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'Blast boxers' aim to curb 'life-changing' wounds
Blast boxers cost $86 and protect important soldier parts, their maker says.
Military officials in a number of European countries are testing “blast boxers,” armored underwear that protect the groin from shrapnel, according to the garments' manufacturer.
BCB International, a Cardiff, Wales-based manufacturer of military and survival products, says the shorts could help reduce “life-changing” injuries to the genitalia and colon - the type caused by roadside bombs in Afghanistan.
The “blast boxers” can stop a projectile moving at 230 meters per second (about the speed of a small handgun bullet), according to the company’s website. Besides protecting the genitals, the shorts also are designed to protect the femoral artery, which, if punctured, can cause rapid blood loss and a quick death.
The protective zones of the boxers are made from Aramid fabric, the same kind of fabric sold under the trade name Kevlar. Lightweight mesh compromises the rest of the garments.
BCB says the boxers have been worn on a 10-mile run “without causing undue discomfort,” but it recommends wearing them over other underwear.
The “blast boxers” sells for about $86 each on the company’s website.
“All soldiers asked whom have recently returned from Afghanistan, confirmed that had the Blast Boxers been available for them, despite the added burden, they would have all, to a man, worn them,” the company says on its website.
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Just what we need. Now every gang member will have a pair to be sure they can reproduce.
Wake up Pentagon. Sec. Gates, go for it. 100,000 to Afghanistan–pronto!
Sure more wasted tax money this time on "package protection". A whole lot more BS and connivery to steal money from idiotic taxpayers! That money would be better spent on developing ways for countless humans to grow BRAINS in their noggins that are lacking in many of the idiots posting here!
Sorry, it's impossible for liberals to grow brains.
Sounds nice in theory but don't think it would hold up in practice. Most guys down range in the summer don't even wear underwear to begin with. Then the military would give them one or two pair and that goes really well when you get to shower once a week or so and wash your clothes in a bucket.....
Have you been there, in combat JoePah? Hot, yes, but I'd wear them in a heartbeat, and so would every one I know.
I'll take the chances of blunt force trauma from shrapnel to the groin over guaranteed penetration and mutilation any day.
Anything to keep our troops safer!
Plaxico Burris could have used these!
Need to check description of materials in story.Is it compromise or comprise when describing material used in the protective under garment?
It should be "comprises." CNN writers are terrible.
islam kills
Agreed
I see two little issues here...
One becomes a saturday nite live skit with Alex Baldwins "Schwety Balls" charactor, and ends with soldiers being treated for fungal infections...
the other problem.....
if flying projectiles are smashing into my boys with bullet/shrapnel speeds resulting in tissue pulverizing impact force, then getting cut by the projectile is hardly gonna matter at all... in fact I think most men would agree, getting the fermoral artery cut and ending it all quickly would be preferable to surviving having thier junk smashed into silly putty and having to wear prostetic marbles for thier rest of thier life.
Yeah they might help if you were doing a dismounted patrol and there were anti-personnel mines. But for a mounted patrol.... If the shrapnel makes it through the several inches of the vehicle's metal/armor don't think it's gunna do much good.
Maybe, by the time shrapnel makes it through all that metal, it's slowed down an awful lot.
I'd wear them for sure. Besides, the article does say shrapnel and not bullets. A bullet to the junk and you're pretty much done regardless.
OMG I need some of these!!! I live and work in a rough neighborhood.
Shrapnel moves a lot faster than that. Those things aren't going to do jack.
One has to remember that there are Anti-Tank mines and Anti-Personnel mines. An Anti-Personnel mine is meant to not kill, but rather inflict injuries with emotional or morale consequences (like blowing off a guy's ....).
These boxer are intended to protect from an Anti-Personnel mine, not a AK-47 point blank shot to the groin.
These things will stop a small pistol round. Yet they are being touted as "blast" protection? Last time I checked explosions were much more intense than the impact of a small caliber round. And jagged shrapnel moving at hypersonic speeds is probably going to cut right through this. Not much of a plus IMO, except for the guys selling them at $86 a pop. When I was a contractor in Iraq we were told to make sure our ID was kept inside our vests.... So when a close explosion ripped our extremeties and head off they would be able to still ID the torso...
I would still buy them for Jake and the Twins!
For goodness sakes, why don't they just wear the Mormon magical underwear?
I think the blogger means "comprises," not "compromises." But I agree with both. Things come at you from all directions.
Sad to think that our troops dont already have things like this. It may "save the parts", but if someone got rocked in the coin purse by something moving at 230 meters/second, its still going to change your life.