New body armour saves soldier's living in Afghanistan

A soldier has defended the army's new human body armour after he credited it with saving his living when he was shot on patrol in Helmand. wp bbc

Ranger Ryan Boyd from The Royal Irish regiment was shot within the facet, however the bullet went into the metal plates in his armour in place of his human body.

The Osprey armour has been criticised for getting too restrictive to move freely along with the plates getting too heavy.

But 27-year-old Boyd from Northern Ireland thinks the criticism is unfair.

"It's an astounding bit of equipment," he claimed. "People give it negative press but I assume it is good.

"If I hadn't acquired the brand new human body armour along with the facet plates fitted, the spherical would have certainly handed straight by way of my lungs and my coronary heart and i probably would not be here now."

The Osprey Assault human body armour has the many stopping power of earlier equipment however the Ministry of Defence (MoD) says it is a lot more tailored for troops in areas like Afghanistan.

They say it is closer fitting, less cumbersome and simpler to move in despite the criticism.

Although the most up-to-date armour weighs the identical as older tools, it is a third of your thickness and spreads the load amongst the shoulders along with the waist.

You will discover also new pockets within the sides which permit soldiers to place in smaller armoured plates roughly the dimension of a notepad, one of which saved Ranger Ryan Boyd's living.
On patrol

Boyd was on a regimen patrol within the Nad-e Ali region when he came beneath fire by insurgents.

He claimed: "When I used to be shot it hit me within the facet, it spun me correct spherical and i ended up within the ditch on my spine like a turtle."

He describes obtaining shot as similar to "getting punched within the ribs 20 instances in a single go".

When he bought up he felt something running down his chest, nonetheless it wasn't blood.

The bullet acquired gone by way of his water bottle before hitting his armour.

He says he did not realise how shut a shave he acquired acquired until finally he bought spine from patrol.

"Once I bought spine into camp I used to be fairly shook up, it kicked in what occurred.

"When it occurred I used to be laughing about it within the ditch but then it kicked in and i began to sense the fear of it.

"But I'm spine out on patrol. I'm all correct."