From Soldiers for the Truth Web Site, they documents that claim the current body armor is not effective and if the correct one was used there would have been 42% less casualties in the Marines deployed in Iraq. The SFTT web site is neutral and will criticize either side if our armed forces are not getting what they need because of the politics of DC.
http://www.sftt.org/main.cfm?actionI...30&htmlId=4459
A recent United States Marine Corps forensic study obtained by DefenseWatch slams the Interceptor OTV body armor system, claiming "as many as 42% of the Marine casualties who died from isolated torso injuries could have been prevented with improved protection in the areas surrounding the plated areas of the vest. Nearly 23% might have benefited from protection along the mid-axillary line of the lateral chest. Another 15% died from impacts through the unprotected shoulder and upper arm," the report says.
The internally produced report revealed that a random sample of 93 Marine deaths studied for the report showed that 60 percent of the fatalities suffered by the Marines who were killed in Iraq between March 2003 and June 2005 died from gunshot wounds received while wearing Interceptor OTV body armor. Another 38 percent died from wounds sustained in Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attacks while wearing Interceptor gear and roughly two percent died from unknown causes.
The findings in the inquiry, reportedly classified as "For Official Use Only," also bring into question the Pentagon's consistent assertion that the principle cause of death among war fighters in Iraq comes from IEDs the insurgents are using with ever increasing ferocity.
Interceptor OTV body armor was designed by a joint US Army/USMC development team and issued by all the services beginning in 1999. After the Global War on Terror began in 2003 it was issued to the vast majority of the war fighters currently engaged in the fighting the Global War on Terror. Almost 2,200 American service members have died in combat since the war began and almost all of them were killed while wearing Interceptor body armor.