Why Army Dont Wear Bullet Proof Vests
There is no such thing as “bulletproof”, merely “bullet resistant”.
A current set of Type IV body armor such as the
Interceptor body armor commonly used by US soldiers with full plates weighs in at 35 pounds (~15 kg). Add 3-4 more pounds for the helmet.
So nearly 40 pounds (~18 kg) of body armor and that doesn’t cover the arms or the legs. And that is before any other equipment like uniform, weapon, ammunition, tools, water, food, etc. A fully loaded infantryman in such gear can easily find themselves carrying 50%+ percent of their total body weight in gear.
A bullet proof vest would likely double the weight of the armor and reduce the soldier’s mobility to a waddle and unable to bend.
And even with that, the armor is only proof against certain rounds. With the plates, it will stop pistol and intermediate rifle rounds. The plates will stop ONE armor piercing .30-06 or 7.62x54R round. Subsequent protection against such rounds is not guaranteed.
Body armor WILL NOT stop .50BMG or equivalent Russian heavy machine gun rounds.
