the legend of the “120-pound rucksack.” References to the “monster ruck” have become shorthand for today’s overburdened foot soldier, struggling to fight while hauling the equivalent of another soldier on his back.The monster ruck is a myth, according to Lt. Col. Charles Dean, an infantry officer serving as the Army’s liaison to the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but that doesn’t...

An Iraq success story: SAPI plates By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes European edition, Saturday, January 31, 2004 ARLINGTON, Va. — The military’s new Interceptor body armor has proved to be one of the major success stories of the campaign in Iraq, with everyone from combat medics to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld singing its praises. Most soldiers know that the key to the armor’s bulletproof qualities are the so-called “SAPI” plates, for Small Arms Protective Inserts. The two four-pound plates, which fit into pockets sewn into the front and back of the outer vest, can each stop shrapnel from mortar...

Despite the lavish and, usually, well thought out equipment provided to U.S. troops in Iraq, there have been equally well reasoned complaints about stuff that was not issued, and should be. High on every soldiers list is the need for 110 volt power to be available from hummers and armored vehicles. This can be done with a power inverter, and that's what some troops have obtained, on their own and with their own money. The 110 volt power enables the charging of rechargeable AA batteries, as well as the batteries in laptop computers, and devices that are easy to recharge,...

  4th ID Soldier Saved By Protective Plate During Raid ABU KHARMA, Iraq – A 4th Infantry Division soldier, saved from more serious injury by his protective body armor and ceramic insert, known as the SAPI (Small Arms Protective Insert) plate, is in stable condition after being wounded by gunfire from attackers in the village of Abu Kharma at approximately 4 a.m. Jan. 14. The Task Force Ironhorse soldier and his patrol were attacked as they conducted a raid as part of Operation Warhorse Whirlwind. Four attackers were killed and one was wounded as a result of the ensuing...

Folding combat knives are replacing bayonets for many American combat troops. U.S soldiers carried a multitude of civilian manufactured folding knives into combat during the war in Iraq. Among the favorites were the Karambit, a hook shaped folding blade with lengths varying between two to four inches, weighing 3.5 to 3.8 oz.. and with an outside edge and tapered inside edge. attached to an alloy or polymer injection molded handle with an index finger ring. Developed in Indonesia during the 12th Century as a utility knife, it is known to have killed at least one an Iraqi who seized an...

Helmets worn by some Australian soldiers serving in Iraq were defective and would fail to protect troops struck by a projectile, a defence force contractor said today. A private supplier to the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO), which equips the defence force, said about 8,000 helmets he sold in 1995 have not been properly maintained and are now defective.

After a quarter century of complaints, the U.S. Army recently replaced the All-purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment (ALICE) rucksack with the Modular Lightweight Load Bearing Equipment (MOLLE) rucksacks. The marines were so impressed that they adopted MOLLE as well. Then everyone went off to Iraq with MOLLE and used the gear in combat. Somehow, flaws that do not appear in the most strenuous peacetime training, jump out at you in combat. The marines were so dissatisfied with their newly acquired MOLLE that they decided to chuck it and replace it with civilian gear. Army troops had also been singing the...

<p>U.S. soldiers lack best protective gear By Jonathan Turley I recently received a note from one of the few husbands who knows just what his wife wants as a holiday gift. The Army sergeant (who asked to remain anonymous) e-mailed me from Iraq asking my help in finding him a store to buy body armor for his wife. Both the sergeant and his wife are serving in Iraq, and both have seen action. But, like thousands of U.S. soldiers, his wife was not given the vital ceramic plates for her Kevlar Interceptor vest to protect her from bullet wounds. Instead, he said, she had to scavenge to find plates left behind by Iraqi soldiers — plates of inferior quality that do not properly fit her vest.</p>

The US Defense Department is working on new field uniforms for US soldiers in order to make them lighter and more adaptable to changing environmental condition, the American Forces Information Service reported. "Our challenge is to provide greater protections and capabilities, but with less weight and bulk," Robert Kinney, director of the Individual Protection Directorate at the US Army Soldier Systems Center, is quoted as saying. According to the report, uniforms of the future will have built-in chemical and biological protection, electric wires and fiber optics that soldiers will be able to use on the battlefield. They will also be...

A new machine gun for GI Joe The XM312 .50-caliber machine gun from General Dynamics is scheduled to begin replacing the M2 machine gun in 2005.   The XM312 will accept belt-fed ammo from either the left or right.   A soldier in an armored vehicle and armed with a .50-caliber machine gun guards the perimeter in Baghdad. The Browning machine gun started out as an aircraft gun in 1921 but was modernized and adapted to ground use in 1932 as the M2. After 70 years of distinguished service, the U.S. Army is preparing to retire the M2HB .50-caliber machine...

Tomorrow's Uniforms Offer New Capabilities, Less Weight By Donna MilesAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Dec. 2, 2003 -- They call it the "Christmas tree" effect. Defense engineers come up with the latest new gadgets and gizmos to help troops on the battlefield, and — just like ornaments being added to the holiday tree — they "hang" them on the warfighter. The Objective Force Warrior program offers a glimpse into advances planned for warfighters in 2010 and beyond. The program is expected to become a prototype for all the military services. Photo courtesy of U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center(Click photo...

New Protection Ahead in Helmets, Body Armor By Donna MilesAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2003 -- New, reinforced helmets and body armor being fielded to the military today represent just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what's on the drawing board for protecting warfighters of the future. Tomorrow's fighting force will have far superior protective systems that provide enhanced capabilities while imposing less weight on the user, according to officials at the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center at Natick, Mass. The center conducts research and product development for all the military services. Robert Kinney, director...

Thursday October 02, 2003 Families chip in for flak jackets 02.10.2003 - By ANDREW GUMBEL in Los Angeles United States soldiers in Iraq are so short of up-to-date flak jackets - often the difference between survivable injury and death in combat - that their families back home have begun buying them out of their own pocket. Campaigners for military families opposed to the continuing occupation angrily denounced the lack of adequate protection yesterday, calling it "outrageous" and part of a pattern of general failure to provide adequate supplies to the troops almost five months after the formal end of the...

<p>TIKRIT, Iraq — "It's just a matter of time" until American forces bag the Ace of Spades, the U.S. military says.</p> <p>Saddam Hussein (search) is on the run, and American troops are on a "sprint" to capture the former Iraqi dictator, the "Ace of Spades" in the U.S. military's deck of 55 most-wanted Iraqis (search).</p>

To any out there who - like me - are prior service grunts, or just have an interest in the tools our soldiers are using right now worldwide that the press doesn't show us. The slides show in fair detail (all unclassified), along with the costs, of the systems that help make our ground forces the best soldiers on the planet. Of course these are just the tools - the training, dedication, and guts of our troops are the real reason that they kick anyone's butts.For those who are concerned with what may happen to this nation if someone like...

LONDON (AP) — British troops on desert exercises were plagued by melting boots, guns that jammed and radios that frequently went on the blink, an auditors' report said Thursday — failings that raise questions about Britain's role in any future military attack on Iraq. While the report praised British forces' overall performance during last year's Operation Saif Sareea II in Oman, critics fear Britain's proud military is too poorly equipped to serve alongside its U.S. allies. ``At the moment, on the ground as far as infantry is concerned, we have a rifle which is deficient and a communications system which...