Weight hikes prompt uniform, armor review - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Weight hikes prompt uniform, armor review

The Army wants to improve the comfort, performance and conformity of uniforms, body armor and other personal protection equipment, and will measure 94 body points of 13,000 soldiers to make it happen.

The data also will be used to enhance avatars used in military gaming and in the digital design of equipment and vehicles.

The 15-month anthropometric survey, the first since 1988, will measure 5,000 active-duty soldiers, 1,000 aviators, 2,000 reservists and 5,000 guardsmen, said David Accetta, spokesman for the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center in Massachusetts.

The Army is looking for a random sample varied by age, sex and race. Data gathered will include standard measurements such as chest and waist circumference, and body breadth and depth. Measuring teams will gather three-dimensional surface scans of the body, head, face and foot. The study will also measure specialized dimensions such as functional leg length, which is used to design cockpits and crew stations.

The survey, called ANSUR II, is especially necessary because current sizes for clothing and individual equipment are based on the 22-year-old survey and do not adequately cover larger body sizes in today’s Army, officials said.

“Increases in body weight since 1988 are so large that subjects in the 1988 [anthropometric survey] database cannot represent today’s larger, heavier soldier even with statistical weighting to account for demographic change,” Natick officials said in announcing the survey. As a result, the Army has “experienced shortages of select sizes of clothing and individual equipment, requiring urgent procurements to meet deployment needs.”

Data collection began in early October with soldiers representing 57 units at Fort Hood, Texas. Measurement teams are now at Fort Bliss, Texas, where they will remain until mid-January. Fort Rucker, Ala., is next on the list, with teams arriving in mid-February. The teams ultimately will visit posts and facilities in seven states.

The 3-D body scans will provide statistical data that can accurately portray body contours and curvatures in the design of close-fitting items such as body armor, the release said. The head and face scanner will capture shapes and curvatures needed for designing helmets, goggles, face and respiratory protection, while the foot scanner will capture size and shape for footwear design.

“This study is absolutely crucial not only to the design of soldiers’ uniforms and protective equipment, but also to the design of future combat vehicles,” Claire Gordon, senior research scientist in biological anthropology at Natick, said in a release.