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The Army’s Official Face Mask to Be Issued to New Soldiers in 2021
- noodlesUK 6y agoI’m surprised something like this didn’t already exist... Soldiers in other countries often have things like balaclavas that cover the face. Surely however, it would just be easier to wear the surgical/respirator type masks that I’m sure the military has a comically large number of.
- phnofive 6y agoThe pride in their expedited timeline (Two years) is pretty funny considering the other high-tech advances we’ve made in half the time... Maybe Etsy sellers needed help responding to the RFP?
- jacoblambda 6y agoUnless I misinterpreted this, the article said that while it normally takes around 2 years, in this case they were able to cut the time down to less than a year (from deciding to make it to it being issued out to everyone).
- phnofive 6y agoNo, you’re right, but that’s what I found funny. If it were a weapon or armor or helicopter or EKG, or even a milspec melt-blown mask... But this is just another cloth mask, coming soon to your PX.
- smt88 6y agoBy law, military-issued clothing needs to be made entirely in the US. This likely made the process slower. There also may have been a mandatory reverse-auction to source it.
- shalmanese 6y agoThe Army Spent Almost a Year Making Face Masks. That Doesn't Bode Well - What does the slow development of something as simple as a mask say about the service’s ability to do ... anything else? https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a35004952/army-face-masks-slow-development-time/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a35004952/army-fac...
- ggm 6y agoArmy maternity wear. Actually a really good sign that they understand the needs of a modern army.
- Karishma1234 6y agoWhat is modern about this ? Weren't women been part of armies for last hundreds of years ? (I do not know, genuinely asking)
- m4r35n357 6y agoWho knows, this might even persuade the "army of idiots" that wearing masks is a good idea!
- djohnston 6y agoSorry what? It took them a year and it will be redundant once they have the vaccines. God I need to get into defense contracts
- anonymouswacker 6y agoRedundant, ineffective, and a waste of taxpayer money. But hey, it took half the time to be as wasteful, so that is an improvement!
- KMag 6y agoIn hindsight, these will be soon redundant. I remember lots of pundits (rightly) cautioning that it might take 1-2 years to get an effective vaccine. The army had to start designing before they knew how effective vaccines would be and when they'd be released. Sure, they had a guess that a SARS-CoV2 vaccine would be a much easier vaccine target than HIV, but there are often unforeseen difficulties.
- djohnston 6y agoFair enough, I guess I'm sort of primed to criticize these projects as wasteful and expensive, but you're right that they needed to do something.
- Kim_Bruning 6y agoThey'll still be useful during the ~15 months or so that a vaccine rollout will likely take.
- wtfiswiththis 6y agoI'm sorry do you believe these masks only filter COVID, or that there will never be another reason to mask up? Can you spell out in explicit detail what you mean with your statement? Because to me it reads as "we don't need masks because of vaccines." That would be the dumbest take I've read on this site in awhile if this is the case, and I'm really hoping it is not since you have other users agreeing with you.