Army combat center aims to build better body armor for women

who are longtime experts in Soldier protection, human factors, and gathering/analyzing Soldier input — are investigating body armor fit and related issues, and how those issues impact the ability of users to perform their mission.To get more news about best bullet proof vest, you can visit bulletproofboxs.com official website.

Participation from current and past users of body armor will provide researchers with insight into user needs and ways to make improvements. (See link to the questionnaire at the end of this article. To best provide researchers with the information they need to make improvements, it is important to finish the questionnaire and answer all the questions.)

The questionnaire is part of DEVCOM SC’s larger effort to support the Female Body Armor Modernization Act. In support of the act, DEVCOM SC is investigating and developing body armor system improvements specifically focused on females as well as improvements that will benefit both male and female Soldiers. DEVCOM SC’s Applied Ergonomics Team and the Consumer Research Team, both part of DEVCOM SC’s Soldier Effectiveness Directorate, have worked together to develop the questionnaire.

Blake Mitchell, team leader of the Applied Ergonomics Team and lead for the Anthropometric Study for the Female Body Armor Modernization program, explained that the questionnaire will help “to identify the predominant fit and performance issues, as well as the body armor system sizing and issuance process experienced by women in the Army.”

Mitchell explained that the questionnaire goes into considerable depth in its attempt to identify what the primary issues are in a way that can allow for design improvements. The questionnaire gives participants the means to identify ways they are not fully protected, any discomfort they experience (both short or long term), and how issues with fit may impede their ability to do their job.

“We want potential participants to understand the importance of completing this survey, because it takes time to answer all questions honestly and thoroughly, particularly for those who have more experience with body armor,” said Wendy Johnson, a research psychologist on the Consumer Research Team. “In order to make the survey more convenient and to accommodate their schedules, participants have up to seven days to complete the survey once they begin.”

The questionnaire is aimed at females in the Army, but all genders are welcome to respond. The research team hopes to use data from male respondents to better understand their general fit and performance issues. Researchers are also interested in gathering opinions of body armor users from the National Guard and the Reserves, as well as individuals who have recently separated from the military.

“We hope to elicit responses from a wide variety of mission areas across the military – from people that only have to wear body armor occasionally to those that wear it day and night for extended periods of time,” Mitchell said. “Having data from a broad array of users will allow us more power in how we understand and interpret the data, and aid in the better design of future systems to accommodate a broader range of the user population.”

The questionnaire asks respondents relevant questions about their body shape and size, as well as their experiences with, and performance impacts due to, body armor use. In addition to identifying the specific body armor elements that need to be improved, researchers also hope to find out what is working well.
“Researchers will summarize the information derived from this questionnaire and will make it available to designers, manufacturers and acquisition personnel,” Mitchell said. “Key issues will be grouped based on demographic and anthropometric descriptors to lead to a better understanding of how to improve fit and performance.”