Amazing that they didn’t think of this earlier. From the Marine Corps Times:
It looks like a camouflage diaper, but it could save your future children.
Within a month, the Marine Corps will begin fielding new groin protectors that can stop high-velocity shrapnel and should reduce the number of devastating genital-related injuries Marines have sustained from improvised explosive devices, according to Marine officials.
These protectors are intended for the front lines, and to supplement the silk protective undergarments already being rushed to the war zone.
With fighting in Afghanistan’s Helmand province primarily a dismounted affair, and IEDs the leading cause of Marine casualties, lower-body injuries have been on the rise, according to the Joint Trauma Analysis and Prevention of Injury in Combat Program, which seeks new ways to protect troops.
Current groin flaps on the Modular Tactical Vest do not “provide any protection from a blast directly from underfoot,” according to Marine Corps Systems Command, out of Quantico, Va.
On the other hand, the “Tier 2 Pelvic Protection System,” pioneered by British forces in Afghanistan, provides wraparound protection with thick Kevlar cloth. Worn outside the trousers, it would cover a Marine’s privates from front to back.
“Because the Marines and British troops are operating in close proximity, this British innovation in pelvic protection has been recognized,” MARCORSYSCOM said in an emailed response to questions, adding that Marines submitted an Urgent Universal Need Statement, which is used to identify critical pieces of equipment that are desperately needed and could save lives.
Members of II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) have been testing them for months on a limited basis, with members of 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion leading the way. The MEF recently received permission to purchase 15,000 sets for quick delivery, which will begin in July and August. SYSCOM is now searching for a domestic supplier that can produce 45,000 more, enough to outfit every Marine who goes into combat.”
The full article is here.
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