The Veteran Network

The days of the traditional Marine Corps Kevlar Vest are gone. According to Military.com the Marine Corps has begun to issue a new protective vest that is lighter, more comfortable and which allows more movement that the current Modular tactical Vest (MTV) despite the fact that the Corps has shipped over 80 thousand of these vests to the Fleet.

This latest move was a direct result of the Commandant, General James Conway’s request that SysCom, the maker of the current MTV to come up with a better design. This new vest was introduced to the Corps back in 2004 when the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit purchased them for the Marines during a deployment to southern Afghanistan.

Like anything else there is a trade-off. These new vests afford less protection that that of the older models. As the name implies, the SPC Vest is designed in the same manner with the employment of small arms ballistic plates and Kevlar inserts, but carries a less bulky design. The entire debate is one that is a catch 22.

This new more mobile force is required to operate in harsh terrain in unrelenting conditions. Their operational effectiveness is obviously enhanced by the new mobility while at the same time exposing more of the Marine to arms fire and/or shrapnel from the notorious road-side improvised explosive devices. The only good in all of this is that with the new modular design, on-the-ground commanders can determine the configuration of these vests to protect the Marine which is more strategically aligned to the mission at hand.