Support Our Troops With More Than A Slogan!

A secret Pentagon study has found that at least 80 percent of the Marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to their upper body could have survived if they had extra body armor. That armor has been available since 2003 but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection, according to military officials.

The ceramic plates in vests currently worn by the majority of military personnel in Iraq cover only some of the chest and back. In at least 74 of the 93 fatal wounds that were analyzed in the Pentagon study of marines from March 2003 through June 2005, bullets and shrapnel struck the marines’ shoulders, sides or areas of the torso where the plates do not reach.

Thirty-one of the deadly wounds struck the chest or back so close to the plates that simply enlarging the existing shields “would have had the potential to alter the fatal outcome,” according to the study, which was obtained by The New York Times.
At least some of our dead soilders could have survived IF they had the body armour they needed. These were not issued and even when some soilders received them, they were of no real use. Which was known when they were ordered.

“The soldiers, who are currently staging for combat operations from a secret location, reported that their commander told them if they were wearing Pinnacle Dragon Skin and were killed their beneficiaries might not receive the death benefits from their $400,000 SGLI life insurance policies. The soldiers were ordered to leave their privately purchased body armor at home or face the possibility of both losing their life insurance benefit and facing disciplinary action.” {Source}

“If we are going to send our soldiers and Marines into hell-holes like Fallujah and An Najaf, then they should be protected to the maximum extent possible. They should have more than an even chance of going in the front door and coming out the back door in one piece. How many American Marines might be alive today had they been issued better body armor is really not the issue. The one that is and the one requiring real and honest answers is how did the system permit an inferior product to be issued, when its quality and protective capabilities were questioned from the very beginning.
Far too many Americans have become casualties who might otherwise survived. It is long past time that those responsible for this perfidy answer for their malfeasance and greed. The soldiers and Marines who protect us from harm abroad deserve better from a citizenry who should be protecting them from the greed and avarice of the corporate and business elites.” {Source}

You would think that the Insurance Companies which have to pay out for each death, would demand that the very best armour was issued to our soilders. The insurance companies would be way ahead in their profits, if they bought each and everyone of our soilders the $6,000.00 Dragon’s Skin body armour. These corporations are not only greedy, (greed is why our soilders are not getting what they need in the first place) but worse, they are stupid!

“Currently nine U.S. generals stationed in Afghanistan are reportedly wearing Pinnacle Dragon Skin body armor, according to company spokesman Paul Chopra. Chopra, a retired Army chief warrant officer and 20+-year pilot in the famed 160th “Nightstalkers” Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), said his company was merely told the generals wanted to “evaluate” the body armor in a combat environment.” {Source}

Generals wearing body armour to evaluate the armour in a combat environment, is like giving the Mr. Bush a tank. Neither Mr. Bush, nor most of these Commanders are in a combat environment.

It’s like testing:

Car seatbelts on baby strollers.

Menopausal medicine on men.

If you want to evaluate something, the only true measurement of it’s effectiveness is in the situation it is intended to be used.

But our Government should value each and every one of our soldiers lives enough to buy each soldier the best body armour.

Let’s support our troops with more than a slogan!