Corps on fast-track to field ballistic boxers to Marines in Afghanistan
Combat underwear could give 'going commando' whole new meaning
Marines in Afghanistan soon should be receiving ballistic underwear designed to protect troops’ most sensitive regions.
“The tagline on the product is: Protection for your privates, both literally and figuratively,” Edward Schmitt, of BCB International, which makes the protective gear, told Stars and Stripes during a recent demonstration of "Ballistic boxers."
And now, the Marine Corps is looking to fast-track four pairs of “protective undergarments” to every Marine in Afghanistan, according to the Marine Corps Times, citing Quantico, Va.-based Marine Corps Systems Command. The underwear, already fielded by British troops, does not protect against fragmentation but can provide added defense to the genitals and femoral arteries, the primary blood vessels in the thighs.
The boxers, which weigh less than a half pound, feature soft panels to protect the femoral artery and other sensitive areas from debris and flames accompanying a blast, Schmitt told Stripes.
Last year, the British Ministry of Defense spent some $16 million on the new protective gear, touted on the ministry's website as underwear that "balances protection with the necessary comfort and manoeuvrability for troops to undertake operations, enabling them to wear one or more of the protective layers depending on the task."
British forces already are wearing the garments, with 45,000 pairs delivered to Afghanistan and another 15,000 ready to be issued to deploying troops, the MOD stated. Another 60,000 are to be manufactured and delivered to troops early this year.
Maj. Gen. Richard Mills, who recently returned from serving as commander of Marine forces in Afghanistan, pushed for Marines to receive the undergarments after consulting with doctors with I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), and told the Times there is a “buy underway.”
Read the Marine Corps Times' story "Marines to receive combat underwear"
