Marines Ban Sports Brands From Battlefield

[riverdog]

Marines Ban Sports Brands From Battlefield Clothing No more Under Armour, CoolMax and Nike for you guys in the SandBox.

There's a story about a Navy supply officer that wanted to watch a carrier take-off and went up to the flight deck. When an F-14 throttled up his "Certified Navy Twill" (polyester, spun oil) uniform melted to his skin -- not good. Not sure where he was standing or why the other shirts on the flight deck let him stand there, but I have no doubt that the uniform can melt.

 

[Kevlarman]

Every intelligent person should know that sythetic materials and high temperature don't mix!

So basically, one Navy dude messed it up for the entire Marine Corps?

 

[Henry Bowman]

If you read the whole article, it makes some sense. I figured from the title that they didn't want TV film of our fighting men and women wearing the Nike "swoosh" like a sponsor of the event.

 

[riverdog]

So basically, one Navy dude messed it up for the entire Marine Corps?

The Navy dude, Navy Capt. Lynn E. Welling, the 1st Marine Logistics Group head surgeon, is attached to the Corps. Seems to me he made a good call. As comfortable as that gear is, it isn't MilSpec.

 

[ball3006]

Probably had too much trouble....

teaching Marines the sport logos so they knew what they were wearing.......... chris3

 

[mp5man1]

I'v worn that sruff on operations and really never thought of it until now. Guess for me it doesnt matter now that I'm on the bench but it does make sense.

 

[White Horseradish]

Burning plastic is nasty. I had a couple of drops of polyethylene on fire stick to my hand 20 years ago and I still have the scar.

 

[possum]

sucks for them, but at least we get to keep them. under armor is awesome, it is becomming standard issue now in the army.

 

[hso]

A military surgeon said this essentially creates a second skin and can lead to horrific, disfiguring burns.

“Burns can kill you and they’re horribly disfiguring. If you’re throwing (a melted synthetic material) on top of a burn, basically you have a bad burn with a bunch of plastic melting into your skin and that’s not how you want to go home to your family,” said Navy Capt. Lynn E. Welling, the 1st Marine Logistics Group head surgeon.

According to Tension Technology International, a company that specializes in synthetic fibers, most man-made fabrics, such as nylon, acrylic or polyester will melt when ignited and produce a hot, sticky, melted substance causing extremely severe burns.

Military.com reported Marines have been limited to wearing clothing made with these materials only while on the relatively safe forward operating bases and camps where encounters with fires and explosions are relatively low.

Baltimore-based Under Armour advertises that the fabric used to make their garments will draw perspiration from the skin to the outer layer of the clothing allowing the person wearing it to remain cool and dry in any condition or climate.

The site said servicemembers with jobs that put them at a high risk of flame exposure, such as pilots and explosive ordnance disposal personnel, were kept from wearing polyester materials because of the extra burn threat. Now, with so many encounters with IED explosions, the Marines are extending this ban to everyone going “outside the wire.”

If you're riding in a vehicle and an IED punctures or ruptures the fuel tank the guys wearing synthetics may or may not be worse off than the guys just wearing issue considering that the flaming fuel will produce the burns and the Under Armor/CoolMax/Whatever is only melting in responce to the burning fuel (the bigger issue)

 

[Mauserguy]

I believe that the problem is with the flash burns. In a flash of heat, your skin will be burned, but if the plastic is melted onto your skin, it will continue to burn longer, thus deeper. I read about this in airplane crashes before. Polyester makes first degree burns into third degree nightmares.
Mauserguy

 

[Jeff White]

This is interesting, but since flash burns from IEDs are not the biggest threat most of us face, this is off topic.

Jeff