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Speaking of the military.......please take a look at this website. The man responsible for helping our servicemen and women was on the news yesterday. He says the Marine Corp has funds for better helmets but chose to spend it on bullet proof helmets, not helmets designed to help protect the brain from IED concussion which is the most common injury in Iraq. The Army did have these made, but has run out of inventory.

OPERATION HELMET provides helmet upgrade kits free of charge to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as to those ordered to deploy in the near future. Emails come in every day from Marines, their Navy medics and Air Force Special Ops and ground security forces as well as Army Reserve and Guard units asking for this added measure of protection they need, deserve and should have. In addition to providing enhanced blast protection, the helmet upgrades are much more comfortable and stable than the 'strap/sling' suspensions, allowing the trooper to concentrate on the job at hand rather than a blinding headache. A helmet is effective only when the troops will wear it!

Troops and their loved ones should not feel they aren't protected with the standard issue helmet. Our forces are issued head armor (kevlar helmets) that offers the best protection known in the Military from bullets and small frags. That was the main danger in previous combat engagements and is still an important defense now. However, new elements have entered the picture, that of IED's (roadside bombs) and other explosives which these helmets were not designed to defend against. The blast wave, large frag's carried thereon and the trooper being tumbled along the ground or inside a vehicle is producing brain injury ranging from concussion to death or permanent disability...if the blast is survivable. Without proper padding, the head becomes the "clapper in a bell" and the strap/sling suspended helmet itself strikes the head, resulting in every grade of head injury/brain damage from a concussion to death or disability.

Studies at Walter Reed Army Hospital show that blunt force head trauma cases outnumber penetrating head injuries significantly in troops with brain damage from OIF/OEF, especially from enemy action (IED's, etc) as well as vehicle accidents.

OPERATION HELMET