Can't Fight Bureaucracy
The Army's procurement system is a holdover from the post-World-War-II era; slow, officer-heavy, prone to analysis paralysis.
Headquartered at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland, the Army's procurement system is famously sclerotic. In few places has this come in for as much criticism as in the field of troops' personal body armor.
As is often the case, the private market reacts, and acts, faster than the government's byzantine contracting, managment, approval, testing and acceptance procedures will allow; hence, many troops buy key pieces of equipment, including body armor, on the private market.
The Army is clamping down on the practice:
Two deploying soldiers and a concerned mother reported Friday afternoon that the U.S. Army appears to be singling out soldiers who have purchased Pinnacle's Dragon Skin Body Armor for special treatment. The soldiers, who are currently staging for combat operations from a secret location, reported that their commander told them if they were wearing Pinnacle Dragon Skin and were killed their beneficiaries might not receive the death benefits from their $400,000 SGLI life insurance policies. The soldiers were ordered to leave their privately purchased body armor at home or face the possibility of both losing their life insurance benefit and facing disciplinary action...At the time the orders were issued the two soldiers had already loaded their Dragon Skin body armor onto the pallets being used to air freight their gear into the operational theater, the soldiers said. They subsequently removed it pursuant to their orders.
But not entirely:
Currently nine U.S. generals stationed in Afghanistan are reportedly wearing Pinnacle Dragon Skin body armor, according to company spokesman Paul Chopra. Chopra, a retired Army chief warrant officer and 20+-year pilot in the famed 160th "Nightstalkers" Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), said his company was merely told the generals wanted to "evaluate" the body armor in a combat environment. Chopra said he did not know the names of the general officers wearing the Dragon Skin.
Pinnacle claims more than 3,000 soldiers and civilians stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan are wearing Dragon Skin body armor, Chopra said.
Bureaucracy over common sense?
(via the Cigarette Smoking Man)
Posted by Mitch at
January 19, 2006 05:14 AM
| TrackBack
"The Army's procurement system is a holdover from the post-World-War-II era; slow, officer-heavy, prone to analysis paralysis."
No, Mitch, *all* government procurement systems are slow, ponderous, and subject to analysis paralysis. Certainly one very public example is the FBI trying to buy computers (by the time they got the specifications published and out for bid the machines they wanted were ancient history and unavailable), but the examples are far more numerous. From personal experience of working there and trying to buy stuff I can say that the government wastes a tremendous amount of money and time on its purchasing and contracting system.
What you're seeing here is the revenge of the Civil Service, the protection of which is admirable in a political sense, but horrid in terms of efficiency. You're more likely to get hit by an asteroid than to get anyone fired from the CS for incompetency.
Posted by: nerdbert at January 19, 2006 08:20 AMAnd you've been involved in military logistics, right, youve been to an army/Nayvy store maybe but never actually worn a yuniform and delivered crates of typepining paper to an actual unit like I did for 12 years in the regular army and guard and reserve. If you havent' delivered crates of typingg papar to actaul units like I did you are a supply hawk just like you're so-called President. And you've been involved in military logistics, right, youve been to an army/Nayvy store maybe but never actually worn a yuniform and delivered crates of typepining paper to an actual unit like I did for 12 years in the regular army and guard and reserve. If you havent' delivered crates of typingg papar to actaul units like I did you are a supply hawk just like you're so-called President. And you've been involved in military logistics, right, youve been to an army/Nayvy store maybe but never actually worn a yuniform and delivered crates of typepining paper to an actual unit like I did for 12 years in the regular army and guard and reserve. If you havent' delivered crates of typingg papar to actaul units like I did you are a supply hawk just like you're so-called President. And you've been involved in military logistics, right, youve been to an army/Nayvy store maybe but never actually worn a yuniform and delivered crates of typepining paper to an actual unit like I did for 12 years in the regular army and guard and reserve. If you havent' delivered crates of typingg papar to actaul units like I did you are a supply hawk just like you're so-called President. And you've been involved in military logistics, right, youve been to an army/Nayvy store maybe but never actually worn a yuniform and delivered crates of typepining paper to an actual unit like I did for 12 years in the regular army and guard and reserve. If you havent' delivered crates of typingg papar to actaul units like I did you are a supply hawk just like you're so-called President. And you've been involved in military logistics, right, youve been to an army/Nayvy store maybe but never actually worn a yuniform and delivered crates of typepining paper to an actual unit like I did for 12 years in the regular army and guard and reserve. If you havent' delivered crates of typingg papar to actaul units like I did you are a supply hawk just like you're so-called President. And you've been involved in military logistics, right, youve been to an army/Nayvy store maybe but never actually worn a yuniform and delivered crates of typepining paper to an actual unit like I did for 12 years in the regular army and guard and reserve. If you havent' delivered crates of typingg papar to actaul units like I did you are a supply hawk just like you're so-called President.
And you've been involved in military logistics, right, youve been to an army/Nayvy store maybe but never actually worn a yuniform and delivered crates of typepining paper to an actual unit like I did for 12 years in the regular army and guard and reserve. If you havent' delivered crates of typingg papar to actaul units like I did you are a supply hawk just like you're so-called President. And you've been involved in military logistics, right, youve been to an army/Nayvy store maybe but never actually worn a yuniform and delivered crates of typepining paper to an actual unit like I did for 12 years in the regular army and guard and reserve. If you havent' delivered crates of typingg papar to actaul units like I did you are a supply hawk just like you're so-called President. And you've been involved in military logistics, right, youve been to an army/Nayvy store maybe but never actually worn a yuniform and delivered crates of typepining paper to an actual unit like I did for 12 years in the regular army and guard and reserve. If you havent' delivered crates of typingg papar to actaul units like I did you are a supply hawk just like you're so-called President. And you've been involved in military logistics, right, youve been to an army/Nayvy store maybe but never actually worn a yuniform and delivered crates of typepining paper to an actual unit like I did for 12 years in the regular army and guard and reserve. If you havent' delivered crates of typingg papar to actaul units like I did you are a supply hawk just like you're so-called President. And you've been involved in military logistics, right, youve been to an army/Nayvy store maybe but never actually worn a yuniform and delivered crates of typepining paper to an actual unit like I did for 12 years in the regular army and guard and reserve. If you havent' delivered crates of typingg papar to actaul units like I did you are a supply hawk just like you're so-called President. And you've been involved in military logistics, right, youve been to an army/Nayvy store maybe but never actually worn a yuniform and delivered crates of typepining paper to an actual unit like I did for 12 years in the regular army and guard and reserve. If you havent' delivered crates of typingg papar to actaul units like I did you are a supply hawk just like you're so-called President. And you've been involved in military logistics, right, youve been to an army/Nayvy store maybe but never actually worn a yuniform and delivered crates of typepining paper to an actual unit like I did for 12 years in the regular army and guard and reserve. If you havent' delivered crates of typingg papar to actaul units like I did you are a supply hawk just like you're so-called President. And you've been involved in military logistics, right, youve been to an army/Nayvy store maybe but never actually worn a yuniform and delivered crates of typepining paper to an actual unit like I did for 12 years in the regular army and guard and reserve. If you havent' delivered crates of typingg papar to actaul units like I did you are a supply hawk just like you're so-called President.
Posted by: PeeWannaBee at January 19, 2006 10:42 AMThis report sounds like a bunch of bunk. First of all, while the ceramic plate armor is nice to have and all, it's frickin' hot and most of the guys I know who had it striped it down quite a bit. For instance, the side armor of IBAs are shit and I didn't know too many people who wore them. Furthermore, if they want to make an argument that an incorrectly worn uniform leads to a denial in SGLI benefits, the folks in SF are up shit creek. I swear half those guys join just to wear whatever the hell they want...baseball hats, beards, pink tutus...all in garrison. As for the armor, you see them walking around with the itty bitty chest plates. That's not kosher. We wouldn't make too much out of this article. It seems like it was made up on bad info. Hell, "Google SOCOM public affairs" and ask for yourself.
In order to invalidate SGLI you have to fubar something pretty bad...CONUS you can lose it if you die while driving drunk or without a seatbelt. Even then, i think there's some command-level input that can recommend one way or another due to certain circumstances.
We also think that you underestimate the massive scale of what it takes to outfit part of a military uniform. Its not just that they can't respond and buy new crap on a moment's notice...it's getting everyone trained and proficient on the proper use of the equipment. It's making sure everything fits....and so on and so forth. Granted, there's definitely some BS with the procurement process, but this sounds made up.
cp
Posted by: cleversponge at January 19, 2006 12:50 PMThis report sounds like a bunch of bunk. First of all, while the ceramic plate armor is nice to have and all, it's frickin' hot and most of the guys I know who had it striped it down quite a bit. For instance, the side armor of IBAs are shit and I didn't know too many people who wore them. Furthermore, if they want to make an argument that an incorrectly worn uniform leads to a denial in SGLI benefits, the folks in SF are up shit creek. I swear half those guys join just to wear whatever the hell they want...baseball hats, beards, pink tutus...all in garrison. As for the armor, you see them walking around with the itty bitty chest plates. That's not kosher. We wouldn't make too much out of this article. It seems like it was made up on bad info. Hell, "Google SOCOM public affairs" and ask for yourself.
In order to invalidate SGLI you have to fubar something pretty bad...CONUS you can lose it if you die while driving drunk or without a seatbelt. Even then, i think there's some command-level input that can recommend one way or another due to certain circumstances.
We also think that you underestimate the massive scale of what it takes to outfit part of a military uniform. Its not just that they can't respond and buy new crap on a moment's notice...it's getting everyone trained and proficient on the proper use of the equipment. It's making sure everything fits....and so on and so forth. Granted, there's definitely some BS with the procurement process, but this sounds made up.
cp
Posted by: cleversponge at January 19, 2006 12:50 PMA colleague of mine has a son in Iraq. He says that the young men on the sniper teams take off the bulky ceramic armor vests because it's uncomfortable to keep the rifle seated properly while spotting or surveilling or whatever it is they do. He sent over a bunch of used police ballistic vests for the members of his kid's unit to wear. The level II and III vests won't do much against the rifle rounds flying around, but even light armor is better than wearing nothing but a t-shirt.
Posted by: BobbyRay at January 19, 2006 10:21 PM