Marines getting new fire-resistant clothing

By: JOE BECK - Staff Writer

The U.S. Marine Corps said Wednesday that it has begun issuing new fire-resistant clothing to troops in Iraq in the hope of reducing the threat of severe burns to those caught inside flaming vehicles after hitting roadside bombs.

The flame-resistant organizational gear began reaching the approximately 25,000 Marines in Iraq in February and will continue arriving until delivery is complete toward the end of the year, officials at Marine Corps Systems Command said Wednesday.

Systems Command is the Marine Corps' main agency for buying and maintaining combat equipment.

The fire-resistant clothing comes in hooded head gear, T-shirts, trousers, gloves and uniform blouses made of new materials that don't burn or melt when exposed to flames in tests conducted by the Marines. The tests showed the new clothing significantly reduced the risk of third-degree burns during exposure to flames in tests conducted by the Marines, said spokesmen for Systems Command.

Third-degree burns are the most serious of the three categories of burns listed on the Burn Survivor Resource Center's Web site.

The tests, which the Marines said concentrated on the arms and legs of mannequins outfitted with heat sensors, showed the likelihood of third-degree burns decreased to 5 percent with the new gear, compared with 15 percent to 20 percent currently.

In the aftermath of an explosion, the ability to slow the spread of fire through clothing by even a second or two can make an enormous difference in a person's chances of survival, said Capt. Jeff Landis, a spokesman for Systems Command.

"That is the difference between saving limbs and ensuring critical body areas are covered for as much time as possible," Landis said.

Landis said the push for new clothing began in December 2005 when casualty reports, reports from combat commanders and requests for help in reducing burn injuries revealed a growing problem of Marines suffering burns inside Humvees and trucks after roadside bomb explosions.

Marine officials said the new gear, made of fire-resistant fibers, is being produced for a total of $44 million by three contractors in Petaluma, Virginia and South Carolina. Marine officials said commanders may choose whether all, some or none of the fire-resistant clothing is worn, depending on their judgment about a specific mission.

Landis said the gear is arriving in Iraq in phases. He said that the hooded gear, called balaclavas, arrived in Iraq in February. Delivery on long-sleeved undershirts began this month, and trousers and shirts are expected to arrive by the end of the year, Landis said.

The Marines have had 60,000 of what Landis described as fire-resistant flight suits available in Iraq for more than a year, but they were not designed for combat missions that demand a high degree of mobility, he said. Creating fire-resistant clothing requires trade-offs between greater protection and reduced mobility and comfort, he said.

Marines should still be prepared to rely on their training to extricate themselves from fires, he said.

"You can't be a sitting duck and expect this flame-resistant gear is going to protect you from all flames. We're merely giving you something that will potentially save your life for a more extended period of time," Landis said.

Landis said contractors are trying to design other products that will offer more fire protection in combat. In the meantime, the new clothing is the best protection the Marine Corps has to offer those in combat, he said.

In an e-mail reply to questions from the North County Times, Maj. Raymond Kimball, an Army helicopter pilot for 12 years and history professor at the Army's military academy at West Point, said the new clothing showed the Marines were taking appropriate measures to adapt to the increasing explosive power of roadside bombs.

"Frankly, the Marines are way ahead on this, mainly because they have a much smaller force to outfit. The Army is still trying to figure out how they're going to tackle this," Kimball said.

-- Contact staff writer Joe Beck at (760) 740-3516 or jbeck@nctimes.com.