Just a couple of quick comments - As I said, there are only two types of body armor that are *allowed* for Army use: IBA and PASGT. PASGT is worthless, but it is available on the market, and can be bought. But I'd just say that anyone who bought PASGT before they went to Iraq was a complete idiot, since A) it is worthless, and B) they will either be issued PASGT or IBA anyway. IBA (the high-quality type, which virually every front line trooper had issued to them) is not commercially available. You cannot go to Point Blank (the only company that makes it) and buy it; they only sell that line to the military. Now I have heard of people buying it on ebay and the like, but that is illegal, as all of those sets had to have been stolen from Army stocks. They all have NSNs (codes the military uses to keep track of them), I guarantee it. The only part that can be bought on the market is the vest cover, without the armor. And that does come in desert camo, which might be what your neighbor bought, 4chuckie, or your nephew, grummett. It is also quite expensive. And I repeat, as far as body armor goes, unless you're SF you *must* wear what you are issued. It's called SOP, and every commander follows it where body armor is concerned. In the field they let alot of crap slide, but not body armor. It's right up there with using your own personally owned weapons; it simply does not happen. I just don't know how else to say it other than 1) you just can't buy this body armor individually and 2) no one is allowed to wear body armor that they weren't issued. It is part of the uniform, and it is not negotiable. Fegwu - It actually is tax deductible, I believe, but I haven't heard of too many people using that deduction. Like most other deductions, it is just overlooked / forgotten when tax time rolls around. I forgot. rimbaud - All of us are going to get our turn there. We are going to be there for at least 10 years IMO, and everyone will go at some point. There are also other candidates (Syria, Iran, North Korea, China/Taiwan) for similar action, and well, you just never know when the stuff is going to hit the fan. Be prepared at all times, that sort of thing. I'm in a MLRS unit now (Recon Sergeant), and while they've brought home alot of the heavy stuff from Iraq, they're leaving all of their MLRS there to threaten Syria and Iran. The people will rotate, which means that I will definitely get my turn sometime within the next couple of years. Fatherhood is awesome. Before Colin I really wouldn't have minded going over there, but now... The thought of leaving my wife and son truly hurts. Deckard - On Guard/Reserves and body armor: They are more likely to get the PASGT, as they are more likely to be REMFs (rear-echelon mother f*ers) who are farther behind the front lines. From what I've seen they have maybe half IBA and half PASGT, with combat units more likely to get the good stuff. Active duty is pretty close to 100% IBA as far as I've seen. So if anybody was buying body armor, yes, it would be more likely to be Guard/Reserve. Still, there are the two problems I pointed out; they can't buy IBA and they can't wear anything else that they might buy on the market other than PASGT, which they will be issued anyway if they don't get IBA... The Guard/Reserve equipment in general is lower quality than Active Duty's, although they are narrowing that gap rapidly as they come to the realization that they're actually having to use these guys as Active Duty...
Go here: http://www.pointblankarmor.com/interceptor.asp and try to buy a set of IBA. You will find it exceedingly difficult.
So, either grummett or his nephew are lying then... BTW, congrats on the son treeman! Hope you're getting to spend a lot of time with him.
