thedrifter
10-10-06, 02:18 PM
October 16, 2006
Corps copies Army, moves to padded helmet design
By Christian Lowe
Staff writer
First, soldiers adopted the Corps’ mantra that everyone should be trained as a rifleman. Then, they designed a new uniform suspiciously similar to the Marines’ “digital” cammies.
Now, it’s the Corps’ turn to take a page out of the Army’s book.
In an Oct. 5 announcement, Corps officials said that from now on, all combat helmets must be outfitted with padded suspension systems that mirror Army efforts to reduce head injuries from blunt impacts that typically occur during roadside bomb explosions. The Army has been using a padded interior in its Advanced Combat Helmet for about four years.
Late this summer, the Corps reversed its original position to stick with the sling suspension system in its new lightweight helmets after congressional officials and civilian advocates lobbied for a change to a system of semisoft pads they said was safer for troops encountering more blunt-force impacts to the head than ballistic hits.
In August, officials with Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va., issued guidance giving Marines the option to use the standard sling suspension — which uses an adjustable leather headband and mesh barrier to keep the helmet from resting directly on a Marine’s head — or the foam pads.
Marine officials argued that ongoing Pentagon and Marine Corps studies would find out which suspension method was best. And now they’ve found it.
“Early results of testing between the pad suspension system and the sling suspension system for Marine Corps and Army helmets indicate pads offer more protection,” SysCom stated in an Oct. 6 release. In follow-on, congressionally mandated tests conducted this year, “the pad system demonstrated greater non-ballistic blunt-impact protection.”
Marine Commandant Gen. Mike Hagee told lawmakers in a late-June letter that the service was trying to get a handle on how the Corps’ lightweight helmet could withstand various threats against it, including the helmet’s ability to stop projectiles, withstand the 360-degree force of an explosion, and absorb and disperse concussive shock waves.
Analyzing blunt-force trauma is similar to measuring the ability of shock waves to penetrate the helmet and rattle a Marine’s brain, SysCom officials have said, adding that padded helmets offer more protection from shock waves. But the pads come with trade-offs in comfort.
“We in the Marine Corps are very open,” said Dan Fitzgerald, program manager for infantry combat equipment at SysCom. “We did get the data to substantiate a change. It wasn’t knee-jerk.”
So far, the Corps has purchased about 90,000 padding kits for Marines to retrofit their helmets. Leathernecks with I Marine Expeditionary Force and II MEF have already been issued about 40,000 padding kits, with roughly 50,000 more still to be distributed between those commands. SysCom has ordered an additional 50,000 padding kits to be used for the modification, with officials stating firmly that only Corps-issued kits will be used.
The announcement was welcome news for former Navy flight surgeon Dr. Robert Meaders, who told lawmakers at a June 15 hearing that the pad system offers substantially better protection against brain injury from impacts resulting from explosions such as rocket-propelled grenade attacks and roadside bomb ambushes.
Meaders — whose grandson is a Marine — heads a nonprofit organization dubbed “Operation Helmet” that has raised $1.7 million in nearly three years to buy padding kits for troops in the field who request them.
“Our goal once we got started [was] to have all service branches provide the protection for this new form of warfare that we’re facing,” Meaders said Oct. 5, commending the Corps for its latest move.
Fielding the padding kits is “hopefully going to prevent an epidemic of traumatic brain injury that’s creeping up on us.”
Ellie
Corps copies Army, moves to padded helmet design
By Christian Lowe
Staff writer
First, soldiers adopted the Corps’ mantra that everyone should be trained as a rifleman. Then, they designed a new uniform suspiciously similar to the Marines’ “digital” cammies.
Now, it’s the Corps’ turn to take a page out of the Army’s book.
In an Oct. 5 announcement, Corps officials said that from now on, all combat helmets must be outfitted with padded suspension systems that mirror Army efforts to reduce head injuries from blunt impacts that typically occur during roadside bomb explosions. The Army has been using a padded interior in its Advanced Combat Helmet for about four years.
Late this summer, the Corps reversed its original position to stick with the sling suspension system in its new lightweight helmets after congressional officials and civilian advocates lobbied for a change to a system of semisoft pads they said was safer for troops encountering more blunt-force impacts to the head than ballistic hits.
In August, officials with Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va., issued guidance giving Marines the option to use the standard sling suspension — which uses an adjustable leather headband and mesh barrier to keep the helmet from resting directly on a Marine’s head — or the foam pads.
Marine officials argued that ongoing Pentagon and Marine Corps studies would find out which suspension method was best. And now they’ve found it.
“Early results of testing between the pad suspension system and the sling suspension system for Marine Corps and Army helmets indicate pads offer more protection,” SysCom stated in an Oct. 6 release. In follow-on, congressionally mandated tests conducted this year, “the pad system demonstrated greater non-ballistic blunt-impact protection.”
Marine Commandant Gen. Mike Hagee told lawmakers in a late-June letter that the service was trying to get a handle on how the Corps’ lightweight helmet could withstand various threats against it, including the helmet’s ability to stop projectiles, withstand the 360-degree force of an explosion, and absorb and disperse concussive shock waves.
Analyzing blunt-force trauma is similar to measuring the ability of shock waves to penetrate the helmet and rattle a Marine’s brain, SysCom officials have said, adding that padded helmets offer more protection from shock waves. But the pads come with trade-offs in comfort.
“We in the Marine Corps are very open,” said Dan Fitzgerald, program manager for infantry combat equipment at SysCom. “We did get the data to substantiate a change. It wasn’t knee-jerk.”
So far, the Corps has purchased about 90,000 padding kits for Marines to retrofit their helmets. Leathernecks with I Marine Expeditionary Force and II MEF have already been issued about 40,000 padding kits, with roughly 50,000 more still to be distributed between those commands. SysCom has ordered an additional 50,000 padding kits to be used for the modification, with officials stating firmly that only Corps-issued kits will be used.
The announcement was welcome news for former Navy flight surgeon Dr. Robert Meaders, who told lawmakers at a June 15 hearing that the pad system offers substantially better protection against brain injury from impacts resulting from explosions such as rocket-propelled grenade attacks and roadside bomb ambushes.
Meaders — whose grandson is a Marine — heads a nonprofit organization dubbed “Operation Helmet” that has raised $1.7 million in nearly three years to buy padding kits for troops in the field who request them.
“Our goal once we got started [was] to have all service branches provide the protection for this new form of warfare that we’re facing,” Meaders said Oct. 5, commending the Corps for its latest move.
Fielding the padding kits is “hopefully going to prevent an epidemic of traumatic brain injury that’s creeping up on us.”
Ellie