Lightweight Equipment for Troops on Hold

Soldiers in the army are forced to carry so much equipment that it can take a toll on their backs and knees. As a result, the army has agreed to send troops some equipment that is more lightweight. Lightweight bullet proof plates that protect a soldier's chest and back were supposed to be sent out to troops already but there has been a delay. "A team of Army experts went to eastern Afghanistan in early March expecting to begin trial runs of the gear for regular Army soldiers, including a company assigned to the remote Korangal Valley, a harsh and primitive area of eastern Afghanistan where the insurgency has proved especially resilient, and where soldiers regularly set off on multiple-day patrols that require them to hike up and down steep hills and valleys. But the assessment team was ordered back to the United States late last month when its experiment was put off. The delays in the assessment were reported first by Army Times." The analysis of the new equipment will begin again in a month.