American Sniper - Boekje Pienter

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generously bought me some Dragon Skin armor after my third deployment.
It’s super-heavy, but it’s extremely good armor, the best you can
get.)
I wore a GPS on my wrist, with a backup in my vest and even a backup
old-fashioned compass. I went through a couple of pairs of goggles per
deployment; they had miniature fans inside to keep air circulating so
they wouldn’t fog up. And, of course, I had a pocketknife—I got a Microtech
after graduating BUD/S—and Emerson and Benchmade fixed
blades, depending on the deployment.
Among other equipment we’d carry would be a square of a VS-17
panel, used to alert pilots to a friendly position so they wouldn’t fire on
us. In theory, at least.
Initially, I tried to keep everything off my waist, even going so far
as to carry my extra pistol mags in another drop-leg on my other side.
(I cinched it up high so I could still access the pocket on my left leg.)
I never wore ear protection in Iraq. The ear protection we had
contained noise-canceling circuitry. While it was possible to hear gunshots
fired by the enemy, the microphone that picked up those sounds
was omnidirectional. That meant you couldn’t tell what direction the
shots were coming from.
And contrary to what my wife thinks, I wore my helmet from time
to time. Admittedly, it was not often. It was a standard, U.S. military–issue
helmet, uncomfortable and of minimal value against all but
the weakest shots or shrapnel. To keep it from jostling on my head, I
tightened it up using Pro-Tec pads, but it was still annoying to wear