Commandant Conway Unhappy With Body Armor And MRAPs
The Marine Corps Commandant said the current body armor and the MRAPs need to be improved.
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Ha! I said the EXACT same things about the MRAPs months ago on this very website. Duuuur… My buddy, who is in the defense cntract business, and I talked about this in length long ago. Stupid politicians. They are the ones that demanded the MRAPs and pratically forced the damn things down their throats and now they are stuck with the very limited role vehicle that won’t perform the vast majority of missions the military needs to do. The cancelled the HUMVEE II project which was suppose to drastically improve the Hummer from the ground up so they could pay for these stupid MRAPs… sigh…
As for the body armor… Geezus, why can’t the marines just take the Army’s advice and just use the damn interceptor body armor. They shit works and when they come out with better plates all you need to do is slap in the new ones. Viola!
JS
February 27th, 2008 at 9:58 amThe MTV is interceptor. It uses the same armor, it’s just a heavier carrier.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:02 amThe Army is now using the IOTV which is a lighter supposedly less bulky improvement over the original interceptor. But why the Army and Marines can’t get along and use the same armor and helmets is beyond me.
i really like this commadant he knows us ahaha, hes been in the battle for fallujah so im sure he knows how we fight and our complaints really well. hopefully he will get a lot done for us in the years to come oo rah
February 27th, 2008 at 11:40 amUm from what I understand, the MTV initially was using interceptor panels, but has been manufactured with it’s own panels for some time and that those panels, manufactured by PPI, were for some reason cut WAY too big, causing excessive bulk and weight. If you look at pictures with the MTV, the front armor panel rides way below the cummerbund of the vest and the SideSAPI’s rub the hips raw. Again this is all from the grapevine, but I’ve heard rumblings of WTF, if there are any Marines that can comment, I’d like to hear about it.
IMHO, DX the MTV & LWH, give them MARCIRAS & MICH/ACH I.E. gunfighter stuff
February 27th, 2008 at 1:19 pmGet a few groups of guys who have a wide range of real world field experience and have them create a 4 week course that would test the full range of possible body armor on a cross section of boot camp graduates selected by lottery and Troops over seas (bring ‘em home for 6 weeks, 4-testing/2-R&R) in order to see what is most conducive to wear-ability, maneuverability and protect-ability?
Place a requirement on the manufacturers that: if they want a shot at the contracts they will be required to; a) Fund the “Materials Testing Facility Project” (MTFP) through a set $$$ amount per item in contention for contract, b) Supply the prototypes free of charge, c) Provide full financial transparency during testing and throughout obtained contracts (in order to prevent cutting of corners in the final product).
In return the Manufacturers would be granted; a) Full transparency to improvement ideas/suggestions by the (MTFP), this would include ideas/suggestions on the competitions product and visa/versa, b) Full access to all Failed/Successful materials/products from both the real world and the (MTFP), c) Full access to the (MTFP) course while testing is being performed (in order to gain knowledge necessary to create a superior product)…
Anyways, thats just what I was thinking… I’m sure that it’s probably already being done and although I’ve never invented the wheel, I have Re-invented it a shit-load of times!
NOTE: There is a definite need for several of these programs to be operating simultaneously in order to achieve the best results for each of the wide range of specialties (a Navy Seal swimming to shore would have different needs from a Marine in Baghdad and a Marine in Fallujah would have different needs from a National Guardsman escorting a convoy of supplies… etc…)
The point is to bring as many of our guys home as safe/safely as possible and if that means giving them what they need when/where they need it then let’s make it happen! I have no problem with the Manufacturers making a profit, I’m actually all for that, but never at the expense of the lives of those who make the Freedoms of capitalism possible!
Anyways thats my rant!
February 27th, 2008 at 11:54 pm