Protective face shield saves lives

Courtesy Photo | CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq -- Spc. Jeremy Cringle, B Battery 1st Battalion, 39th Field Artillery Regiment, wears the Kevlar-mounted face shield prior to his convoy into Baghdad. His company received the face shields in August. It has received mixed reviews from his fellow Soldiers, he said.  

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

12.27.2005

Courtesy Story

100th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

Spc. Derek Del Rosario
100th MPAD

BAGHDAD --Citizens of Baghdad have recently seen a new face to the Soldiers driving through their city.

Gunners in convoys have been peering through a thick plastic glass mounted on their helmets. This face shield was designed to give added protection to Soldiers "outside the wire," specifically gunners, whose faces are exposed to many potential threats.

The face shield has received mixed reviews from Soldiers in Task Force Baghdad, prompting the question, "is the face shield worth it?"

The command group of the 3rd Infantry Division said the answer to this question is a definite yes, citing that the face shield provides Soldiers with face protection from a wide range of threats.

The 3.5"pound face shield is made of acrylic and bullet-resistant polycarbonate materials, and was designed to provide Soldiers with added protection from small arms fire and shrapnel from explosions.

Lt. Col. Virginia Yates, 3rd Inf. Div. Surgeon, said the face shield's lifesaving potential makes it of the utmost importance to wear.

"The idea to use face shields was first suggested by the 86th Combat Support Hospital ophthalmologist who saw potential to save the rest of the face not covered by the ballistic eyewear," Yates said. "In the division, we track the incidents of battle injuries in several ways. One of these ways we track battle injuries is by location of wound on the body. We elected to purchase face shields for the division based on trends in facial injuries that might have been prevented with face shield coverage, especially coverage for our gunners."

Some of these wound trends surrounded fatal facial injuries sustained during explosions, she added.

Preventing injuries from airborne debris is exactly the reason why the face shield is absolutely necessary according to Capt. Jason Caboot, Battalion Surgeon, 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry. Rocks or bricks thrown at Soldiers are a big threat, Caboot said.

"The easiest way to measure the success of the face shield is to look at the number of Soldiers we have treated at the aid station with facial injuries," Caboot said. "We have treated seven Soldiers this year with significant enough facial injury that they were evacuated to the aid station."

Caboot said the injuries were significant enough that one Soldier, a tank commander, had a fractured nose and cheekbone from an air born rock; and another Soldier was evacuated back to the U.S. with a wired jaw caused by a thrown brick.

While some Soldiers have reservations about wearing the face shield, Maj. Benjamin Ervin, 3rd Inf. Div. medical operations officer, said their safety is far too important to overlook.

"Soldiers have discomfort wearing a lot of things, like (mission oriented protective posture) suits or protective masks, but these things are issued to help Soldiers," Ervin said. "(The face shield) is kind of the same concept. The idea is to protect Soldiers so they can get home in one piece. It's just one way of how leadership is looking out for Soldiers in order to minimize injury."

Ervin is also optimistic that the face shield will continue to evolve, and that a more comfortable design could be made while still maintaining its protective capability.

"There are always improvements that can be made, just like the improvements to the Kevlar helmet, or the switch from flak vests to vests with SAPI plates," Ervin said. "Like computers, (military technology) continues to evolve, and we can only hope the face shield can evolve as well. Perhaps a thinner glass can be designed so that it doesn't weigh so much, but this is what we have in the meantime, and I think it's important for Soldiers" safety."

No matter what a Soldier's feelings are on the face shield, Ervin says the ultimate intention is clear: to get the Soldiers home in one piece.

"Like all of our leaders in the 3rd (Infantry Division), we want our Soldiers to get home injury free, so we try our best to get the Soldiers what they need to protect themselves," he said. "We don't like to read the casualty reports; if there is something we can do about it, we will, and the face shield is just one of those ways."

• Date Taken: 12.27.2005
• Date Posted: 12.27.2005 11:19
• Story ID: 4198
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ