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Army tests body armor tailored for female soldiers

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — Female soldiers from Fort Campbell deploying to Afghanistan will field the first Army body armor that is shorter and better tailored specifically to fit women’s physiques.

Members of a female engagement team from the 101st Airborne Division, who will be directly interacting with Afghan women during the upcoming deployment, have been equipped with the female prototypes of the newest generation of Army tactical vests.

On Tuesday at the Army installation on the Tennessee-Kentucky state line, the female soldiers showed the new features of the vests during qualification trials with their M4A1 rifles.

The 101st Airborne Division first suggested the idea of a better fitting vest for women in 2009 after female soldiers said that they often had trouble bending over, getting in and out of tight spaces like military vehicles, or positioning their rifles against their shoulders, said Maj. Joel Dillon, the Army’s assistant product manager for the vests.

Dillon said the long plates inside the vests would rub against their hips and cut into their thighs when they sit down.

After a lot of testing and measurements, the Army came up with a vest that is shorter to accommodate smaller torsos and have tailoring to fit closer to women’s chests. The new vest eliminates gaps between the material and the body and can be fitted with smaller side ballistic inserts for small waist sizes.

“With a vest that is too long, if they lay their rifle on the ground or drop it, it’s very hard to bend over to pick it up because that plate digs into their side. Now they can bend down and touch their toes and so they are more mobile and therefore you can get additional safety because you can perform better,” he said.

The vest has a lighter feel because it won’t rest on the female soldier’s shoulders like the male versions do, Dillion said.

The need for better fitting armor became clear as women in the Army have been fighting on the front lines of Iraq and Afghanistan for years, Dillon said. He noted that women now make up 14 percent of the Army and are closer to combat than they have been previously.

“These female engagement team soldiers will be going on patrol with infantry units, engaging with the female populace. Because of that, they are going to be on the front lines, so we want them to be the first to be fitted with this new armor,” he said.