Some soldiers buy own body armor

Months after the military began scrambling to equip soldiers serving without body armor in Iraq, many of those now being deployed are opting to buy their own rather than trust military reassurances they will have the gear by the time their boots hit the battlefield.

Some body armor distributors have received a steady stream of inquiries from soldiers and families asking about purchasing the gear, which can cost as much as several thousand dollars. Many want it before leaving for Iraq, regardless of the military advising them not to rely on equipment from third-party suppliers.

“In war, as we’ve learned through all our history, who gets killed and who doesn’t is just happenstance,” said Dan Britt of Hamilton, Ohio, a father who paid about $1,400 for body armor that included a groin and neck protector. “But if I can raise the odds, then I’ll feel better.”

Britt heard last week that his son, a medic stationed in Kuwait with orders to move soon into Baghdad, finally received last week the armor he bought. Britt said it is reassuring that his son has protective armor, even if he had to pay for it.

Last October, an Associated Press analysis found that more than 80 percent of the soldiers serving in Iraq did not have ceramic-plated body armor, which can stop bullets fired from assault rifles and shrapnel.

Now, one year after the war in Iraq began, the military says the shortage is gone and that soldiers who do not have armor now soon will. But families are still buying. The possibility of soldiers arriving in Iraq without routinely issued body armor has left some thinking it is better to be prepared.

“What we hear from soldiers is that they are told that they are going to get body armor just before they leave or just after they get there. But they don’t want to take a chance,” said Nick Taylor, owner of Bulletproofme.com, an online distributor of body armor in Austin, Texas.

Inquiries rise and fall with the rate of deployments, fueled by stories passed between families of units falling under attack as little as a day after being issued body armor. Whether they are true, such stories are prompting families to think about buying body armor, Taylor said.

Nancy Durst of Buxton recently learned that her husband, a soldier with an Army Reserve unit serving in Iraq, spent four months without body armor. She was preparing to buy some when armored vests were cycled into his unit.

Even if her husband now has body armor, Durst said she was angry he was without it at all, and she encourages anyone to buy the armor. Families cannot trust the Army’s word, she said.

“I’m worried about all the soldiers over there,” she said. “They’re so sick of being treated as second-class soldiers.”

A bill being considered in Congress would reimburse families who spent thousands on body armor before the Army asked for increased production to bridge the gap between soldiers that had armor and those that did not.

And military officials say if there is any shortage of body armor in Iraq, it will be gone soon. Those that need the armor most are already certain to have it, said Army spokesman Maj. Gary Tallman, and families should not be buying any.

“What we have told family members who have contacted us is that the Army cannot attest to the safety or the level of protection of body armor purchased rather than issued for a soldier,” Tallman said. “We have put the word out.”

Whether the purchase is redoubling military efforts and essentially wasting money on body armor the Army will soon be providing, some lawmakers say families never should have had to consider buying body armor.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who serves on the Armed Services subcommittee, said she knows soldiers whom the military told to buy the body armor before leaving, rather than risk arriving with nothing but their shirts.