(no subject)

[razorjak]

Isn't this nifty?

Soldiers are being threatened with disciplinary action AND the loss of their death benefits if they don't leave their superior, privately purchased body armour behind when deploying overseas.

Last I heard, a fair number of soldiers weren't even being ISSUED body armour. Now Big Brass is threatening them if they try to use gear they (or their families) have purchased themselves.

Discuss.

Comments

[jruske.livejournal.com]

I would lean a different way. If a soldier has personal body armor that meets a certain specification (whicht eh Dragon skin certainly does) then reissue his OTV body armor to someone who doesn't have any.

The key here will be what they set the bar for the specification to. Historically the gov't has set the specification at something only met by gov't issue gear. Suppliers have wised up tot hat and will literally dumb down products to hit the gov't spec deadnuts within a month now. It used to take re-engineering a product and production cycles up to a few years in the past.

But you have to have some specification bar. Or some nut will show up with twenty wooden crosses strapped to his chest and back and forearms and thighs and call that "holy body armor." Not exactly the most effective against small arms fire and IEDs...