Military
Some mounted machine guns and artillery pieces are equipped with metal armor plates to protect the gunners from sniper fire and shrapnel from explosions. As well, gun shields are sometimes improvised in the field in using salvaged metal plates. The most common examples were seen in the Vietnam War when the crews of armored fighting vehicles and Patrol Boats would affix metal plates to the machine guns, though gun shields have been in use as early as World War I.
Gun shields fell out of widespread use after Vietnam, but they have seen a resurgence in popularity during the 1990s. Israeli military analysts began urging the use of gun shields when they noted that the automatic weapon fire-filled modern battleground presented a grave risk to soldiers who exposed themselves to fire upon the enemy. In particular, it was noted that many casualties were being hit in areas not protected by body armor or the helmet, such as the neck or face.
The U.S. began using gun shields during the 2000s-era conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The major drawback of gun shields is that they limit the visibility of the user to the front, though new designs such as the Transparent Armor Gun Shield (TAGS for short) will alleviate this without sacrificing user protection.
Read more about this topic: Gun Shield
Famous quotes containing the word military:
“The military and the clergy cause us much annoyance; the clergy and the military, they empty our wallets and rob our intelligence.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“There was somewhat military in his nature, not to be subdued, always manly and able, but rarely tender, as if he did not feel himself except in opposition. He wanted a fallacy to expose, a blunder to pillory, I may say required a little sense of victory, a roll of the drum, to call his powers into full exercise.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“In politics, it seems, retreat is honorable if dictated by military considerations and shameful if even suggested for ethical reasons.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)