Types Of Flak Jackets Used In The Vietnam War

By: JP

Every frontline soldier in Vietnam was issued a flak jacket as
part of his combat kit. The flack jacket is worn over the upper
body, and was designed to give protection against small arms
fire, shrapnel, and flying debris.

The Marines usually wore the Vest, Armored, M-1955. It weighed
just over 10 pounds and was made form a mixture of nylon and a
special protective material know as Doron. Doron was first
manufactured in 1943 by the Dow Chemical Company, and was created
by bonding together glass filaments under high pressure, using a
resin called methacrylate. This produced a hard but light weight
material which could withstand ballistic impact at very short
range. The vest was fitted with twenty three separate Doron
plates, with layers of nylon to cushion the impact of a direct
hit.

The Army’s flak jacket was slightly different. It was called
Body Armor, Fragmentation Protective, Vest M69. It reflected the
Army’s preference for nylon-aluminum rather than Doron.
Protection was built up by means of layers of ballistic nylon
filler, sealed in a waterproof vinyl plastic casing. The vest
weighed under 8 pounds and was more comfortable than the M-1955,
especially in the heat and humidity of Vietnam, although in both
cases the habit of wearing the flak jacket unzipped to keep
cool, undermined its value.

Unfortunately neither vest was really designed to stop an AK-47
round fired point blank, but they did a pretty good job of
stopping shell blasts, rocket fragments, snake bites, fire ant
bites, prickly thorn and the odd bullet that had just about run
out of gas.

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