Armors

[1911]

What is your take on Armors (plate carriers w/ plates) for training?

I know that having one is probably ideal, but when resources are limited (budget to be exact) will it be safe enough to keep on training without one?

I know this is more of a personal comfort / confidence kind of question, but just wanted to read some opinions.

Thanks

[Stan]

Great question! Also coincides with the question of why I do not require armor to be worn in a class or why I don't always wear armor.

This is my opinion:
*Helmet and plate carriers (PC) will only protect you at certain angles and only cover a small albeit vital percentage of your body. You still have plenty of vital and vulnerable parts of your body like the femoral or brachial arteries, a hit to those is the same as hitting your carotid (neck) artery.

*The funny part is I see a lot of plate carriers but have only seen two helmets in my time as a commercial trainer. Logic would dictate that if you wear a PC you should also be wearing a ballistic helmet too.

*My magic when it comes to safety is of course the very detailed safety brief given in the beginning of the class, dry practice rehearsals before a new drill and I empower each student as a range safety officer. I think WE can make classes safer by using our collective eyes, brains and vocal cords "WATCH YOUR MUZZLE!!!", rather than a piece of armor by a factor of 1000%

*Over the past three years we have run hundreds of buddy and fire team offense drills, countless envelopments with shifting support by fire positions, over head fire, and many other things. I have had zero direct gun shot wound injury/incidents. I attribute this to what I said above; everyone an attentive and vocal range safety officer, rehearsals (mental visualizations) and supervision. No piece of equipment could have ever replaced any of those previously mentioned things and clearly my safety record speaks for it (knock on wood).

[mqd123]

Everything Stan said + I would wear armor because it would be a great workout to have that extra weight on you -if you are going to spend all that time out there training, might as well maximize it. In fact, I had bought some steel plates before the last SULE class and had intended to wear it but the weather was crazy hot the day of SULE. So, I ended up leaving them in the car and went with the belt rig. Next time though, weather permitting, I will go with the steel plates.