Posted: 6/20/2010 1:42:11 PM EDT
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A friend of mine is insistent on buying "dragon skin" body armor before his deployment. He said it would cost like $10,000. My Google-fu is giving me mediocre return (as well the site search)
Anyone have thoughts... is the Dragon Skin cool-aid worth drinking? Any direction to other links would be helpful too. |
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Quoted: A friend of mine is insistent on buying "dragon skin" body armor before his deployment. He said it would cost like $10,000. My Google-fu is giving me mediocre return (as well the site search) Anyone have thoughts... is the Dragon Skin cool-aid worth drinking? Any direction to other links would be helpful too. Would they even let him wear non issued body armor? And that Dragon Skin stuff smells of snake oil. I remember reading about problems with it (adhesive failing and the "scales" shifting/falling. |
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Body Armor is not as common a commodity, and independent testing is expensive... so it takes a while to find the literature on Body Armor. Basically, Dragon Skin is a sham. It's small ceramic scales put together like fish scales, and it is heavy as hell, while being no more effective that hard plates over softarmor. The ceramic scales fall out of place when the adhesive fails, and they shatter easily. Dragon skin armor was invented to prey on the fears of soldiers and soldiers families, and the commonly held myth that anything the government/military issues must be crap. Dragon Skin was a hot topic about 3 years ago until everyone figured out it was a scam... just like Le Mas blended metal bullets, which were actually just hunting bullets. Have your friend go read the body armor forum on Lightfighter.net. If Dragon skin was so awesome, why don't highly paid PMCs or high speed dudes with great budgets use it?
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Quoted: Quoted: I told him he is likely to die from the dent that would be left anyways. especially if he was hit by the heart. No it wouldnt, its not soft armor  A hard hit to the chest has the potential to stop your heart. That's why youth baseball players wear a heart guard. |
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A friend of mine is insistent on buying "dragon skin" body armor before his deployment. He said it would cost like $10,000. My Google-fu is giving me mediocre return (as well the site search) Anyone have thoughts... is the Dragon Skin cool-aid worth drinking? Any direction to other links would be helpful too. Army or Marine Corps? Im guessing infantry... First deployment? Anyways there is nothing wrong with the current issue armor. Marines are starting to get sappi plate carriers now and they work great. The sappi plates are going to stop any threat that dragon skin will. The taliban cant shoot for shit and for the most part they engage at distances way too far for their capaibility. 99.99% chance that he wont get shot, another 99.99% chance that if he did the dragon skin wouldn't stop it any better then a sappi plate. Alot of units arent even seeing combat and i gurantee if he spent 10k on dragon skin two things would happen. 1. his unit probably wont let him use it. 2. he will feel like an idiot by the end of the deployment when nothing even goes on and he wasted 10k. If anything happens chances are its going to be an IED and body armor wont matter. YMMV |
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No way in hell his coc will allow him to wear his own armor. Much less armor that failed testing miserably. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile This is the basic answer. If they let him wear it and he gets wounded, no matter how/what body part, then they will be held liable for him wearing non-approved armor. |
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According this this wiki on Dragaon Skin, the Army issued a ban on privately purchased body armor back in 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Skin_(body_armor)#U.S._Army_bans_privately_purchased_body_armor That said, other folks have been using Dragon Skin in-theater. I'd save my money if I was getting issued equipment that I might not be able to bring with me (or confiscated) anyway. |
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He'll most likely be required to wear the issue armor anyways. I think you do this or you're not covered by the .mil life insurance. Is that a guess? You can kill yourself and still get your 450,000 or whatever it is up to nowadays. But yes, unless your in a unit that looks the other way you are required to use the issued body armor; and it's really not that bad, it does work. Who does this guy think he is, Rambo? Ya you could get shot or blown up but just cause your deployed doesn't mean that will happen or you will see it, even if you are in a hard skill MOS. |
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Quoted: A friend of mine is insistent on buying "dragon skin" body armor before his deployment. He said it would cost like $10,000. My Google-fu is giving me mediocre return (as well the site search) Anyone have thoughts... is the Dragon Skin cool-aid worth drinking? Any direction to other links would be helpful too. The company is a fraud. The CEO is a fraud. The armor is a fraud. |
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It had problems with the adhesive failing and scales shifting, as well as poor protection against angled shots and multiple hits. but Mack shot the same spot 50 times with an AK while whispering and it didn't penetrate! A .308 AK at that!  Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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I told him he is likely to die from the dent that would be left anyways. especially if he was hit by the heart. No it wouldnt, its not soft armor
A hard hit to the chest has the potential to stop your heart. That's why youth baseball players wear a heart guard. Exactly I figured it was snake oil... i just wanted to actually have a reason behind me advising him not to get it. |