Tears of the Sun

[Nightcrawler]

A soft armor vest that a police officer might wear may very well weight 5 lbs. I couldn't tell you how much this "interceptor" vest weighs; I'm an Engineer in the Nat'l Guard, I've never even SEEN one of these.

Just going by the laws of physics. 2x 10x12" ceramic plates alone weigh more than 5lbs by themselves. Even moreso if you're using steel plates.

A full coverage military body armor, complete with either steel or ceramic 10x12" plates (one in front, one in back) is not going to weigh 5lbs.

From everything I've been able to gather, SEAL teams as a rule don't wear body armor on many of their missions.

I'm not going to tell them it's stupid.

Perhaps somebody knows somebody who was in the SEAL teams could ask? I'm genuinely curious.

 

[George Hill]

Army body armor is waaaay different than the nice light under the shirt armor police wear.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Army body armor is waaaay different than the nice light under the shirt armor police wear.

Exactly. Rifle rounds would sail right through your typical 2nd Chance concealable vest.

 

[JShirley]

They'll sail through the Interceptor vest, too, without the plate(s). Pulled gate guard duty Wednesday. We all got SBA to wear under our uniform, plus the overwatch also wore his Interceptor vest. It seems one of our MP's was shot a few months ago...

John

 

[Marko Kloos]

It's just, as much as IBA sucks (and boy, does it suck!!!)

There's at least one scenario where nobody in my company ever minded putting on IBA: when they were tagged for guard duty in the middle of winter. That stuff does a good job with mortar fragments and such, but it also makes a fine insulator when it's below freezing outside and you have to be gate guard or perimeter patrol for 2 hour legs.

 

[Dorian]

You guys were right. The fullsize hard armor plates are heavier than I thought. I was thinking of the smaller sized plates when I was remembering weight.

So around 5 pounds for the vest without hard plates + 11 lbs for the hard plates.

http://www.pointblankarmor.com/products/plates_military.asp

Still..... For all the equipment I hated carrying and saw no point in, body armor would not have been one I had a problem with.

Lastly... the point about police wearing body armor was missed. It's not about size or weight. In fact, a lot of police officers don't wear their vests because of comfort. The point was why would you ever not wear your body armor when you know very well that today could be the day you get shot. And that armor cold very well save your life. I see the IBA in the exact same light. In general, police officers don't face anything higher than .45 rounds, so they armor themselves accordingly. The ARMY is doing the same thing.

Lastly Lastly... check this out:

http://howstuffworks.lycoszone.com/news-item38.htm

and

http://www.forbes.com/global/2001/0219/061.html

 

[NIGHTWATCH]

It was great to see the shotgun taking point. Good gunplay, but the story was weak. Too many "I love you's" at the end.

 

[2nd Amendment]

Well, I finally saw the thing...

Thought it was a pretty enjoyable flick. What can I say? *shrug*

 

[Nando Aqui]

Watched it in the theater when it was first released and liked it a lot. But after hearing such mixed reviews, I wondered.... maybe I had missed something.

Watched it again- DVD this time. I liked it better. Also watched the commentaries by the advisors, the movie actors, the African actors (real people), and others. For me, these commentaries put to rest any doubts. Evidently, it is a rather accurate depiction of real life in every respect - Seals, tactics, and parts of Africa where this goes on.

Alex

 

[JShirley]

Yup. One of the few movies that I immediately determined to purchase, when I viewed it.

 

[Gary H]

Got a new H.D. TV and the video transfer on this DVD was really superb. I think that this movie was meant to be a rather mindless movie. I'm sure that they were trying to remind us of the genocide on the forgotten continent. It was a bit of a politcal statement. Otherwise, the whole premise of the movie..removing one ungrateful naturalized citizen by risking so many was lame at best. I liked the movie, but kept the brain in neutral. What can I say?

Wife likes B.W., so it was a must rent.

 

[Dave T]

I finally rented the movie (don't have DVD so it was tape). It was much better than I expected from a lot of what I read here.

For you guys who think there were

Too many "I love you's" at the end.

what movie did you see? I didn't hear any, at least not what I expected from reading your posts. You must not go to movies with your wifes or girlfriends. Just because the last scene wasn't full of explosions, gore and car chases didn't exactly make it a romance.

As for thinking the government wouldn't consider

..removing one ungrateful naturalized citizen by risking so many...

If the political pay off was great enough there isn't a politician in the country who wouldn't risk any number of trigger pullers. They're just cannon fodder to the slime in Washington.

 

[Mute]

It had a good story, but the movie could have been much better if they had cut back the melodrama a bit and tightened up the flow of the movie.

 

[Futo Inu]

"I wouldn't expect it to rise to the level of BHD, but is it at least better than Windtalkers or Thin Red Line?"

Yes. Better than those two; not as good as BHD or We Were Soldiers (to name some from recent years).

TOTS is worth renting for sure; probably not worth owning (nor to have paid full theater admission price). Yeah, mark 23 soccom HKs (and longarms) were used by Bruce & co when they saved the village from genocide.