I’m going to start this one off by stating if your weigh body armor options through a fitness prism, and many folks do, you’re wrong, and you need to stop reading, walk outside, and do something strenuous. If you’re an excuse maker, guess what- your odds of personal survival are slim anyway, much less working within a successful guerrilla Light Infantry paradigm. I hope that hurts some feelings, because when feelings get hurt, folks do something about it.
Musa himself was well armed, “I carried a Kalashnikov, the older 7.62mm model, not the smaller 5.45mm model. The larger round is much better than the 5.45mm because it is less likely to ricochet in urban and forest fighting. Several of our people were killed in Grozny from friendly fire- ricochets from the 5.45mm round.”
“Because I was a commander, I also carried a pistol and three or four magazines. I carried 12 magazines for my AK. Eight of these I carried in a four-pocket combat vest. I put two magazines in each pocket. That was my body armor. I carried an additional magazine on my back, directly covering my heart and another on my side protecting my kidney. I carried six hand grenades strapped across my stomach. So my arsenal was my flak vest. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough.
-Billingsley, “Fangs of the Lone Wolf” , 80
JC Dodge wrote an excellent piece a few days ago which prompted some interesting comments I felt was important to share.
You may have armor. Your immediate team may as well. Folks you pick up along the way may not, and you may not either at some point. There’s other ways to go about it.
It’s not perfect, but it’s been “good enough” for a lot of the old timers. And don’t forget, Body Armor doesn’t make you bulletproof.