Civic Action Project

1. Civic Action Project Increased in Spending on Military Protection for our Soldiers

2. Why we chose this topic The United States Government has hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in its soldiers. We would like to see an increase of spending on protection for these soldiers to keep them safer and the money invested in them, and to give the soldiers a better chance at surviving attacks from explosives.  There have been multiple cases where production of advanced armor has been cancelled because of the costs.  We also feel that the better the protection our troops have, the better they will operate in the field.

3. Why we chose this topic continued… This topic is personal to our group, because two of us are joining the Army ROTC programs at our colleges, and we would like the best protection possible so that we can do our job effectively.

4. Why Our Topic is Important We feel that there is no excuse for not giving our troops the protection they deserve. The military invests thousands of dollars into each soldier, and by not giving them the best protection possible, the military can lose its investment through casualties and deaths.

5. Why our topic is important cont… http://www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf According to IDGA, one-third of these casualties would have been prevented if the soldiers had adequate protection.

6. Quotes from Stand for the Troops Foundation Website Congressman John Olver was quoted by IDGA saying “one third of deaths and casualties could have been avoided if proper body armor and vehicle armor had been provided at the start of the war” “In yet another example of sloppy body armor test procedures, the inspector General says that the US Army cut corner when testing body armor according to Richard Lardner of the AP. This is not the first time - nor is likely to be the last.”

7. Why we are sending our concerns to you As students alone, we cannot do this by ourselves. We are hoping that you will take these concerns on, and help our soldiers who have already given so much.

8. Responses from other concerned students Quote from Justin (www.crfcap.org) “I agree- these soldiers deserve good protection. Having troops with better equipment would actually save the military money, as it would reduce the cost of training new soldiers. I know that part of the argument in the past is that heavy armor makes a soldier slower, but new armor minimally restricts movement.”

9. Responses from other concerned students continued… Quote from Tru (www.crfcap.org) “I Also agree the protection of the troops that protect us is very important. If we better improve the protection the troops can do their duty better. Cause and effect the only con to this proposal is more spending, which does not bother our government. Good luck!”

10. Continued… Quote from Alex (www.crfcap.org) “I agree completely. Our country needs to save money but this is not the area to skimp out on. Our troops are out there risking their lives it’s the least we can do to put the money into technology to keep them alive.

11. As you can see, we are not the only ones who are concerned on the military’s policy when it comes to our soldier’s safety.

12. Our solution for this problem to increase the amount of money spent in this area to provide the protection the soldiers need to do their job effectively The web site http://sftt.org/category/body-armor/ predicted it would only cost tax payers 434 million dollars to provide effective military vests. Our Solution

13. Dragon skin http://youtu.be/THQwO7-JMvE This armor is light, flexible, increased durability, less trauma, and overall better protection. Although it costs $5000, this armor overall provides much better protection than armor currently in use and is better that spending $400,000 per death of soldier

14. Military Budget The military budget is $663.8 billion and for military personnel, they spend $154.2 billion. For Dragon Skin Vests they would only need to spend $434 million dollars. It seems like a lot, but out of billions of dollars it really is not that much.

15. Closing Statement We hope that you will represent us and our troops by getting them the protection they need. By doing this, you can save a lot of needless combat casualties, and give our beloved soldiers a better chance of coming home.