For Shame: U.S. Army Failed To Properly Test Our Troops' Body Armor

On January 6, 2006, the New York Times reported on a secret Pentagon study that found that as many as 80 percent of the Marines who had been killed in Iraq from wounds to the upper body could have survived if they had had extra body armor.

This story came after reports that soldiers felt it necessary to purchase their own armor from private companies due to the Pentagon's shoddy war planning.

However, in March 2006, the Department of Defense banned service personnel from using non-DoD procured armor, leaving our service men and women with only one option: to use body armor purchased from manufacturers contracted by the Pentagon.

Given that some of our troops obviously didn't trust the body armor they were being given, in April of 2006 I sent a letter to the Department of Defense's Inspector General (DOD IG) requesting a review of the Pentagon's procurement processes for body armor.

I received the report this week...almost two years after my original request.

Its contents were pretty astonishing.

The Inspector General's Report

The report was limited to Army and Marine Corps body armor contracts and orders valued at $5.2 billion and awarded between January 2004 and December 2006.

It indicated that the Marines followed proper regulations for procuring body armor units from contractors known as Federal Acquisition Requirements (FAR).

All the contracts for the Marines had undergone and passed what is known as a First Article Test.

Basically, the First Article Test is supposed to determine three things: whether the armor meets operational requirements, whether the armor satisfies contractual obligations, and whether the armor performs in a simulated working environment.

Translation: First Article Testing is done to ensure that the body armor sent to our troops actually works.

The Inspector General found that the Marines had adequately performed this test for the body armor sent to its troops.

But what about the U.S. Army?

Body Armor Testing and the United States Army

During a press conference on May 21, 2007, Program Executive Office Soldier Brigadier General Mark Brown, who oversees the procurement process for the US Army, made a very clear statement about First Article Testing for equipment procured for our troops fighting overseas.

Speaking about First Article Testing he said, "it's the exact same test protocol that we put every single body armor producer through that is in the employ of the U.S. Army today."

He went on to say that all of the "...body armor producers of the U.S. Army in their employ passed this live-fire test protocol with zero-failures. Zero failures is the correct answer. One failure is sudden death and you lose the game."

Pretty clear stuff. He said that all of the contractors for body armor had undergone and passed a live-fire First Article Test with "zero-failures."

However, that's not what the Inspector General's report had to say.

The DoD IG report found that nearly half of the Army's contractors did not perform this most basic test on the body armor before it was sent to our troops fighting overseas.

In 13 of 28 contracts and orders, Army contract officials did not require or perform First Article Testing (FAT).

That's nearly half of all the contracts for body armor and worth almost $3 billion in taxpayer funds!

What does all that mean?

That means American taxpayers were charged $3 billion for body armor that has been under-tested.

More importantly, that means our Service members fighting in Iraq are using body armor that has been under-tested.

Unacceptable

It is the responsibility of the Army to ensure that every piece of equipment is properly tested, especially a fundamental life and death product such as body armor.

For a soldier in the field, the only thing standing between their vital organs and the enemy's fire is their body armor.

I am extremely concerned that the Army is effectively gambling on the quality of the body armor that is essential to the safety and security of our troops.

By under-testing armor, the odds are increased that our service men and women will receive a faulty product.

What Are We Going To Do About It?

I have called on the Army to fire any and all individuals responsible for failing to adequately protect our troops and allowing them to go into harms way without properly tested body armor.

I will meet with representatives from the Army to discuss the findings in this report, the fundamental causes for these serious failures, and the Army's plans to correct the problems.

That's what I'm going to do right now. But let me tell you what I'm not going to do.

I am not going to let this get swept under the rug.

The safety and security of our troops is on the line and we have an obligation to ensure that those individuals sacrificing so much for our country have equipment that is scrupulously tested and certain to actually work.

It's the very least we can do.

Comments

[dadw5boys]

Rep. Slaughter please have Karen Kwiatkowski come and speak before any Iraqi Committiee and ask her what she observed during her time at the Pentagon.

She will tell you she had to watch the Political Appointees INVENT evidence for the USA to go to war against Iraq. Her job was Intellengence at the Pentagon and she know there never was any real evidence.

Our MILITARY HAS BEEN POLITIZIED FOR PROFIT OF COMMERICAL VENTURESA NAMEOLY OIL COMPANIES.
Testing body armour is low on the list.

THE USA IS REPEATING HISTORY. THE JAPANESSE INVADED CHINA JUST LIKE THE USA HAS INVADED IRAQ. FOR CONTROL OF NATURAL RESOURCES .

[realitytrumpsbull]

I'm not sure what to say other than I'm thoroughly and utterly disgusted with about 90% of what I've read about this 'war', which is why I'd really like to be the next 'guy', next Occupant, and all that.

'Defense' has, in my view, become this runaway thing that sucks so much money out of our economy, well, it just needs to be stopped. I hereby volunteer for the job...

Bert08

[ljsfolly]

I clearly remember families going out and buying the armor when Rummy was told the soldiers needed armor to even have for defense. Rummy played it down and said they would get the armor as soon as it was made and shipped. Back to the old rummy saying you go to war with the army you have not the one you wish you had. Too many soldiers have died of body armor failure, helmets that let their heads do rebounds like a tennis ball inside it and vehicles with such poor or no armor on them that the soldiers tried to armor them up to have any protection at all. Now later in the war what do the soldiers have? Are they any better off with the armor/helm­ets/vehicl­es? Any soldiers out there with the truth about the lack of protection? How about weapons and ammo?

[CharlesMac]

I thought I was in a time warp. This "news" is at least many thousands of wounded old. This "news" is at least many hundreds of dead soldiers old.

The issues with the body armor began at the advent of the "war". First supply was the issue, Then distribution was the issue. Then efficacy.

Paul Rieckhoff and his brethren have been railing on this specific subject for years. I can't imagine his frustration at the deadly silence heard from Congress.

The top executives at, by far, the largest contractor of the body armor are in appeal for convictions of insider trading, misappropriation of funds, and a dozen other ancillary charges. Would it ever occur to Congress that their lack of ethics and morality might reach to the quality of their product?

By next election, Madame Congresswoman, you and your fellow Democrats will have done absolutely nothing substantive since the midterms, regarding this issue. At which time, alert progressive Democratic candidates will use such obviation of reality and abrogation of responsibility to unseat the business-as-usual failures and enablers of this entire abomination.

"It's the very least we can do."

You may wish to begin considering your options after government service. For if your goal is to do the "very least" you can do, you have already accomplished that with an unspeakable efficiency.

It is quite difficult to imagine that you could come up with something less than zero.

[Maschine]

Here's more proof that you are way behind the curve

Sgt. Dayne Dhanoolal of Brooklyn was just three weeks shy of coming home to the wife he'd barely seen since their marriage when he volunteered for a dangerous mission in a Baghdad hot zone.

The 26-year-old soldier, admired by his men for his courage, wanted to be with them in case anything bad happened.

It did.

A roadside bomb ripped through the Bradley M3 he was riding in Monday and killed him.



WHY WAS HE RIDING IN A BRADLEY ??????? Can you or the DOD explain ????


26 YEARS OLD....and gone, because you guys can't get your act togehter and political pork trumps common sense.

Explain how Force Protection has been sidelined in the last order. Explain why more of the orders aren't released . Explain why OshKosh Trucks hasn't built ONE MRAP and isn't being forced to build an MRAP platform from a competitor that has been chosen.

Explain why a draft isn't instituted ?

Body Armor, sheesh, who you trying to impress?

[Maschine]

Lucky this isn't a vote....from the comments you would lose re-election by almost 85%.

You getting the message yet ?????????????????

[Liberal2]

Heh, and you weren't in Congress during the first year of Bush's "toy soldier" war in Iraq? Gee, I thought fer-sure....Ask nancy when she's going to gavel open investigations into the Bush/Cheney maladminstration. Less than a year left in this adminstration and you're beginning to stir awake and ask questions? Oh yeah, you're up for re-election on November too.

My non-representative is Tom Reynolds, so I'm screwed every way possible. I once asked Brian to take my recommendations as if he were my rep. His receptionist reassured me he cared; all I got was .

Hope you read the responses here on HuffPost.

[Liberal2]

Ouch....Last sentence got truncated. Should read "His receptionist reassured me he cared; all I got was . (Hope this doesn't get truncated.)

[rextrek]

Ms SLaughter- Thank you for your wrk in congress. But who will REVEAL what members of the Congress & Senate have STOCK in these companies in Iraq - that GOT NO BID CONTRACTS? ..and how about Cheney - who has 1000's of share in Halliburton? How is it a VP..can PROFIT from a war he and the president started? Meanwhile OUR Troops get lousy medical care,lousy benefits..and thier spouses are on food stamps?

[NABNYC]

If Congress had voted against this war in the first place, we wouldn't need to be worried about such things. Or, all these years down this disastrous road, watching our money being thrown away to Republican professional assasination teams like Blackwater, seeing our economy go down the tubes, people being thrown out of their homes, losing their jobs, exhausting their savings, losing their health and pension, maybe if Congress cared one bit about the people of this country, they would stand up and end the war. Stop spending money on weapons and protective gear. Bring the troops home.

Better helmets, reinforced tanks and chest gear does not solve the problem. Ending the war solves the problem.

[wm1066]

Blah Blah Blah..you are a little late to the party.
Where were you three years ago when Cher, God bless her, was out getting helmets for our troops?
Why have you been so afraid of doing something until now?
All your going to do is talk...try indictment, try action for a change.
If you think talking is going to cover your butt for inaction you might have a rude awakening at the polls.

[ahornick]

Bush sent these troops into harms way based on flat out lies and the Congress has funded it every year. You are all complicate.

This issue would not exist and there would not be a single resultant casualty due to inadequate armor if they were not in Iraq.

Congress failed by continuing the funding. Congress failed in oversight. Congress has failed to pull out all the stops to pull out all the troops. Congress failed in upholding the Constitution.

It is the American citizen's job to point out the crimes and object. It is the duty of Congress to act.

Act!

[glitz]

Ms. Slaughter, this is a subject that has been talked about through military channels basically since the war began. Families of active duty military have been sending non-Government issue armor for years. Your blog just confirms the fact that our present government is totally incompetent..it is inconceivable that you would wait 2 years for a reply. How many soldiers were severely injured or killed in those two years? Whether it is the FDA, the VA, or DOD...we all know that just the term "Government standards" is laughable. I cannot think of one Government agency in this Administration that is working..when will just one Department head take the ball and do more than manage what is within his four walls!!!

[nyboomer]

It is standard bureaucratic practice to lie about anything the bureaucrat does not know for a fact but may affect his/her future promotions.

It is also standard practice to never give out bad news quickly but to wait as long as possible before releasing it and then claim the problem has been dealt with in the interim and is no longer a problem. This too is generally a lie that is extremely common practice.

Long ago I came to realize that bureaucrats quickly conclude they are far more important than the mission they are hired to accomplish. They then seek ways to advance their careers that are far more time and resource consumptive than their mission. In other words the mission is always at best of no greater than secondary importance in relation to the future of the bureaucrats in charge.

Anyway, in this administration incompetence has never been a bar to advancement. Falling on your sword for the administration places you firmly in line for a medal and greater future income.

[knowhelpnow]

Oh how you speak the truth! The Army doesn't care much for it's meat with a gun, they never have put the men/women before their friends and career. If they know someone who they will want a job with after their military career is over you can bet the contract will go to them. It is now just (SOP) Standard Operating Procedure to (CYA). This war is over 5 years old and now were going to get things started with armor OMG this guy deserves at least a Good Job from this Administration.
Does it seem strange when things are going bad this GWB gives them an at ta boy. Unbelievable and Congress is just getting around to saying they aren't going to sweep it under the rug.

[jfor]

Waiting 2 years for a report is not leadership it is being part of the problem. Sorry Representative Slaughter you have had years to make an impact with your vote and with your position but somehow I have never heard of any bill sponsored by you that would end this war and hold those responsible accountable.

[scooperss]

My first thought was disgust with the author for writing this and not shouting it on the evening news, on c-span, and on the House floor.

Then I read the comments and I say KUDOS to everyone here who said it like it is without blaming it on one political party but instead putting the blame squarely where it belongs..... On everyone who had the chance to do something but didn't for whatever reason but still shouted *Support the troops* blindly.