From the AEGIS e-Journal, Volume 10 Number 5, May 2007
First Choice Millennium Flex MF 8 Body Armor (We paid a show price of $656.25 at TREXPO, but cannot find a retail price) http://www.firstchoicearmor.com/ 1-508-559-0777 We ourselves have traditionally worn level II A armor, which was sufficient to protect us from the majority of handguns carried by the 36,000 + people carrying guns here in Gotham, as well as most other places where we traveled. This was good, as level II A body armor is relatively comfortable, and, more important, sufficiently thin as to not be overly obvious. Unfortunately, the level of threats requiring body armor has been on the rise. Without going through the logic of why there has been an escalation in threat level – we would have to go back to the Gun Control Act of 1968, and don’t think readers really care – the fact is that police departments have been shifting from.38 caliber revolvers to higher velocity semi-automatics. This means that we who wear body armor have to now deal with the threat of these higher-velocity weapons. Which means that we have needed to move up to level II vests (save in some countries where the police use lower velocity ammunition). We chose to replace our old level IIA vest with a Millennium Flex MF 8 Level II vest from First Choice Armor. The good news is that the vest is comfortable to wear: We recently had occasion to wear it for three days straight, so this is fact, not theory. The bad news is that by their very nature level II vests are more bulky than level IIA vests, since level II vests offer more protection than level IIA (threat level II is higher than IIA). This is a real problem for those of us who are, er, not large, though less of an issue for those who are larger than us. In practical terms, this means that while our level IIA vest in a T-shirt carrier went generally un-noticed, the new level II vest in standard carrier has been noticed with frightening frequency. This constitutes a risk for slim wearers, because it would allows an alert adversary to pre-plan a head shot, rather than the torso. This is, of course, more an issue for those of us providing protective services where we are dealing with conscious opponents, as opposed to those involved with the less-studied shootings associated with ÆGIS, May 2007 11 crime. At some point we’ll try the vest with a T-shirt carrier to see if this helps deal with the concealability issue. In addition, when you move up to a level II vest you may need to get new clothing to cover it. At the moment we are having new custom shirts made to cover the vest, as the shirts we had made for the replaced IIA no longer fit. We are hoping that we won’t need to get new with-vest suits and jackets to replace our existing with-vest clothing. In the best of all possible worlds level II vests would be thinner, but this is not the best of all possible worlds. This issue aside, we think we made as good a choice as the state of the art allows. 7. Subscription/Unsubscription/Copyright Information •• ÆGIS is supported and maintained by voluntary efforts. This publication is owned, published, and copyright © 2007 by The LUBRINCO Group Ltd, Inc. and Financial Examinations and Evaluations, Inc. It is edited jointly by Richard Isaacs (RBIsaacs@lubrinco.com), L. Burke Files (LBFiles@feeinc.com), and Terry Philips (TPhillips@aegisjournal.com). LUBRINCO provides services in three high-threat areas, too specialized to be dealt-with in-house, that can adversely affect domestic and international bottom lines. • Identification, valuation, and protection of intellectual assets and critical information. 1. American businesses lose $300 billion annually to competitive intelligence, economic espionage, and information theft. 2. Sarbanes-Oxley requires internal controls tracking the costs, and impact on valuation, of competitive intelligence, economic espionage, theft, and deliberate disclosure. o LUBRINCO is the leading private sector provider of access to OPSEC, the government-standard process for identification, valuation, and protection of intellectual property and critical information from competitive intelligence, economic espionage, theft, and deliberate disclosure. • International asset location and due diligence. o Location of concealed assets in fraud, theft, and divorce. o Due diligence to prevent fraud and loss in China, Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the offshore financial centers, Latin America, and the Caribbean. ÆGIS, May 2007 12 o Financial fraud, anti-money laundering, and anti-corruption program development and training. • Protection of management, staff, and families. o In the high-threat environments of Latin America, Africa, the Mid- East, and Southeast Asia. o When traveling and living overseas. o When transporting items of substantial value. LUBRINCO identifies and quantifies threats and vulnerabilities, and their associated risk, then manages the vulnerabilities so you can transfer or live with the residual risk. We prevent disastrous financial loss to your company, and physical harm to you, your family, and your staff. For information on LUBRINCO and its services, or for the archive of all past issues of ÆGIS in PDF format, please go to http://www.aegisjournal.com/. Subscription to ÆGIS is available for $15 per year in North America and $20 per year outside of North America. 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Article Title, from the May 2007 ÆGIS (© 2007 LUBRINCO & FEEINC), to be found at http://www.aegisjournal.com/. ÆGIS is a forum for the exchange of information, ideas, operating styles, theories, and related topics for corporate managers who make decisions about threats typically outside the expertise available in-house, yet which have the potential to affect their company’s domestic and international bottom lines. Nothing appearing in ÆGIS should be construed as legal advice. The information provided is “general information,” not “specific advice.” The solution to any problem is highly dependent upon the precise facts involved. Thus, before making any reliance upon anything said here, you should consult with an appropriately skilled professional. Opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily endorsed by the publisher, and may be presented to encourage a dialogue among subscribers. The publisher and any re-publisher cannot be held responsible for any loss incurred as a result of the application of any information published in ÆGIS. Please be safe, and be smart.