By Will Dunham
Reuters, 17 November 2005
WASHINGTON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - The Army and Marine Corps said on Thursday they ordered the recall of 18,000 torso-protecting vests, some used by U.S. troops in Iraq, after determining the body armor failed to meet ballistic specifications, but insisted troops were never put at risk.
The problem that triggered the recall was detected in September during a review of the ballistic strength of "outer tactical vests" brought back from deployments to Iraq, officials said.
The military, after looking at test information from the equipment's production lots, found several lots had been accepted and fielded despite falling short of ballistic specifications in their original tests roughly five years ago, officials said. They did not explain why the vests had been fielded.
The vests were made by Point Blank Body Armor Inc. of Pompano Beach, Florida, officials said.
It was not the first such recall by the military this year. The Marines in May recalled about 5,000 other "outer tactical vests" used in Iraq, also made by Point Blank, because of questions about whether they offered adequate protection.
Officials with Point Blank's parent company, DHB Industries Inc., did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
The vests are vital for preventing or minimizing torso wounds among U.S. troops from bullets, blasts and flying fragments.
Critics in the U.S. Congress have accused the Pentagon of failing to provide the best possible body armor and armored vehicles for American troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But the military defended the armor and described the latest recall as a precautionary move that takes older vests out of the field, noting the recalled equipment represented a tiny fraction of the armor currently fielded.
'SAVED COUNTLESS LIVES'
"There is no evidence of any risk whatsoever involving any of our soldiers," said Paul Boyce, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon.
"It has saved countless lives," Maj. Douglas Powell, a Marine Corps spokesman at the Pentagon, said of the vest.
Army and Marine Corps officials said they could not provide figures for how many troops in Iraq were using the vests, but guessed the number was relatively low because the vests were green and not well-suited for desert warfare.
The United States has 153,000 troops in Iraq. Nearly 2,100 have died and more than 15,700 have been wounded in the war, which started in March 2003.
The vests were designed to protect against 9mm pistol rounds and some fragmentation threats. The vests include ballistic-resistant Kevlar inside an outer nylon shell. The recall does not involve protective ceramic plates inside the vests.
The Army said it recalled 8,083 -- six production lots dating from 1999 to 2001 -- out of a total of about 873,000 such vests now fielded. The Marine Corps said it recalled 10,342 -- eight lots dating from 2000 and 2001 -- out of about 191,000 currently fielded.
The military said the recalled items would be replaced by newer vests now in the inventory.
Officials said while the recent review found the vests being recalled failed to meet ballistic specifications in tests at the time they were manufactured, they had not fallen short of the minimum requirements for the threat they were intended to repel. That was because the contract ballistic specifications were set higher than the actual threat the equipment was supposed to stop.
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Citation: Will Dunham. "U.S. Army, Marines recall 18,000 body armor vests," Reuters, 17 November 2005.
Original URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N17525042.htm
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