There's been a lot written lately about whether America's Grunts have the best-available body armor. There are passionate voices on both sides of the argument, but those defending the Army and Marine Corps claims that the troops are in fact wearing the best-available body armor labor under a huge handicap.

For these defenders to sway public opinion and placate a semi-aroused media, they must hide information and distort facts.

One set of uncomfortable facts revolve around the still-concealed results of a sampling of ballistic-protective plates, brought back from combat units and x-rayed by Army scientists for signs of the microscopic cracks that indicate a propensity for "fractionability (sic)," or, what we laymen might call brittleness.  

This is not a desired trait in material designed and used on the basis that it can stop several ballistic impacts.

According to two very reliable sources, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals, 60% of the recalled plates show the tell-tell microscopic cracking that augurs poorly for the survival of anyone taking a hit on that plate. (Unknown is what percentage of the currently issued plates show similar microscopic cracking.)

Instead of openly admitting the problem with the ballistic-protective plates, and specifically, that the material being used for the plates may suffer from some inherent problem that the material encounters in the current manufacturing process, the Army has announced the award of multi-million dollar contracts for "more of the same."

Based on conversations with a number of people dealing with the challenges of providing the best-available body armor to our great troops, the problems with the current plates are widely known. In fact, this awareness has generated substantial research and development efforts to produce better products. It's most definitely seen as a sector with great growth potential.

That brings me to these somber conclusions:

(1) hundreds, if not thousands, of people "inside" the system know that the current body armor has serious, structural flaws (no pun intended);

(2) these same people know that lives have been lost that could have been saved with the better body armor;

(3)  they know more lives will be lost that could have been saved, as long as the inferior body armor remains the standard item of issue;

(4) they don't accept that it is their own silence that permits this execrable situation to continue to exist. 

The ones that I talk with tell me they care about the troops being placed at risk, and I believe them. Why should they stand up as a whistle blower when the reality is that this is tantamount to a suicide charge up Mount Suribachi?

The system is stacked against them. 

Reforming the corrupt DOD acquisition process is a distant fantasy, given the hundreds of billions of dollars at play. Too many people with too much influence are too heavily invested in the status quo to want meaningful reform.

I guess we'll have to wait for the Pentagon's version of Jack Abramoff to surface. Then, the outrage may be great enough to see some serious reform.

Until then, sit back, and enjoy Super Bowl LX, or the Academy Awards, or...

SFTT President Roger Charles is an Annapolis graduate, a retired USMC Lt. Col. who commanded an infantry platoon in I Corps during the Vietnam War, is the winner of the prestigious Peabody Award for news coverage, and was a protégée's of the late Col. David H. Hackworth. Rog can be contacted at sfttpres@aol.com . Please send comments to DWFeedback@yahoo.com .