Hey, Rob, Cavguy, Xenophon, etc. . .

Your guys interesting experiences beg the question, how much leeway do commanders (at whatever level) have in regards to load-out, armor packages and the like? This would seem to be another area where, since we certainly don't seem to have uniform standards of armor, allowing commanders to use their judgment of local conditions to determine armor and combat load standards might be a good idea . . .or do you not think so?

Additionally, I think the armor thing is another issue that is severely influenced by domestic politics, like MRAPs. The Marines got blasted a year or two ago when a study released that more advanced armor (the MTV, if I'm not mistaken) could have saved hundreds of Marine lives. Similar to how they're getting hit over the MRAP now. Whether out of ignorance or political motivations, this becomes a major concern and eventually a Congressional issue. And no Congressman is going to stand up and say "our troops DON'T need more armor" even if that's because they so heavily armored that they're less agile than the Michelin Man. Just as you can't say "we don't need so many MRAPs" because they're less COIN-friendly and less versatile and deployable than other multirole vehicles.

From that perspective alone, armor packages that commanders could scale up or down depending on conditions and intended duty would be best - at least from what I know about the issue. I'd be interested to hear what some of you have to say about it.

Regards,

Matt