Some Marines Declining Extra Body Armor

AP ^ | 3-25-06 | ANTONIO CASTANEDA

[SevenMinusOne]

HUSAYBAH, Iraq - Extra body armor — the lack of which caused a political storm in the United States — has flooded in to Iraq, but many Marines here promptly stuck it in lockers or under bunks. Too heavy and cumbersome, many say.

Marines already carry loads as heavy as 70 pounds when they patrol the dangerous streets in towns and villages in restive Anbar province. The new armor plates, while only about five pounds per set, are not worth carrying for the additional safety they are said to provide, some say.

"We have to climb over walls and go through windows," said Sgt. Justin Shank of Greencastle, Pa. "I understand the more armor, the safer you are. But it makes you slower. People don't understand that this is combat and people are going to die."

"Before you know it, they're going to get us injured because we're hauling too much weight and don't have enough mobility to maneuver in a fight from house to house," said Bain, who is assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment. "I think we're starting to go overboard on the armor."

[SevenMinusOne]

"The reason they issued (the plates), I think, is to make people back home feel better," said Lance Cpl. Philip Tootle of Reidsville, Ga. "I'm not wishing they wouldn't have issued them. I'm just wishing that they wouldn't make them mandatory."

This soldier has it exactly right -

[MikefromOhio]

I wasn't doing anything REMOTELY as dangerous as what these Marines are doing, and I hated those things too.

[SevenMinusOne]

Mandatory Body Armor....regardless of what type of Op you are running is foolishness. Which is exactly why many soldiers fine ways around these mandates -

And as the soldier said above....these type of mandates are mostly for politicians at home to "feel" better about themselves....and have little to nothing to do with helping the realities of what are soldiers are facing on the ground.

[MikefromOhio]

Thankfully their commanders are allowing them the leeway in wearing it.....

[GarySpFc]

It is my understanding the total weight for the body armor with the new plates is 35 pounds.

[Screamname]

"Stand forth, show thineself mad demon of terror before I doth vanquish thee."

[stylin19a]

This Marine has it right.

[Thunder90]

Ping

[Recon Dad]

DevSix, that's not a soldier, that's a MArine.

[ScreamingFist]

Good article. My brother the Ranger once said...."if you want to be a tank, join the mechanized..."

[Spirited]

God bless and protect them. If this Nation was where it needs to be God would protect IT! His Word says so.

[george76]

[dr_who_2]

Whatever works for them. Whatever they need, give it too them, pronto.

[angkor]

This must be an addition to the SAPI plates we had, because those were fairly standard with everyone even a year ago. At least on the Army side.

Also I vaguely recall hearing that they were trying to come up with some sort of armor for the left and right sides (the gap between the front plate and back plate), because this was an area of vulnerability. The "four pounds" mentioned would lend credence to that, since a pair of front and back SAPI plates weighs at least 10 pounds.

But right about now through September - with daily temps regularly hitting 120 degrees - the last thing any trooper wants is more body armour. It's just too hot.

I don't know how many times I skipped the chow hall because I didn't want to walk 1/2 mile or more, in 110+ temps, wearing 20 pounds of ballistics gear. Sometimes it was preferable to stay in the hooch or office and to eat CheezIts and MREs.

[MikefromOhio]

Dinty Moore :)