Arkansas National Guard Gets New Body Armor
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
Members of the Iraq-bound 39th Infantry
Brigade of the Arkansas National Guard will get new body armor
vests that can stop rifle rounds. That word comes from Senator
Blanche Lincoln, who says she spoke with Pentagon officials.
On Tuesday, The Associated Press in Washington reported that
nearly one-quarter of the 130-thousand American troops in Iraq
still have not been issued the newest body armor, which has ceramic
plates to stop rifle rounds. Delays in funding, production and
shipping mean the last of the needed 30-thousand sets of body armor
won`t be delivered to Iraq until December -- more than eight months
after the war began.
The 39th Brigade, with three-thousand soldiers, is Arkansas`
largest National Guard unit. The brigade`s mobilization will more
than double the number of Arkansas troops on federal orders,
bringing the total to more than five-thousand.
