Senate OKs measure on body armor

Families of soldiers deployed to Iraq would be reimbursed for the cost of body armor not provided to them by the military under legislation approved by the Senate on Monday night.

That’s good news to the family of Cpl. Dan McBride, who is with the Washington National Guard’s 81st Brigade. His parents, two sisters and two brothers chipped in to buy him a $600 Kevlar vest before he left for Iraq last February. Some more protective vests cost $1,600 or more.

“The National Guard told them they would provide a flak vest, which only stops shrapnel,” not bullets, said McBride’s mother, Vicki. “But while he was at Fort Lewis, they were told there wouldn’t be another one coming.”

She believes her son now has even a better vest than the one the family bought him.

“I think there was enough angry reaction from people like me that they changed their minds,” Vicki McBride said.

She wasn’t the only one worried about reported shortages in protective gear available to troops. After meeting with families at Camp Murray and Fort Lewis, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., wrote to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asking for his assurance that the 81st Brigade would have the body armor it needed. Her office cited an Associated Press report that said as late as March, some soldiers were still buying their own protective gear. Last October, the AP reported, nearly a quarter of troops serving in Iraq did not have ceramic-plated body armor.

On Monday, the Senate approved 91-0 an amendment to the 2005 Defense Authorization Bill to cover the expense of body armor incurred by troops. The amendment, which is not included in the House version of the bill, was co-sponsored by Murray and Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.

“American troops are bravely and valiantly giving their all on the battlefield,” Dodd said. “They shouldn’t have to also give by digging in their pockets to pay for protective gear.”

But according to the Stars and Stripes newspaper, the Pentagon opposes the measure because it leaves the military unable to control what equipment troops might buy. Earlier this year, the newspaper reported, the Army increased production of the Interceptor body armor with ceramic plates and began sending 160,000 of them to Iraq and Kuwait in January.

Peggy Doering, of Spokane Valley, was glad to hear it. Her son, Spc. Chris Doering, is preparing to be deployed to Iraq with the Montana National Guard, and she had been considering buying him a vest.

“He assures us the Army will have one for him when he gets to Fort Bliss (Texas),” she said. “We don’t want to go spend $1,600-plus if we don’t have to.”