The Shielding Capacity of the Standard Military Flak Jacket Against Ballistic Injury to the Kidney
O'Connell, KJ
Captain, M.C., U.S. Navy, lieutenant, M.C., U.S. Naval Reserve, lieutenant comm, M.C.,U.S. Naval Reserve, and lieutenant comm, M.C., U.5. Navy, respectively, Div. of Urology, Dept. of Surgery, Uniformed Services Univ. of Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD.

Frazier II, HA
Captain, M.C., U.S. Navy, lieutenant, M.C., U.S. Naval Reserve, lieutenant comm, M.C.,U.S. Naval Reserve, and lieutenant comm, M.C., U.5. Navy, respectively, Div. of Urology, Dept. of Surgery, Uniformed Services Univ. of Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD.

Clark, MA
Commander, M.C., U.S. Navy, and colonel, U.S. Air Force, M.C., respectively, Division of Forensic Pathology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, DC.

Christenson, PJ
Captain, M.C., U.S. Navy, lieutenant, M.C., U.S. Naval Reserve, lieutenant comm, M.C.,U.S. Naval Reserve, and lieutenant comm, M.C., U.5. Navy, respectively, Div. of Urology, Dept. of Surgery, Uniformed Services Univ. of Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD.

Keyes, BT
Captain, M.C., U.S. Navy, lieutenant, M.C., U.S. Naval Reserve, lieutenant comm, M.C.,U.S. Naval Reserve, and lieutenant comm, M.C., U.5. Navy, respectively, Div. of Urology, Dept. of Surgery, Uniformed Services Univ. of Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD.

Josselson, A
Commander, M.C., U.S. Navy, and colonel, U.S. Air Force, M.C., respectively, Division of Forensic Pathology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, DC.


Abstract
An animal model was designed to evaluate the ability of the standard military flak jacket to protect the kidneys from direct ballistics trauma. Yorkshire swine were anesthetized and their flanks were protected by flak jackets. Ballistics insults ranging from a low-velocity handgun to a high-velocity rifle were evaluated. The results demonstrate that a flak jacket provides adequate protection against low- and mid-velocity projectiles since none of the animals from this group had evidence of internal trauma and because only minor superficial surgical attention would have been required. Survivability in each case was considered to be excellent. The flak jacket failed to provide any protection against several types of high-velocity bullets. These weapons caused severe internal injury to the genitourinary system as well as to other major organ systems. Survival would have been unlikely.

Keywords:
ballistics, forensic science, pathology and biology, protective clothing, wound ballistics

Paper ID: JFS332880410

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Author O'Connell KJ, Frazier HA, II, Clark MA, Christenson PJ, Keyes BT, Josselson A Title The Shielding Capacity of the Standard Military Flak Jacket Against Ballistic Injury to the Kidney Symposium , Committee on