Putting Army Contracts Ahead of our Soldiers' Safety

The Army is refusing to part ways with UHB Industries Inc. -- which is headed by a major GOP donor -- even though the armor it supplies to our troops is vastly unsafer than a new kind of protection called Dragon Skin.

For the last two years, Congress has been pressuring the Army about its Interceptor body armor that is used by our soldiers in Iraq.  A new NBC investigation shows that Interceptor armor has serious flaws:

The vests hold four armor plates around the torso, but small gaps in between the plates can leave vital organs unprotected.

The solution?  A new kind of armor called "Dragon Skin" protects vital organs and is far superior to Interceptor.  Even Jim Magee, the man who designed Interceptor armor ten years ago, says Dragon Skin is better:

According to Magee, the Army’s Interceptoruses four rigid plates to stop the most lethal bullets, leaving somevital organs unprotected. Dragon Skin — with discs that interconnectlike Medieval chainmail — can wrap most of a soldier’s torso, providinga greater area of maximum protection.

Magee,who has no financial stake whatsoever in Dragon Skin, told us, “If youwould ask me today, ‘Jim we’re sending you to Iraq tomorrow. What wouldyou wear?’ I would buy Dragon Skin and I would wear it.”

Soldiers for the Truth Foundation -- a nonpartisan, nonprofit group -- also endorses Dragon Skin.  Dragon Skin is worn by members of the Secret Service, CIA, NSA and Department of Energy.  Yet, the Army does not want it.  Some military families are having to fork out $42,000 in order to pay for their son or daughter to have this kind of protection.

So why does the military not use Dragon Skin?  Just look at the government contracts.

On December 23, 2004, a group called DHB Industries Inc., whose subsidiary is Point Blank Body Armor, was awarded a three-year $100 million contract to provide body armor.  Less than one year later, about 23,000 of the vests were recalled.  Still, the government continued to back DHB.  The military decided to conduct its own tests, and of course they concluded that Interceptor was better.

But according to NBC News, Nevin Nupert, the U.S. government's leading expert on Dragon Skin, was barred from attending those tests:

MYERS: You spent seven years evaluating Dragon Skin. And the Army goes to test it. And you're told not to attend?

RUPERT: Yes.

MYERS: They didn't want you there?

RUPERT: They didn't want a lot of people there.

David Brooks, CEO of DHB Industries Inc., is a top-tier Republican Party donor.  In the summer of 2005, for example, he donated $25,000 to the Republican National Committee.  This was just less than two months after the scandal broke about the Interceptor vests.

Comments

[Tony]

Great story. This is the type of crap that needs to stop, or toss a few of those decision makers out in the desert with some of "their" wonderful body armor.