OK, so the green machine procurement portion still is fixed on the male soldier image despite the percentages, but at least in the UK this seems to have come up with a gear I guess every soldier has long been waiting for: Shrapnel-proof underwear (CAUTION, this might be an example of British humor!?)!
I am sure this will cause more than just one grin, but as explained
in this Daily Mail Online article:
With more powerful roadside bombs causing a rise in the number of groin injuries and other lower body damage, protective pants could soon be an essential part of the soldier’s kit.
BCB International, a military accessories provider based in Cardiff, will soon be selling ‘blast boxers’ to the public for less than £60 a pair in knitted Kevlar.
The MoD is looking at a version of the pants which has a panel made of tightly-woven silk to protect the most vulnerable areas. Used in this way, silk is very strong yet more flexible than Kevlar.
RAF medics say they have witnessed an increase in injuries to this most sensitive area of the male anatomy. ‘We are seeing a lot of perineum [groin] injuries,’ said Sergeant Sonia Darbyshire.
Her colleague Corporal Tony Pugsley added: ‘Ninety per cent of the powerful improvised explosive device (IED) injuries now are double amputees, and the scrotum area is usually badly affected.’
The Kevlar underpants would not protect a soldier standing directly on a powerful IED but they could stop small fragments of a blast, according to bosses at BCB International.
‘I tested them by firing an air rifle against them,’ said BCB scientist Matthew Searle. ‘It matches the ballistic standards we needed.’
Soldiers welcomed the development. ‘You go out on patrol and you’ve got a helmet for your head and body armour for your torso but you’ve got nothing for your groin,’ said Corporal Simon Mercer, who recently returned from Afghanistan with the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment.
FWIW,
Make war AND babies!
Rattler
