A quick guide to Body Armor.
Different pieces of body armor are created to be used at different times, for that reason you will need to determine if you are going to be wearing your body armor below or above your clothes.
Covert types of body armor are created to be worn beneath clothes. Because of this they are normally built to be as sleek and as lightweight as possible, and are designed to be undetectable when put on beneath clothing. These sorts of body armor are commonly manufactured from moisture wicking fabric that help to keep the wearer cooler, and are also often made in lighter colors than other kinds of body armor.
Covert body armor is worn by people that want the fact they’re using body armor to go unnoticed. This is often individuals such as close protection officers, undercover agents and door supervisors, as an overt piece of body armor may not be practical for them.
Overt forms of body armor are made to be worn above your clothing, and so they tend to be made out of stronger materials than those used for covert pieces of body armor. The idea of overt body armor is it is noticeable to others, and for this reason standard overt body armor covers are generally black, but there are plenty of other colors that are available. Often overt types of body armor will come with high visibility markings, or be manufactured completely from high visibility materials, ensuring that the person wearing them stands out.
Police forces around the globe wear overt types of body armor, as well as security businesses and also security staff. An overt piece of body armor will be a deterrent, because it can help identify a person of authority quickly in a crowd.
Body armor has come to be very popular in the last 25 years, for 2 key factors. Firstly, early varieties of body armor were heavy and stiff, however improvements in engineering means that the body armor we benefit from these days provides high levels of protection, whilst at the same time being light-weight, flexible and comfy when used for extended time periods. The 2nd cause for the surge in body armor use is because, unfortunately, it is starting to be required in several types of work due to the increased threats that many of us encounter in modern society.
Once you’ve decided if you will need a covert or overt piece of body armor, it is then important to decide what protection levels you will need. When deciding on an item of body armor you have to take into consideration what types of threats that you will encounter, because different types of body armor will offer protection for different types of threats.
A bullet proof vest is the most well recognized type of body armor on the market. This sort of body armor is made to stop a bullet by “catching” it inside a web of tremendously strong fibres, preventing it from passing through the jacket itself. They come in different levels of protection, that can offer the person wearing them protection from low powered firearms up to high powered Magnums.
Another widely used kind of body armor is stab resistant vests. A lot of people think that if a unit of body armor can stop a bullet then it will be able to stop a blade, however this is simply not the case. The reason being a blade penetrates fabric in a different way to a round, and consequently a traditional bullet resistant jacket is not going to protect its wearer from a knife based assault.
In recent times spike proof vests have also become obtainable on the body armor market place. These kinds of vests provide the wearer protection from spiked weapons like needles and syringes, which can easily slip through the weave in the fabric of a bullet or stab proof piece of body armor.
With such a wide range of body armor available you will need to think about which kind is correct for yourself. If you are working in a place with zero gun crime but substantial amounts of knife crime then it is worthless wearing an item of body armor which will only defend from guns. Equally a knife resistant item of body armor will be useless if you are in danger of getting shot.
However modern varieties of body armor can now provide multi-threat protection. This means that they’ll protect the wearer from different kinds of attacks, for example there is now body armor that’s both bullet and stab resistant, and even bullet, stab and spike resistant varieties.
The key factor when choosing your body armor is to make certain that it will protect you. Make sure you have the appropriate type of protection for the dangers you’re going to face, since you can not put a price on your life.
