well, the gear is non-standard, and the army has decided what it considers the best option. and they pay out based on the idea that soldiers are all working under the conditions they are ordered to. so if someone was killed while wearing the non-standard gear, i can see why they wouldn't pay out, because they gear might be responsible, by offering less of a certain type of protection or mobility. and if they didn't issue the warning forbidding the gear, it'd be possible to argue that it was allowed.

there's also the fact that i would expect that if the gear is better, it'd cause some grief between men if the wealthier ones had better protection. seems a real minefield.