The Marines’ flawed body armor -Marine Corps Times

[Rose Siding]

This is the original investigative piece on this story

The Marines’ flawed body armor
Corps recalls more than 5,000 vests that experts rejected — but some remain in the field

By Christian Lowe
Times staff writer

The Marine Corps issued to nearly 10,000 troops body armor that government experts urged the Corps to reject after tests revealed critical, life-threatening flaws in the vests.
In all, the Marine Corps accepted about 19,000 Interceptor outer tactical vests from Point Blank Body Armor Inc. that failed government tests due to “multiple complete penetrations” of 9mm pistol rounds, failing scores on other ballistic or quality-assurance tests, or a combination of the two.

“Since these are lifesaving pieces of equipment and are being used in support of the Iraq war, I urge immediate action since this technical office has little confidence in the performance of the items to provide the contracted levels of protection as defined in the performance specification,” wrote ballistics expert James MacKiewicz in a memorandum rejecting two lots of vests on July 19, 2004.

MacKiewicz is responsible for verifying that each production lot of Marine vests meets protective requirements and other quality standards. He works at the Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass., and has 18 years of experience with ballistics and armor systems.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-832873.php

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. I hate to say it, but flawed body armor is better than none at all. nt