I'm with you in principle.

I think more effort should be spent in trying to create vehicle protection from IEDs since that is the main problem in Iraq.

Absolutely. I know that there have been more " Up Armored" humvees sent to Iraq/Afghanistan, But even one of these will not save you in some circumstances. Soldiers die, bottom line. That's not a pleasant thought, but that's how it is.

http://www.sftt.org/main.cfm?actionI...lCategoryID=30

http://www.sftt.org/main.cfm?actionI...30&htmlId=4193

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Now add leg armor and another few layers, put it on top of one of those new heavy-lifting powered frames coming out of DARPA, and you have, what we in the sci-fi world call, a "Heavy". Still, I don't think we'll be seeing any practical "power armor" for another decade or so.

It seems to me that the better solution to this problem would be to add an armored enclosure onto the turret of the HMMVEE rather than giving the operator extra armor. It could take more hits and would not weigh him down, and it might even save him if the vehicle gets flipped.

A full body suit of armor like this seems like it would be more useful for entry into hostile buildings, especially for SWAT teams who wouldn't have to wear the armor for more than a few minutes.

Also, I heard of a full-body armor suit that seems a bit more practical a while back here.

Now how far can you march in this body armour in the desert. Also how long could you wear it with temperatures up to 120'o before you pass out with heat exhaustion.

From the stories I have read and heard told about Vietnam, not long. Even the simple body armour they carried then was enough to put someone into a heat injury in a few hours of humping through the jungle.

Perhaps we should just have them wear the Chinese Korean War winter coats.

Here are a picture of the beast as well as a link to an Army website that has details and pictures about the suit in a pdf file. Happy readings

https://peosoldier.army.mil/factsheets/SEQ_CIE_CPE.pdf
http://www.med-eng.com/getpdf.asp?id=1100&f=.pdf

CPE_AUG2005_0010.jpg

Dear gawd it is a bloody bomb squad suit! Now I understand the simultaneous pursuit on the research for the exoskeleton the Army is persuing. Well, one thing is for sure it will lower the time you are in transit during an airdrop.

Surely they are honestly thinking of only using this with high risk convoy duty and not patrols, right?

that is correct BD. That suit is not good for patroling. You could not shoot crap with an m-4 if you were in that suit

I added another link that has a little more on the CPE that goes into greater detail. It is also in pdf file

Okay give me a synopsis of this. I saw the picture and that thing looks rediculous. What's the mission profile for how that would be practically useable?