Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Shoddy as a word for poor quality began with the US Army
Shoddy is and was a loose by product of wool production. It became a by word for poor quality when some contractors used it instead of real wool for US Army uniforms in the Civil War. According to the latest of a series of reports, the US Army is still buying shoddy.
The Army improperly tested new bullet-blocking plates for body armor and cannot be certain that 5 million pieces of the critical battlefield equipment meet the standards to protect U.S. troops, the Defense Department's inspector general found.See, we didn't test the plates but they weren't properly tested to begin with. One thing we do know for sure, the suppliers were paid in full.
The Pentagon report focused on seven Army contracts for the plates, known as ballistic inserts, awarded between 2004 and 2006 and totaling $2.5 billion. The inspector general's audit, carried out over a two-year period ending in March, found the tests were incomplete, conducted with the wrong size plates or relied on ballistic test rounds that were inconsistent. Due to the demands of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, tests under certain temperatures and altitudes were scrapped altogether.
"Consequently, the Army cannot be sure that ballistic inserts meet ... requirements," the report said. "As a result, the Army lacks assurance that 5.1 million ballistic inserts acquired through the seven contracts provide appropriate protection."
The inspector general said it did not conduct its own tests so it couldn't say whether the plates were defective.
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