Army releases lightweight armor for Afghanistan

NY Times:

The Army has ordered that $3 million in new, lighter combat gear be sent immediately to two battalions preparing for duty in Afghanistan, officials disclosed on Friday.

The decision lifts a hold on the experimental effort that the Army ordered last month, when it halted a shipment of the lighter equipment that was intended for troops already in Afghanistan. The turnabout came after The New York Times reported last Saturday on the decision to halt the shipment and to recall an advance team that had been sent to Afghanistan, and after Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates asked the Army to explain the delay.

“Secretary Gates takes a special interest in all force protection matters,” said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary. “He wanted to know why this latest body armor design had not yet been provided to our soldiers in the field. He asked his staff to get to the bottom of it.”

Army officials had said there was high-level concern that any combat deaths among troops using the lighter-weight gear during the assessment might bring public criticism. They had said that further reviews of the new equipment, and of body armor in particular, were to make certain that the entire set of protective vests, clothing, weapons and tools would be an “integrated system” and not put soldiers at risk during the assessment, to be carried out during combat operations.

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As I pointed out in a post on the original story the Democrats were responsible for "high-level concern that any combat deaths among troops using the lighter-weight gear during the assessment might bring public criticism." They had been ragging the Bush administration about armor during the Iraq war. The criticism was mostly in bad faith as an excuse to attack Bush, but it had a negative effect on the Army's judgment in dealing with the issue. I think the lighter armor will make the troops more mobile and that will make them safer and more lethal.