re: Soldier gets charged $1000 for gear he was told to leave in Afghanistan

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EXACTLY!
He’s lying.

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I was curious about the exact items on his list. I thought it odd he had 2 E-tools in Afghanistan but then I saw the smoking gun. LIN-XA1008 Training, Body Armor

XA1008 is a torso ballistic plate used for training. It is a real ballistic plate BUT it is a repurposed ESAPI hard armor plate that no longer is adequate for combat. Something that absolutely would not have gone into a combat zone. They are like MOPP gear suits the ones you train with are real but they are likely not effective so they are never carried on deployment. MOPP suits lose effectiveness just being out of the original packaging ballistic plates lose effectiveness getting beat and bashed around which is inevitable in use which is why there is distinct separation for plates that have been designated "training".