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From The Times
December 13, 2006

Body armour 'held on by tape'

Michael Evans
Soldiers fighting in Iraq in 2003 had to use masking-tape to hold body armour in place, an inquest was told yesterday.

Sergeant Steven Roberts, 33, had to give his enhanced body armour to a colleague because it was in short supply. His training body armour could not stop the machinegun rounds that killed him in 2003.

Squadron Sergeant-Major Jeffrey Elson, of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, told Oxford Coroner’s Court that, unlike in the Cold War, “you do not get the kit on time to do your job, and troops do not have enough time to familiarise themselves with kit before they have to use them”. In the Iraq war, “those not forced to hand back their armour had to slot protective plates into their pockets as they did not have vests needed to hold them in place. Some used black masking-tape.”

The court has been told that the sergeant was attacked by an Iraqi with a rock; shots fired by a colleague hit them both. The inquest continues.

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