US Marines To Receive 'Combat Underwear'

The Marine Corps Times reports:

Not bike shorts; ‘protective undergarments’

New underwear designed to better protect Marines’ groins from improvised explosive device blasts will soon be shipped to the war zone.

The Corps is looking to fast-track four pairs of “protective undergarments” to every Marine in Afghanistan, according to Quantico, Va.-based Marine Corps Systems Command. The underwear, already fielded by British troops, does not protect against fragmentation but can provide added defense to the genitals and femoral arteries, the primary blood vessels in the thighs.

“What the garment does is more wound mitigation, because it is thought to prevent fine sands and particulates that are thrown up by the explosive from getting embedded in the tissue and causing ragged, dirty wounds,” MARCORSYSCOM officials said.

Made of lightweight silk, the antimicrobial garments resemble bicycle shorts and are designed to help IED survivors maintain their “vital structures,” according to MARCORSYSCOM.

Genital injuries, while not often discussed, are a prevalent war wound in today’s conflicts.

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