It appears that the new "Interceptor" vests that allow pouches and such to be clipped to them were a BIG success in Afghanistan, and are a large part of the explination behind the low number of fatalities in Operation Anaconda.


From [url]http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&u=/ap/20020311/ap_on_re_as/afghan_fighting[/url]

I know that the Taliban dont normally use submachine guns or pistols. That had to be at least 7.62x39 or 5.54x39 that he was hit with.

Casualties were not light in Anaconda- some of the units that went in on the first day suffered casualties as high as 20%- its just that no one was killed! The majority of wounds also seem to have been to extremities- not covered by the vests- and while still enough to require evacuation for care did not require a hospital stay and they have since returned to their units.

I have a strong feeling that the six Special Ops guys killed on Day 1 probably had eschewed armor, since they were supposed to be going on recon missions, and that was why there were so many fatalities in that one firefight.

We had to have set some kind of record in this campaign for the low number of KIA's amongst all of our people hit... its bloody amazing.  The guys at DuPont must be peeling themselves off the cealing for how well their stuff worked.

I wonder if they were being shot at from extreme range. The mortar positions firing at them were a mile or two away, so it may have been a question of the enemy lobbing rounds from a couple thousand yards away.

The modern helos seem to have held up well against ground fire. The apaches took several direct hits from RPGs and ground fire from heavy MGs and kept flying, though they did go straight into repair when they got back to base. On the other hand the Chinooks got shot up fairly extensively and wound up on the ground in a couple instances.

I know of one Apachie that got hit in the windscreen with a RPG, the gunner got seriously wounded but lived, but what I want to know is- what were they doing that someone could hit them with a RPG in that location!  Were they flying up to caves and looking/fireing directly in the entrances?

There are going to be some interesting stories written about this one.

I don't think the Shithooks are noted for their durability.  Most have been around a long time, too, haven't they?

PFC Ashline could have been wearing the SAPI hard plates in his Interceptor vest, in which case it would have stopped multiple rifle rounds as he said.  Either that or he's the luckiest SOB over there yet!

The Interceptor armor system offers excellent protection, I just wonder why they don't issue desert camo covers for them?  I mean, our guys are head-to-toe desert camo, but then they have a big GREEN Kevlar vest on! [>:/]