Thanks to an Air Force debarment action against Pinnacle Armor, manufacturer of Dragon Skin body armor, documents have been obtained, and witnesses deposed that provide hard evidence that the Army Acquisition capos fraudulently altered test reports to reflect the results desired by this band of criminal knaves.

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Now that I am back in the Pentagon, in one sense I feel like I have come home... The basic structure and architecture of the building, the familiar sights and sounds, and the number of old acquaintances I have seen have comforted me as if I were returning to a former residence.

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From my earliest days as a Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) midshipman, I was exposed to and expected to demonstrate the (Marine Corps’) fourteen leadership traits (memorized by countless Marines by the phrase “JJ DID TIE BUCKLE:” Judgment, Justice, Decisiveness, Integrity, Dependability, Tact, Initiative, Endurance, Bearing, Unselfishness, Courage, Knowledge, Loyalty, Enthusiasm). As I progressed in my career until the day I retired, and even now as a contractor supporting different military organizations, my performance was and is constantly evaluated and measured against those traits, by those around me and by myself.

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A former editor and friend of mine once told me to “write what I know and know what I write.” With that advice currently occupying my mind, I thought it was time to end my self-imposed hiatus from DefenseWatch and share with my readers (and especially any future active-duty persons who will be faced with transitioning to civilian life) my perspectives as a defense contractor for over two years.

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By Eilhys England Hackworth

Once again, it’s May 4th, three years to the day that my amazing husband, Colonel David (Hack) Hackworth, our country’s most valor-decorated soldier, died in my arms. Hack died from bladder cancer caused by Agent Blue -- to which he was repeatedly and mercilessly exposed during too many tours in Viet Nam trying to keep young boys under his command alive.

And once again this coming Friday, May 9th, the Town of Greenwich and the State of Connecticut will proclaim the day Colonel David Hackworth Day in celebration of Hack’s brave life and noble legacy. A legacy inexorably tied to Soldiers For The Truth Foundation (SFTT), an apolitical, non-partisan 501(c)(3) still functioning because of my deathbed promise to Hack that I’d pick up the torch and run with it.

At 6PM Greenwich’s Silver Shield Honor Guard - led by pipes and drums - will march to the Greenwich Avenue Post Office Green War Memorial to pay their respects, Rev. Bob Naylor will offer a few words about Hack as well as our warriors currently serving in hot spots around the globe, First Selectman Peter Tesei will read his Proclamation and Hack’s friends Catherine Crier and Geraldo Rivera will reminisce to caring citizens gathered in support of SFTT’s objective: protecting America’s frontline troops before they go into battle by making sure they have the best available critical combat gear to meet their assigned missions and make it home alive and in one piece.

That’s what Hack was all about. He always so treasured the kids out at the tip of the spear, most barely 18 and 19 years old, and was so haunted by the horrors of those faraway killing fields where he led and fought that he spent the rest of his life shining the light of truth on the type of leadership, training and equipment failures he personally saw cause so many unnecessary young deaths.

In fact, the reason he became a journalist, TV regular and syndicated columnist was to continue standing in the door for his beloved warriors. Years before, he’d been a teen foot soldier who won a battlefield commission in Korea for saving other soldiers’ lives and went on to become the youngest full Colonel in the US Army, a vaunted battlefield commander who was a legend as much for leading from the front and never asking his boys to do anything he wouldn’t do as for his brilliant war-fighting. He’d been there/done that and spoke with a different gravitas than most other pundits.

He was always prescient, never political, able to predict with deadly accuracy how Vietnam would unwind, able to call Iraq this time around in our column, on LARRY KING LIVE and elsewhere with the same terrible sense of tragedy unfolding. And as Iraq warped into a bloody, never-ending story, it’s become increasingly urgent that we keep SFTT going, but also do more with our investigative projects than feature them on our webzine (www.sftt.org) and direct them to national media – we need to bring truth to the public and to power with a higher profile and broader outreach.

Since this effort requires financial as well as moral support to extend SFTT’s lifesaving good works, Friday’s David Hackworth Day tribute will cap with an auction reception at Richard’s of Greenwich at 6:30PM immediately following the outdoor ceremonies.

SFTT is already making a difference. Several years of digging by SFTT’s award-winning webzine editor Roger Charles on the substandard body armor our troops are forced to wear – so substandard it can’t pass the government’s own specs – and Roger’s and my liaisons with Senators and House Members as committed as we are to the truth have turned up what we suspected. As a result, investigations are underway by oversight and criminal agencies including the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Homeland Security, the FBI, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the IRS and the Department of Commerce.

This month we’ll also break another national piece at least as major as NBC Dateline’s five-parter last May on body armor that will discuss how vulnerable vets just back from Iraq and Afghanistan have been drawn into highly dubious medical research.

For sure there will be the usual Pentagon spin on yet another crying shame, but with your support, SFTT will stay the course – just as Hack always did.

# # #

Eilhys England Hackworth and her late husband Colonel David Hackworth wrote the best-seller STEEL MY SOLDIERS’ HEARTS. She will be hosting Col. David Hackworth Day events in Greenwich May 9th at 6:15PM inside the front entrance to Richard's and the fundraiser at 6:30, also at Richard’s.

For further information: www.SFTT.org

Recently obtained copies of official documents disclose that an ongoing criminal investigation has confirmed that a Pinnacle Armor Dragon Skin body armor item purchased by the US Army was stolen while in Army custody.

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Editor's Note: Looks like the Army's claims in February that all Dragon Skin purchased by Army were properly accounted for was a bald-faced lie. (Ask the Pat Tillman family is this is SOP for today's Army PAO machine.) KSEE24 nails the story.

... Warren says he was told by the seller that the [Dragon Skin Level IV] vest would be in brand new condition when he received it, but says that was far from the truth, adding it had been shot at more than thirty times.

Not one round penetrating the armor.

"Catastrophic failure? The bullet would have actually come all the way through or damaged the plates and as you can see, the back is perfect," said Warren.

Regardless, The Department of Justice still wants their [the federal government's] vest back and Warren says next week, the F.B.I. is planning to come and pick it up.

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DefenseWatch has learned that Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics & Technology Dean G. Popps, is currently under investigation for his role in the various body armor scandals that continue to rock the Army acquisition mafia.

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For the first time, the Army is now claiming: "The current body armor is doing what it is designed to do: stop or slow bullets and fragments, and reduce the severity of wounds." (Emphasis added.)

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The Pentagon’s Inspector General has found that the U.S. Army repeatedly failed to follow federal contracting rules in procuring billions of dollars worth of body armor for American soldiers, according to an IG report obtained by NBC News.

In nearly half of the body-armor contracts given out between January 2004 and December 2006, according to the report, the Army failed to require or perform so-called ‘first article testing’ designed to catch and correct any defects in the body-armor manufacturing process. What’s more, the Army failed to maintain appropriate records to justify why a number of contracts were awarded in the first place, the report said. It is scheduled for public release tomorrow.

As a result, the report states that the Department of Defense “has no assurance” that 13 of 28 Army body-armor contracts--worth an estimated $2.98 billion--“met the required standards” or that 11 of 28--worth an estimated $3.92 billion--“were awarded based on informed procurement decisions.”

“This is astonishing,” said Congresswoman Louis Slaughter (D-N.Y.), the chairwoman of the House Rules Committee. She first asked the IG to examine the Pentagon’s body-armor procurement practices back in April 2006. Slaughter told NBC News: “Army’s officials have a responsibility to the soldier and the taxpayer and they failed in both areas. Whoever is responsible for this needs to be fired.”

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At a time of increasing threats to America's Grunts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and as we start the sixth year of the Iraq war, there is yet more empirical data that our frontline troops are wearing inferior body armor that is falsely advertised as the "best in the world," and that is demonstrably incapable of meeting the US Army's own performance standards.

The latest proof came on February 20 when the Aberdeen Test Center hosted a demonstration test for contractors bidding on the Army's May 25, 2007 Request For Proposal for the highest level of personal protective body armor.

The first shot -- roughly equivalent to a standard AK-47 round -- hit one and a half inches from the lower-left corner of the Army's current "best" plate. This plate should easily defeat AK-47 Armored Piercing rounds, but this lower performing AK-47 bullet knocked a three-inch "chunk" (a corner segment) loose from the Army's best plate, and was almost a complete penetration. Fragments of the plate did impact and penetrate into the clay to the side of Interceptor Body Army vest's front plate.

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More details: latest test of Interceptor Body Armor --3 Out of 6 Shots Penetrated Both Front and Back ISAPI Plates (Level III+)

An Interceptor Body Armor (IBA) with an Improved Small Arms Protective Insert (ISAPI) plates failed, and failed miserably, on March 13 when the second, third, fourth, fifth and six rounds of .308 caliber hollow point fully penetrated the front protective plate.

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Interceptor Armor Test Sequence

The Interceptor SAPI (Level III) plate failed, and failed miserably, at the 2d round while Dragon Skin Level IIIE (Enhanced) defeated 186 Rounds (see Below) .

The Setting: "On Thursday, military members, law enforcement agents and the media were invited to the C2 shooting center in Virginia Beach for a test - Dragon Skin vs. the body armor currently being used by the military."

Choice Comment on Dragon Skin: "This is absolutely unbelievable. I've never seen anything defeat these types of rounds this close before in my life," said Marc Whedbee, a former soldier and law enforcement officer.

Next Up : "The traditional body armor being worn by troops overseas today. The plate did not hold up. .

See below for details of the test.

See the video WAVY10 news

Interceptor SAPI (Level III) fails after first round; Dragon Skin Level III (Enhanced) stops 186 rounds... filmed by two local television stations... links to be posted when video available... Here is some quotes from WVEC-13's text report of the shoot off, followed by a link to the article.

"During the demonstration a volley of four .308 caliber hollow point sniper rounds pumped into the Dragon Skin Body Armor, with it overlapping silver dollar sized ceramic and titanium discs.

"They were all direct hits, and they did not damage."

"The dummy beneath the flexible, SOV-2000 level III ballistic vest did not suffer a scratch, even when shot from far closer."

"The same could not be said for the standard Army-issue Interceptor S.A.P.I. plated vest, which 13News wore in 2004 day in and day out in Iraq. When the Interceptor underwent the same test as the Dragon Skin, it was obliterated." (Emphasis added.)

Witnessing this shoot off were U.S. Navy SEALs, and representatives from U.S. Coast Guard, Virginia Beach Police Department, Chesapeake Police Department (SWAT) and Norfolk Police Department (SWAT).

One Dragon Skin SOV-2000E (Level III Enhanced) was shot in the front with sixteen .308 rounds, four 6.8mm rounds, and sixteen .223 rounds, and then 150 9mm rounds. All rounds were defeated. Two of the .308 rounds impacted within 3/8 of an inch of each other without a penetration.

WVEC-13's text report

How does a nuclear powered airplane of 50 years ago equate to today's acquisition scandals involving body armor, the CAR-4, and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles?

Many people think that some Trotskyite radical with a white-hot hatred of America's capitalist economic system coined the term "Military Industrial Complex (MIC)."

Not even close!

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The other day I read a report that was basically an interview with an American General about embedding American forces with Iraqi police. The report was false and not up to date information!
Here is the truth, "Once a militia always a militia!"
(Editor's Note: This first-hand report is from a company grade officer in Iraq.)

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Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway wants to know who authorized the costly purchase of the new Modular Tactical Vest (MTV), and has ordered Marine procurement officers to halt the rest of an unfilled order

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Editor's Note: The following account was submitted by an eyewitness to the informal "ballistic test" of an ESAPI (Level IV) plate. Some identifying information has been deleted to protect the source. This is his report of the event, in his own words. Any other observers out there who care to report successes or failures are encouraged to contact me at sftteditor@aol.com. All sources must be willing to establish bona fides before their information will be reported.

The demo included two rounds of 9mm and two rounds of 7.62mm NON-armor piercing rounds going into a Level 4 Interceptor plate. Nothing scientific about the demo, just a vest hanging on a post, shot from about 25 yards.

One of the 7.62 rounds made it through! [Emphasis added.]

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