Geez. The Israelis discovered the Shillelagh missile. The old tank/antitank argument. I used to train my Infantry Soldiers to wear body armor in the assault. My little Ranger Lieutenants told me that body armor was worthless. It just slowed them down and made them hot. They thought the Kevlar helmet was worthless, too. They could just wear a patrol cap. But, when the shooting starts..everyone wants armor.
They also discovered that the guidance wires on Dragon/Shillelagh/Malyutka AT missiles can be cut by intermediate WP smoke fires, one reason the Israeli merkavim have a 2-inch mortar mounted in the turret. Handy for infantry support in MOUT, too, as they found out in Lebanon.
I used to train my Infantry Soldiers to wear body armor in the assault. My little Ranger Lieutenants told me that body armor was worthless. It just slowed them down and made them hot. They thought the Kevlar helmet was worthless, too. They could just wear a patrol cap. But, when the shooting starts..everyone wants armor.
Daytime, yep. Nighttime, less so. Depends a lot on whether the patrol SOP is *shoot anyone with a helmet* or *shoot anyone without a helmet*
No problem getting tank crews to wear the CVC though. The commo systems work a lot better now than they did 30 years ago. I recently did a press tour ride in an Abrams, and brought my old Nomex frog suit and CVC helmet along. I got an offer to drive, to which I replied ***fork you, young sergeant, I'm a gunner....***