New U.S body armour, WTF?

F

Fi$hy

Guest
Righty, part of the problem US forces have in Iraq is that the civilian population fears them.

Unlike most other "allied" forces, the US patrol pattern is mounted up-armoured heavy vehicles, preferring not to go out on foot.

Now fair enough, I'm sure it's a lot safer in a HMMV or Bradley than on foot, but the big drawback to this is that the Iraqi civillian population mistrusts them.

The reason for this mistrust, is that US soldiers simply don't look human, when talking to the civvy population they keep on their helmets and sunglasses etc.

(there was some stigma with sunglasses, as Iraqi's belived U.S paratrooper's could see through their clothing, as sunglasses are not common items in the middle east.)

Anyway, so the new piece of body armour's been released, it's a face shield.

http://www.mtekweaponsystems.com/FAST G1.html

Whilst I'm sure it's great protection, isn't a soldier wearing one of these the most intimidating person ever?

Also surely a wedge of Kevlar attached to your mouth, isn't the best thing for desert climates?
 
Ronin Storm

Ronin Storm

Administrator
Staff member
Isn't this the point of wearing berets when on policing actions? It's a sign to the local populace that you aren't there to kill them all, even though you're carrying lethal weaponry.
 
SgtSafety

SgtSafety

In Cryo Sleep
Yeah i see where your coming from Fi$hy but you have to remember your not in that situation. Would you like to have your face open to let some Iraqi sniper to shoot ya or some fragments hit your face say maybe even blinding you for life? These guys are scared and there pay isnt exactly fantastic so i think they would like something which might help them stay alive. I think if they do use it they shoud only use it in high risk areas known for shootings.

off Topic:- It does look might cool to have a helmet like that then that on it. Id love it just to wear anytime :D Neds would shit themselves well maybe not but if you can get your hands on that im sure you can just carry around a wee BB gun or Air rifle then they might actually think its a real thing :D
 
BiG D

BiG D

Administrator
Staff member
SgtSafety said:
Yeah i see where your coming from Fi$hy but you have to remember your not in that situation. Would you like to have your face open to let some Iraqi sniper to shoot ya or some fragments hit your face say maybe even blinding you for life? These guys are scared and there pay isnt exactly fantastic so i think they would like something which might help them stay alive. I think if they do use it they shoud only use it in high risk areas known for shootings.
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You have to remember that the less human they look, the more likely it is that people will take up arms against them. So it's quite possible that by dressing like that they are in fact increasing the danger they're putting themselves in...
 
F

Fi$hy

Guest
Agreed, from my rather limited experiance shooting at pop up card targets.

It's fine popping away at the card target at 200m, but when that cute fluffy rabbit started hopping around, we all stopped firing without being ordered too.

It's just instinct, the more "alive" "animate" something looks, the more sympathy emotion I feel towards it.
 
Pestcontrol

Pestcontrol

In Cryo Sleep
When our troops served in Iraq i'm not sure if they wore helmets or berets, but they were forbidden to wear dark sunglasses. Bono-style transparent ones at best. And they went mostly on foot, or got out of their vehicle, learned a few words of iraqi to greet people, etc.

There were no major incidents. Then again, it wasn't an area of revolt, either.


That said, that new face armour sure looks cool. I want to rob banks in it. :)
 
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