Jonathan Turley - Full Metal Jacket

[realFedUp]

(someone really needs to do an expose of what parents
are having to send their military sons and daughters in
this Halliburton war.)

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-turley29sep29,1,6150427.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

Full Metal Jacket
Why must Americans in Iraq face death because of outmoded body armor?
By Jonathan Turley

September 29, 2003

Suzanne Werfelman is a mother and a teacher who has been shopping for individual body armor. This is not in response to threats from her elementary-class students in Sciota, Pa.; it's a desperate attempt to protect her son in Iraq.

Like many other U.S. service members in Iraq, her son was given a Vietnam-era flak jacket that cannot stop the type of weapons used today. It appears that parents across the country are now purchasers of body armor because of the failure of the military to supply soldiers with modern vests.

Werfelman's son, Army Spc. Richard Murphy, is a military policeman in Iraq. He was also one of my law students last year before being sent off for a 20-month stint. Upon their arrival, members of Murphy's unit were shocked to learn that they would be given the old Vietnam-era vests rather than the modern Interceptor vest. (They were also given unarmored Humvees, which are vulnerable to even small-arms fire.) Military officials admit that the standard flak jacket could not reliably stop a bullet, including AK-47 ammunition, used in Iraq and the most common ammunition in the world.

Developed in the late 1990s, the Interceptor vest is made of layered sheets of Kevlar with pockets in front and back for ceramic plates to protect vital organs. These vests — one-third lighter than the old ones — have stopped machine-gun bullets, shrapnel and other ordnance.
-continued-

[Bunny]

1. I didn't read the link, so forgive me if this was mentioned there.

But how much does one of these vests cost? A bigger question I have is why is Bushco sending our troops into battle so ill-prepared? I know, that's more of a rhetorical question, but still...They don't even have enough foood and water for cryin' out loud.

[graham67]

3. The article

says the plates for the vest alone cost $650.

[Ernesto]

10. Compare

$650 for the plates to $250,000 for military death benefit for survivors. You do the math, I'm just an ignorate "union thug".

[charlie]

4. According to the article

they're relatively cheap:

"...By comparison, outfitting all of the 150,000 soldiers in Iraq with Interceptor vest plates would cost less than $97 million at retail prices. Because many have already been outfitted, the actual cost would be a small fraction of this amount."

[graham67]

2. $1 billion a week and they don't have the right equipment...

"Any member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who does not secure such vests for his service should be required to sit at an outdoor cafe in Tikrit and drink a cup of tea while wearing an old flak jacket. That might focus the general staff on the problem more concretely."

[realFedUp]

5. Wonder how many "consultants" are actually in this budget?

Too many I bet.

[graham67]

8. If it were only the jackets....

they're having to buy their own thigh holsters, sunglasses, undergarments (silk long-underwear seem to the the favorite), etc etc. It's pretty disgusting.

[markses]

6. Last I checked, the term Full Metal Jacket

refers to the jacket of the bullet, not to any kind of wearable jacket.

From the movie itself:

"Seven-six-two millimeter, full...metal...jacket."

Just being a shtootz here.

[graham67]

7. You're right of course....

;)

shtootz??

[teryang]

9. Billions for Halliburton-

Army surplus for the reservists.

[Noordam]

11. I hated the Vietnam Flak jacket HOT HOT HOT HOT

and did I say Hot :evilgrin:

[realFedUp]

12. do you think this Kevlar one with plates in it is cooler?

just wondering. Maybe Peter Jennings should
model the two versions.

[graham67]

13. They're

supposed to be lightweight :shrug: