Isle troops to benefit from
flak vests while deployed
All of the more than 10,500 soldiers deploying from Schofield Barracks to Iraq and Afghanistan this year will be protected by a flak vest outfitted with ceramic plates that should stop shrapnel and bullets.
Soldiers from Schofield Barracks, the Hawaii Army Reserve and Hawaii Army National Guard will be part of the major rotation of about 250,000 troops in and out of Iraq.
Starting late this month though May, 123,000 U.S. troops will be pulled out of Iraq and replaced with about 110,000 fresh Army soldiers and Marines. In addition, 11,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan will be brought home and replaced with about the same number.
In Iraq, the Schofield soldiers will join the 4th Infantry Division and replace a battalion from the 173rd Airborne Brigade. Eventually, the 4th Infantry Division will be replaced by the 2nd Infantry Division from Germany. The 4,800 soldiers from Schofield will be operating around the northern city of Kirkuk.
Maj. Stacy Bathrick, 25th Infantry Division spokeswoman, said that the 4,800 soldiers of the 2nd Brigade, which will be going to Iraq in February; and the 5,700 3rd Brigade and 25th Division support soldiers bound for Afghanistan two months later have received their outer tactical vests.
However, Bathrick said the soldiers won't get the front and back ceramic inserts until they arrive in the Persian Gulf.
The Interceptor vest is made of layered sheets of Kevlar with pockets in front and back for ceramic plates to protect vital organs.
Congress in April approved $310 million to buy body armor. However, the Pentagon was later criticized when it didn't purchase the most protective models.
Bathrick said since Oct. 1 the 25th Division has committed more than $12 million to equipping its soldiers for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Bathrick said the flak vest alone protects a soldier from shrapnel and small arms fire.
With the ceramic inserts, there is additional protection from assault rifles, she added.
The military's interceptor vest with its removable ceramic plates is supposed to stop bullets such as the 7.62 mm rounds fired by Kalashnikov rifles, or AK-47s, used in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The M-16 rifles and M-4 carbines used by U.S. soldiers fire 5.56 mm rounds.
The vest and the ceramic plates, issued in 1999, weigh more than 16 pounds and cost more than $1,500 each.
In November, Les Brownlee, acting secretary of the Army, said that when troops were first deployed to Iraq, the Interceptor vests -- which are effective against small arms and shell fragments -- were allocated to soldiers on the front lines. "The way the battlefield developed," he said during a stopover at Schofield Barracks, "with frequent ambushes and attacks on American soldiers, we decided all soldiers should be protected."