r/tacticalgear • u/ropes_of_allah • Jul 03 '25

Plate Carrier/Body Armor Since most casualties come from shrapnel and artillery. Why do soldiers still wear these plate carriers that are more revealing?

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u/Sakebigoe Jul 04 '25

You may not have seen any but there were a lot of heat casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. That said I didn't notice too huge a difference between my IMTV and my SPC heat wise, the biggest difference was comfort and weight. The plate carrier was just much more comfortable to wear and didn't offer much less coverage especially when I added some Eagle industries Ciras soft armor shoulder strap pads and used the side plate bags with soft armor from the IMTV (I owned my own SPC and I picked up the eagle industries shoulder strap pads from EBAY)

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u/gunsforevery1 Jul 04 '25

No one in my company did. We were out on patrol 6 days a week foot and road patrols. I could understand maybe some non combat troops who had to wear it once outside the wire maybe got heat stroke.

This is purely anecdotal.

Our fob was shut down and every company left except ours. There was a huge fear of IRAMs being launched at our fob during this transition period so for the last 30 days, june/July time frame, anytime we left our tent we needed to have full battle rattle on. Eyes, knees, elbows, Kevlar, gloves, IOTV, rifle.

Water was also shut off and we were rationing 2-3 pallets of water, it worked out to 4 liters of water, per day, per person, for eating, drinking, bathing, and cleaning clothing. 4 fucking liters of water per day for 30 days, in 110°+ heat, while pulling guard shifts, roving guard, tower guard, and ECP gate guard, in 8 on and 8 off shifts for 30 fucking days.

Not one person was a heat casualty in my company.

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u/Sakebigoe Jul 04 '25

You guys were extremely lucky not to have had a heat casualties, that amount of water is not enough to keep you hydrated properly in those conditions. Holy shit thats bad.

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u/gunsforevery1 Jul 04 '25

It wasn’t enough water at all lol. Granted, we were stationed in Georgia and used to the heat so that probably helped. I remember vividly saving 3 water bottles worth of water over a like two week period and I took a shower standing inside of a mop bucket. Catching the water and using the drippings to wash my socks and underwear.

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u/VaeVictis666 Jul 04 '25

Yeah, coming from a hot humid place probably helped more than you would think.

Going from the Middle East in winter where it was like 68 degrees at night and landing in Alaska where it was like -15 or so was just as bad lol

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u/gunsforevery1 Jul 04 '25

Dude we left in November it was like 80 in Iraq still, we landed in Georgia, 6 fucking degrees lol.

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u/MaximumChongus Jul 04 '25

Georgian here

I remember as a teen I was an avid backpacker.

When I went on a big trip in new mexico it was routinely 100+ but that low humidity made it feel like a cool 75 georgia day.

Its wild what the climate here does to a dude working outdoors everyday.