European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 13, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Pages stars and stripes june 2007 Navy bans privately purchased body Armor by Jeff Schogol stars and stripes the Navy has banned sailors from wearing personally purchased body Armor and other protective equipment instead of Standar Issue commanders May authorize sailors in their command to use commercially purchased protective As Long As additions do not replace or interfere with the functionality of approved ppe personal protective Accord ing to a recent Nav wide administrative the Marine corps issued a similar Mes Sage in the new policy ensures that operating forces Are wearing the Best available per Sonal protective an april 27 news re lease from Marine corps systems com Mand like the the Marine corps allows commanders to approve the use of commercially purchased protective gear under certain commanders Are offered flexibility to make tactical decisions on the use and Wear of approved body Armor based on enemy environmental conditions and assigned tactical the news release the army was first to ban personally purchased protective gear in March the move came in response to the fact that soldiers May have been wearing drag on skin body which has been marketed As Superior to the interceptor body Armor issued to army Ross Thompson Iii said in prepared re Marks to Congress last Thompson was testifying before the House armed services committee after Abc reported that dragon skin performed better than Standar Issue body Armor Dur ing Independent ballistic Thompson said that dragon skin has failed numerous ballistic tests most Nota the vests failed to Stop 13 of 48 shots fired during ballistic tests run by the army last army and air Force officials also told lawmakers that dragon skin maker Pinna Cle Armor falsely claimed that the National Institute of Justice had certified the body Armor As providing a certain level of Ballis tic the air Force office of special investigations ended up cancelling its contract with Pinnacle Armor for dragon skin vests after tests proved that the vests did not meet the National Institute of Justice certification Pfosi executive director Dou Glas Thomas said in prepared remarks last week before the same for More information on the Navy go to Nav admin available at email Jeff Schogol at  weapons Are uncovered in Afghanistan stars and stripes soldiers and afghan nation Al police found a Large weapons Cache stashed in a pair of caves in Pattia officials said the find was made after a tip from residents of the Village of sul Tak in the Cham Kani the tip came during a medical project for some 50 people of the during a the Vil lagers told troops about a com Pound they suspected was being used to hide when afghan police began searching the they were shot at with machine gun and rocket propelled grenade officials no injuries were re ported in the the Cache was found in two caves under animal among the explosives found were Reg mortar Gre blasting machine gun a detonation fuses and blocks of expo and medical Village elders helped move the munitions and vowed to track Down the person responsible for the officials under whats known As the Small rewards villagers can be paid for their help in fold ing weapons there was no information on what the Cache find yielded for the Sultan Villag photos Courtesy of the army mortar Reg machine guns and ammunition were recovered by soldiers and afghan National police from a compound in the Village of Sultan after a tip from shiite Leader being treated in Iran the associated press Baghdad the Leader of Iraq largest shiite party has re turned to Iran to receive further treatment for lung a top aide said an aide said Abdulaziz Alhakim of the supreme islamic Council of Iraq left for Iran on sunday to resume his chemotherapy he did not know How Long would be in the aide spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to share the information with the Alhakim began his treatment in Iran last returning Home june while at Home in Alhakim visited shiite shrines in the holy cities of Najaf and Karba la South of Baghdad and met with Iraq top shiite grand Ayatollah Ali Alhakim is a key player in iraqi politics despite close ties to has been a major part Ner in efforts to build a demo cratic system after the collapse of Saddam Hussein regime in Alhakim Heads Parlia ments largest the United iraqi whose members dominate prime minister Nouri Alma Likis he was diagnosed with lung cancer following tests in a Texas Hospital last he chose to be treated in Iran rather than in compatible medical facilities in Jordan or saudi he said he wanted to remain close to his but his decision reflected his close ties to Iraq shiite neighbor to the hosted Alhakim in exile for More than two decades during Saddam his formerly known As the supreme Council for the islamic revolution in was founded there with Ira Nian help in the Early gis in Baghdad find a bomb making factory stars and stripes soldiers in Baghdad have discovered what they Are describing As a bomb making factory consisting of a car bomb and up to 300 Roadside officials said the discovery was made in a Palm Grove in the Rashid District of Baghdad by troops of company 2nd 23rd infantry regiment and company 1st 38th infantry regi the munitions were found in a Complex of Small buildings in a thick Palm officials it was found after another unit it was not specified whether it was or iraqi passed along the in addition to the car the Cache included 54 mortar rounds 27 artillery shells one 500pound bomb two 200pound bombs 64 antitank mines 300 five gallon cans of nitric acid used to make homemade explosives and 15 bags of antipersonnel mines that included 100 mines per this is tremendous work by this is tremendous work by our soldiers Ricky Gibbs 4th infantry brigade combat 1st infantry division our soldiers to take More than 300 improvised explosive devices off the said Ricky commander of the 4th in Fantry brigade combat 1st infantry three other vehicles that were in the Early stages of being pre pared As car bombs were also but they did not contain sex officials an explosive ordnance disposal team catalogued the find and will destroy the this find further emphasizes our ability to get after the extremists and take away their tools of As none of these weapons and explosives will Ever be used to harm Gibbs was quoted As red Cross afghan violence worsening Geneva the Impact of violence on civilians in Afghanistan is worse now than a year a senior International red Cross official said Pierre the International committee of the red Cross director of said fighting Between insurgents and the afghan army supported by International forces had intensified significantly in the South and East of the country since 2006 and was spread ing to the North and civilians suffer horribly from mounting threats to their such As increasing numbers of Roadside bombs and suicide and regular Aerial bombing he said in a statement Ai Aida releases tape of alleged ambush new York Al Aida released a video monday showing what it claimed to be an april 1 ambush on an afghan police Convoy driving be tween two major cities in the 16minute video shows about a dozen attackers in Rocky Hills alongside a Highway firing rifles and rocket propelled grenades As a line of vehicles approach with sirens gunshots and explosions Are heard echoing in the above the voices of the at least four cars appear to be at one the footage shows a closeup of one of the in three bodies Are the videotapes authenticity could not be independently from the associated press