Body Armor VS Mobility and Weight
In other words the soldier loses his one of the human bodies greatest assets.
Agility.
If we are going to have slow moving troops then we may as while hire Asimo the Robot to fight the wars and let him lumber along and build him like a tank.
Let me tell you as story.
In soccer as a kid-teenager, I was quite good and without bragging I was so good that I did not worry about injury, as my ball control and quickness was able to prevent injury to my body.
I never wore shin guards, cups or knee pads unless there was a known defender on the other team who cheated or played inherently rough and dishonestly.
Instead I watched the ball, focused on my skills and kept my legs out of the way of wild players, slide tacklers or cheaters.
A recent survey was done that said 29% of the deaths in Iraq could have been prevented by better body armor.
Well, I completely challenge that bull, fore if every soldier was weighed down like a lead sled then there would be twice as many deaths because the boys could not get out of the way fast enough to stay alive.
So, we need to think about reality, before a bunch of armchair liberal quarterbacks load more weight on the backs of our boys.
This is not to say that body armor is not a smart idea, but rather we need better body armor, which works and is not so heavy.
So let's ramp up the efforts and R and D on the Carbon Nanotech and ceramic materials to be lighter, more absorbent, more dispersive, more adaptive, more comfortable and stronger, not just strong.
We need better technology not more weight, other wise we may lose more people and have more retired soldiers with bad knees who cannot take their grandchildren fishing and explain to the about the strength of the nation.
Think on this in 2006.