Friday, August 19, 2016

Report: U.S. Military Combat Helmets Made By Prisoners Were Defective

ACH helmet © oig.justice.gov

NBC: Military Combat Helmets Made By Prisoners Were Defective, Agency Says

Thousands of combat helmets made for the U.S. military by prisoners and paid for by the government were defective, putting service members — including some in Afghanistan — at risk, according to a report from a watchdog agency.

A litany of violations were found in the manufacturing process, including the use of unauthorized or degraded materials, according to the Justice Department Inspector General summary, released Wednesday. The sub-par practices significantly reduced the helmets' ability to withstand hits from ballistics or bullet fragments, it added.

"Helmets also had other defects such as deformities and the investigations found that rejected helmets were sold to the DOD [Department of Defense]," the report said.

Read more ....

More News On Reports That U.S. Military Combat Helmets Made By Prisoners Were Defective

Pentagon: Prison Inmates Produced Thousands of Defective Helmets -- Military.comn
Prison inmates produced defective combat helmets for U.S. soldiers -- Washington Times
Watchdog: Company sold 'defective' combat helmets to Pentagon -- The Hill
Prison inmates made helmets for the US military — and tens of thousands were defective -- Business Insider
Combat Helmets Made by Prisoners Put US Soldiers at Risk -- Fiscal Times
Watch your head: US Army recalls 125k+ prison-made combat helmets -- RT

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Low bidder and poor QC. Bad combo.

Unknown said...

My understanding is that Japan makes prisoners work 8 hours a day.

Maybe we should relook at which prisoners work, what they get paid and re-integration.

My philosophy is that "if you are ever going to let them out, you had better treat them well, while they are in".

Death row also needs to be busier so we have fewer prisoners.

B.Poster said...

"Low bidder and poor QC. Bad combo." Spot on!! Any time that price is the sole deciding factor in making a decision on something, you always end up getting burned. So far I have seen no exceptions to this general rule. While price will be a factor, it should NEVER be the sole deciding factor.

The next thought is why are we using prisoners to make something as important as military helmets. There are a number of firms in the US who could do this and would do a fine job of this for a reasonable price. These people would take great pride in making these helmets for the soldiers and it would go a long way toward forging a bond between our warriors and our civilians.

Of course the quality was bad. There is a reason these people are prisoners in jail. To entrust such personnel to something this important is unconscionable.

No wonder no one trusts this government, morale in the military is low, and the military currently would be hard pressed to defend the American mainland much less carry out all of the other missions that have been assigned to it. Under President Trump things will change. As to whether or not they will change for the better is not known at this time.

When he stays on message, 1.) secure the borders stopping the horde that is a de facto invasion force from the south of whom many of the invaders have advanced military training, 2.)renegotiate the ridiculous trade agreements currently destroying us, 3.)renegotiate NATO and other "defense" agreements that are draining our military while benefiting us nothing, 4.)streamlining regulations making production in America more cost effective and 5.)by his choice of advisors and spoken words indicates he deems it important to improve relations with Russia he has a message that resonates with the American people.

I suppose some do not like the messenger and therefore reject the message. Also, can he be trusted? This is a legitimate question. With Mrs. Clinton we know or should know the outcome will be bad and with America's survival already hanging by a thread and in grave danger it would seem prudent in this case to take the chance on the unknown rather than the known bad.

I'm getting off topic. Using prisoners to make helmets for soldiers, what could possibly go wrong?!!? The sooner this government is purged from top to bottom on the federal level the better. Then perhaps we can look forward to better decision making.

RussInSoCal said...

Stick to license plates.