Monday, May 09, 2005

Congratulations Army-Times Publishing Company

'Marine Corps Times' Probe Leads to Recall of Faulty Vests

NEW YORK Proving that you don't have to be a major big city newspaper known for investigative scoops to get dramatic results, a probe by the Marine Corps Times apparently triggered the recall of more than 5,000 ballistic vests issued to Marines despite tests indicating they might be flawed.

Many of the vests were issued to Marines in Iraq. The reporter on the story told E&P today that officials tried to "steer" him away from the story.

"Faced with the imminent publication of this story, the result of an eight-month investigation by Marine Corps Times, the Marine Corps on May 4 issued a Corpswide message recalling 5,277 Interceptor vests from 11 lots that failed government ballistic performance tests — slightly more than half the total vests issued to Marines from questionable lots," Christian Lowe, a Times staff writer, wrote in the weekly.


Well done.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's amazing to me that it's so hard for our troops to get the proper equipment they need. Think Progress just posted a story about how the state of Oklahoma is now selling license plates to pay for armor for soldiers. Where's Rumsfeld? Isn't that his job?

http://thinkprogress.org/index.php?p=834

Alice said...

It is a national disgrace and without precedent.