Military sending soldiers additional body armor for sides
The Army plans to send thousands of ceramic body armor plates to Iraq this year to better protect soldiers while the Marine Corps already is delivering such gear, military officers said.
In a private appearance Wednesday before members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the officers defended the body armor available to U.S. troops. A Pentagon study done last summer but only disclosed recently found that improved armor may have prevented or minimized torso wounds that proved fatal to Marines in Iraq.
The committee chairman, Sen. John Warner, said he was satisfied the military was ensuring that U.S. troops had adequate body armor. “Everything that can be done, is being done,” said Warner, R-Va.
But some Democrats urged more congressional oversight on body-armor issues. “Our soldiers and their families deserve nothing less,” Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said in a statement.
Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said he planned to offer legislation to force the Pentagon to give troops serving in combat zones “the most complete personal body armor protection.” The legislation also would create a $1,100 allowance to each service member to buy body armor from properly certified military suppliers.
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch.
There are currently no comments on this thread.