Pinnacle's Superior Body Armor

That's my brother-in-law Brian with his "Dragon Skin" body armor -- the Pinnacle Armor product currently banned by the Army -- which he'll be taking with him to Iraq soon on an Operation Soldier mission.

Brian, a Special Forces medic in Vietnam (9th Infantry) and still an active Reservist, has seen the Pinnacle product tested and says it's far superior to the Army's current Interceptor vests. Dragon Skin can protect against any munition up to (excluding) 50 mm.

But a ban is a ban, so Pinnacle provided Operation Soldier with six vests for their next mission, and just asked for Brian and the others to show the vests to the troops so they can see the product for themselves.

Thank God the US Army's troops are superior to its Pentagon bureau-colonels, who muse and pose and issue reports and engineer delays. Of course body army must be tested -- so test it and stop delaying!

AP quotes the CEO of Pinnacle:

Murray Neal, chief executive officer of Pinnacle, said he hadn't seen the directive and wants to review it.

"We know of no reason the Army may have to justify this action," Neal said. "On the surface this looks to be another of many attempts by the Army to cover up the billions of dollars spent on ineffective body armor systems which they continue to try quick fixes on, to no avail."

Neal's being nice. The real situation is probably even worse -- generals wined and dined by Interceptor execs who are West Point buddies of the generals they're lobbying.

Test the vests, now. Our troops don't need lobbying; they need the best armor available.

p.s.: On its next mission, Operation Soldier will be taking 24,000 pounds of gear to outfit 1,600 Iraqi policie officers. Please support their efforts.