Defense Department Examines Body Armor

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• JIM LEHRER:

  Now, another side to the Iraq war effort key to the congressional debate over the Defense Department's budget. Here's the first of a three-part series on how the military decides which equipment to provide U.S. troops. Tonight, the subject is body armor. Our economics correspondent, Paul Solman, is the reporter.

• CROWD (singing):

  Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…

• PAUL SOLMAN, NewsHour Economics Correspondent:

  The U.S. Army's 232nd birthday party in the Pentagon's inner courtyard.

• CROWD:

  … happy birthday, dear Army, happy birthday to you.

• PAUL SOLMAN:

  On display, new recruits for the Army…

• ARMY RECRUITER:

  Go get 'em. Congratulations. Welcome aboard. We need you.

• PAUL SOLMAN:

  … new stuff for the troops, first and foremost, the very latest body armor.

• LT. COL. ROBERT MYLES, U.S. Army:

  I'm confident, as a product manager, that we are fielding the best body armor that is available to our soldiers.

• PAUL SOLMAN:

  But then, how to explain this?

  JAVIER LAROSA, Parent of Marine: If my son gets shot in the chest while he's wearing one of these things, he was murdered.

• PAUL SOLMAN:

  Families across the country, like Javier and Marion LaRosa, have, for several years now, been trying to buy different body armor for loved ones headed to Iraq.

• JAVIER LAROSA:

  The least that we can do is give them something to give a better chance of coming back alive.

• PAUL SOLMAN:

  Xavier Hermosillo has several family members in the fight.

• XAVIER HERMOSILLO, Air Force Parent:

  It's bad enough that they're there and being shot at, but to not have the best possible equipment is criminal.

• PAUL SOLMAN:

  The charge in its starkest form: that the way our military buys equipment, the procurement system, has wound up shortchanging our troops in combat, costing lives at the front, both American and Iraqi.

  The debate has raged very visibly over the body armor issued to U.S. troops. Interceptor, made by six different contractors — outer vest made of Kevlar and material to repel flak, and even pistol rounds; inserted ceramic plates to resist assault rifle fire.

• JAVIER LAROSA:

  Thank you very much, and God bless you.

• PAUL SOLMAN:

  Families like the LaRosas in Tennessee have been raising money to privately buy armor called Dragon Skin. Its scale-like design of overlapping ceramic disks, its manufacturer claims, repels bullets better, is more flexible, covers more of the body. But the Army and Marines have banned Dragon Skin because, says Mark Brown, the general now in charge of procuring body armor, it failed the Army's test.

• BRIG. GEN. MARK BROWN, U.S. Army:

  The bottom line is, it does not meet Army standards.

• PAUL SOLMAN:

  Some parents, however, are suspicious of the testing and say the troops are getting a raw deal.

• XAVIER HERMOSILLO:

  Don't tell me that I can't protect my son or my son-in-law, my partner, et cetera, with the best possible vest because of Army politics. I won't tolerate that.

• PAUL SOLMAN:

  While the Army, despite requests over several months, wouldn't talk to us about how its procurement policies affect the troops, skeptics were eager to.

• PIERRE SPREY, F-16 Designer:

  The soldier always gets skimped on.