Thursday, July 05, 2007

Long Island Sends Armor To Afghanistan

Since the Pentagon has trouble outfitting our soldiers with enough equipment to keep them safe from IED and RPG attacks, police out in Long Island have begun to pick up some of the slack. They are sending hundreds of old body armor suits to the troops to outline their Humvees, far safer than their current protection from sandbags (I kid you not).

From ABC7:

This bullet proof vest weighs just two pounds, yet saves the lives of Suffolk police officers who mostly all wear them as part of the uniform.

"Every seven years, these vests are taken and set aside and replaced with new vests for our police officers," said Suffolk County executive Steve Levy.

This time around, instead of scrapping the vests Suffolk police are sending them on a second lifesaving mission to Afghanistan to protect our soldiers.

"These aren't going to be used by soldiers," said Sergeant first class Tom Seifert form Army. "But they will use these for vehicles, put them on the floorboards and in and around behind seats."


Congratulations to the Suffolk County Police Dept. for taking the initiative on this. The Pentagon has slacked on its duty to provide adequate armor for both our soldiers and their vehicles. Meanwhile the increasing number of attacks are killing our troops at a terrible rate. If this can help save the lives of soldiers while recycling the old vests, the benefits are both earth and life saving.