18 Sept 03

A faint and distant voice from the front:

"Our guys are getting good hits during CQB, with both M-4s and M9 pistols, but the bad guys are just not going down. They usually die eventually, but, in the short term, they stay on their feet, stay conscious, and continue to sho ot at us. We have been, and continue to be, extremely unhappy with the poor terminal performance of both these calibers and issue ammunition, and we hav e tried to give voice to our unhappiness, particularly in view of the fact tha t this same problem has been well known since Somalia, and nothing has been do ne in the interim.

We do report these failures through the chain of command, but uncheerful information always gets filtered out and watered down. The end "report" desc ribes us all as happy little campers. However, the bottom line is that the 9mm FM J and the 5.56mm 62gr 'penetrator' are dismal failures as military amm unition, no matter what Pentagon atta-boys try to tell you."

Comment: We should not be surprised when internal "studies" reveal that all equipment issued to our soldiers and Marines works great and just couldn't b e better. Such "reports" are indeed comical in view of the above. Their only real purpose of these "reports" is to enhance the careers of the people who arrange to have them written (with all the "conclusions," of course, known i n advance).

When I was in Vietnam thirty-five years ago, the 55gr hardball round that we used in our M-16s was, at least effective in taking the fight out of bad guy s, so long as it didn't have to go too far or penetrate anything. The new 62gr "penetrator" still doesn't penetrate anything, and the over-stabilized bulle t is a complete failure in ending fights.

Of course, 9mm hardball is a joke, as we've all known for many years.

It was a mistake to ever select 9mm pistol and 5.56mm rifle as military calibers in the first place. The Pentagon still doesn't want to face facts. Indeed, they don't even want to know the facts. While they continue to dith er, brave men die.

/John

18 Sept 03

The trouble with Zylon:

I've been hearing much about a failure of a Second Chance Zylon vest, which recently resulted in an officer being injured in PA. Unfortunately, the story is true, and Zylon has subsequently been called into serious question.

Dick Davis, my long time friend, invented soft body armor thirty years ago and heroically tested it on himself. Some say it was foolish to shoot himself while wearing his product, but that was the only way Dick could get a skeptical police community to take notice. They did, and the rest, of course, is history. Many other companies have come along since, but Second Chance was the first, and my loyalty has always been with Dick Davis. As a young patrolman, I was, in fact, one of his first cash customers. Since those early days, nearly every significant development in soft body armor has been single-handedly invented and developed by Dick and his company. He is not only a hero, but an innovator too. Unfortunately, new management has taken over at Second Chance, and Dick, although still in the picture, is no longer calling the shots.

Until recently, most soft body armor vests have been made from kevlar fabric, in one form or another. Other materials made brief appearances, but kevlar has stood the test of time. Zylon is made by a Japanese manufacturer and showed great promise as the successor to kevlar. All body armor manufacturers jumped on the bandwagon and made Zylon vests (until recently), although Second Chance was the only manufacturer that made a product exclusively from Zylon. It was a Zylon vest that failed to stop a 40S&W bullet in PA. However, in all fairness, there have been over thirty saves by Zylon vests too.

What is the problem with Zylon? Some have suggested it deteriorates with age, but the vest that failed was less than six months old. Some say heat is the problem, but exposure to heat has no effect during testing. Before going into its first vest, Zylon was thoroughly tested, both in-house and independently, and, indeed, approved by NIJ. So, no one really knows what the problem is. It could be a quality control issue at the factory or an inherent problem with the material itself that never manifested itself until now. Presently, no one can say for sure. As an obvious precaution, all manufacturers, including Second Chance, has stopped production and sale of vests containing any percentage of Zylon. It is safe to say that, for better or worse, Zylon is history.

To its credit, Second Chance is offering, free of charge, supplemental (kevlar) panels to all owners of Second Chance Zylon vests. The panels elevate the vests to nearly Level III protection. At present, none of the other manufacturers are even addressing the issue.

My advice:

If you own a Second Chance Zylon vest, you should contact Second Chance, get the supplemental panel, and install it immediately. I wouldn't worry after that.

If you're going to acquire a new vest, stick with kevlar. After thirty years, we know it works. My vests are all Second Chance and all kevlar, and I wear them with confidence.

/John