Soldier Body Armour - FPV, BRP, shoulder pads & throat protectors (Merged Thread)

[Jarnhamar]

How is it looking for future rotos wearing non-issued chest rigs?

 

[McG]

I am in need of advice, and hoping it is appropriate to ask here - my apologies, if not. I have a family member who is in line for deployment. I have heard that some personnel are buying their own body armor, and there is conflicting information everywhere.

Don't buy armour.  The CF issues armour that it has tested & trusts.  Anything else will not be allowed (and may actually provide your family member less protection).

 

[Donut]

How is it looking for future rotos wearing non-issued chest rigs?

The messages are mixed, FD.  The BG commander has reportedly gone on record as saying he approves, my CoC has okayed it for the deployment and for Fd Tng (but not for use in garrison tng).  Others are crapping at the mere thought of someone leaving the holy-grail of CTS in their BB.  :-X

I was genuinely surprised at the dearth of off-the-shelf gear visible in the 2VP biv in Shilo.

DF

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

I was told that they are trialing about 20 different sets.  I'm not sure what the garrison policy is but I believe its the issued junk for now.

 

[Donut]

Yeah, one of the guys at Drop Zone was saying they'd sent out a modular vest design for trials, it sounded like a platoons worth, but I can't recall exact numbers.

Matt from CP was fairly unhappy that his MoFOCR hadn't been included, and I seem to recall a really low number of Canadian suppliers in there, too.

DF

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

Can't even begin to speculate how they went about choosing who to use but if its anything like the ruck trialing I'll be RSM before we get something new.

 

[PJOsborne]

If anyone wants to see the list of some of the gear they are trialling, I can send the TAV AAR to you. It doesn't include some of this apparently new stuff, like the dropzone vest, since it isn't mentioned in the AAR. I'm sure they've added things to their trials. I just wish the process was transparent.. or that they'd take the time to update the CTS website.

 

[MG34]

Don't buy armour.  The CF issues armour that it has tested & trusts.  Anything else will not be allowed (and may actually provide your family member less protection).

The CF buys the cheapest available kit for use, not the best.  There is armor out there that is far superior, you would be hard pressed to find worse.

 

[McG]

The CF buys the cheapest available kit for use, not the best.  There is armor out there that is far superior, you would be hard pressed to find worse.

You are making generalizations based on cynicism.  It is true that in the past many things have been purchased based on lowest cost compliant (Note: "compliant" means there was still a minimum performance threashold).  However, you will find that more often we are now looking for value of cost (so we will pay more to get something that is better).

I've seen some of the armour we've subjected to ballistic testing & I've heard some the the results.  There are some sexy brand-name armours that folks like to talk about, but they did not stand-up to the ballistic testing (I won't be giving names as I suspect certain commercial confidentiality issues are at play).  Our stuff is good & there are Canadian soldiers alive today because of it.

 

[Dissident]

op:

:clown:

 

[armyvern]

op:

:clown:

Why the popcorn?  MCG is exactly correct. There have been some huge changes made to procurement policies as of late, including the ones he's mentioned. Have you forgotten the Globemaster purchase already?

 

[Dissident]

Dunno, maybe I am wrong. I just see the early signs of the pattern of the CTS/DLR/Procurement bashing thread starting up.

I do enjoy those and like to tune in and watch, hence the popcorn.

 

[Spr.Earl]

Right now in the U.S. there is a big stink over Dragon's Skin Body Armour.
Why it is not being supplied to the boy's as many aspouse it is better than issue body armour.

 

[McG]

Maybe it is not "better."  The US DoD likely has the resources to test the performance of the armour & to determine if it will stop the threats that soldiers are being exposed to.

 

[Douke]

The "dragon skin" was tested by the US military and tests showed huge problems with the glue keeping the scales in place in hot environments. That alone is enough of a good reason not to issue it to personnel leaving for tours of duty in the middle east in my opinion, regardless of the performance reliability is always (or should always be) the number 1 factor for military equipement.

Douke

 

[KevinB]

Well I'm running DragonSkin in Iraq and have not had any disk "migration".  However I am not running the version that the US Mil tested (keep in mind they also soaked the armor in diesel fuel)

As for CF body armour -- two words --CONTAINS ZYLON --

do a search on Second Chance / Richard Davis and see where the zylon trail leaves you...
 

Secondly Plates should be subject to X Ray examination (ideally every 6 months) - and especially after incident or fall -- and most definitely after an impact.  TF1-06 guys can explain how the armour issuance went for replacements.

I know from my experience I've seen Supply Tech's in Mirage toss plates one on top of each other...



 

 

[Douke]

Very interesting, I am not very well versed in the different versions of the Dragon Skin, what does yours have that is different ? Linking system a-la chainmail ? Or just a different glue ?

I must admit the Zylon thing is very disturbing  :-\ . If I understand correctly it looses strengh quikly over time ?

 

[KevinB]

Yup.

  I won't get into all my rants about CF body armor due to OPSEC issues.
But IMHO - in the last year it took a step back.

 

[HItorMiss]

Zylon bad.....

Not sure on the plate reissue myself though that's out of my lane. As for the body armour itself the base vest is not bad to wear add on the stupid shoulder pads (which do SFA) and now they have them coming down to your elbows which is comical when you get to see people try to shoot with it on and you can see where my thoughts on it start to lead. I for one never wore and will never wear those things not even for the sake of avoiding a charge. I would rather pay the fines etc etc and be comfortable and able to do my job then wear them and not be able to do what it is I am paid to do.

On a personal note yup I got hit where these new shoulder/elbow things come down and they wouldn't have done SFA for me so I, at he very least I have personal experience in what is I commenting about.

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

To be fair not much will do anything against an A-10