But they also underscore the slow pace and the monumental task at hand. Recent efforts to repatriate human remains and other culturally significant items such as those at the Founders Museum represent significant and solemn moments for tribes. “It may be sad for them to lose these items, but it’s even sadder for us because we’ve been looking for them for so long.” “This is real personal,” said Leola One Feather, of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, as she observed the process as part of a two-person tribal delegation last week. It was a key step in returning scores of items displayed at the Founders Museum in Barre to tribes in South Dakota that have sought them since the 1990s. Moccasins, necklaces, clothing, ceremonial pipes, tools and other objects were carefully laid out on white backgrounds as a photographer dutifully snapped pictures under bright studio lights. (AP) - One by one, items purportedly taken from Native Americans massacred at Wounded Knee Creek emerged from the dark, cluttered display cases where they’ve sat for more than a century in a museum in rural Massachusetts. But, with the exception of eye protection, which many soldiers wear regularly, the military has tested all of these products and found that their burdens outweigh the benefits.BARRE, Mass. In addition to a face mask, you can buy a ballistic visor, forearm coverings, and leg protection that runs all the way down to the ankles. If you wanted to, you could cover virtually your entire body in bulletproof armor. It’s not easy to lug that around Kabul at a 5,800-foot elevation, so most days the soldiers wear a lighter system that only covers the thorax.
#Bulletproof army of two masks full#
The full armor complement adds 33 pounds to a soldier’s weight.
There are special ceramic plates to protect the central organs from AK-47 fire-the rest of the system will stop only lesser projectiles. The highest level of armor most soldiers wear in Afghanistan covers the entire thorax, parts of the neck, the biceps, shoulders, and the groin. Face shields would also make our soldiers look like Stormtroopers, which is not the image the Pentagon wants to present to the Afghan civilian population.īecause body armor can be so heavy, military commanders make mission-specific decisions about how much protection their charges need. While ballistic face masks protect against IED shrapnel, they can’t stop a bullet from an AK-47 Kalashnikov, the Taliban’s firearm of choice. They’re uncomfortable, limit vision and mobility, and don’t breathe at all.
But the masks don’t work well on patrol in Afghanistan.
They’re especially useful against shotguns, which spray their pellets everywhere. There are lots of bulletproof masks on the market, and law enforcement agencies wear them in close-combat situations like hostage rescues, drug busts, and other raids. That got the Explainer thinking … Why don’t soldiers wear bulletproof face masks?īecause they’re hot, cumbersome, and ineffective against Taliban guns. soldiers’ torsos are protected by bulletproof vests. He also may have offered them intelligence, most of it unremarkable-like the fact that U.S. An American in Afghanistan who claimed he was kidnapped by the Taliban may have actually voluntarily joined the terrorist group.
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