Scratch & Dent Body Armor

From Cursor. How's this for quality control?

Proving that you don't have to be a major big city newspaper known for investigative scoops to get dramatic results, a probe by the Marine Corps Times apparently triggered the recall of more than 5,000 ballistic vests issued to Marines despite tests indicating they might be flawed.

Many of the vests were issued to Marines in Iraq. The reporter on the story told E&P today that officials tried to "steer" him away from the story.

"Faced with the imminent publication of this story, the result of an eight-month investigation by Marine Corps Times, the Marine Corps on May 4 issued a Corpswide message recalling 5,277 Interceptor vests from 11 lots that failed government ballistic performance tests — slightly more than half the total vests issued to Marines from questionable lots," Christian Lowe, a Times staff writer, wrote in the weekly.

On the other hand, though, it appears that about 10,000 vests of questionable quality are out in the field, with little chance of being replaced (unless, of course, they fail to perform their function). According to the article, the vests were issued to soldiers between February and August 2004--which means, among other things, that some might already have failed...though no one really knows for sure.

Oh, and speaking of body armor--it's not just US troops that are wearing it in Mesopotamia...