[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2970 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2970
To improve the fielding of newest generations of personal protective
equipment to the Armed Forces, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 3, 2019
Ms. Ernst (for herself, Ms. Duckworth, Ms. McSally, and Mr. Blumenthal)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Armed Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To improve the fielding of newest generations of personal protective
equipment to the Armed Forces, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Female Body Armor Modernization Act
of 2019''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS.
(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Ill-fitting personal protective equipment (PPE) for
members of the Armed Forces impedes performance and lethality
by reducing range of motion, speed, and agility, and can
interfere with the aim of shoulder-braced weapons.
(2) Access to female-specific personal protective
equipment, or smaller sized unisex personal protective
equipment, has traditionally been limited. Such equipment has
typically been provided only to some deploying members of the
Armed Forces, but not to those going through initial entry
training (IET), or for regular unit training events.
(3) Members of the Armed Force need to be familiarized with
and train in their combat gear before deploying in order to be
fully prepared and mission capable.
(4) Research shows that poorly fitting personal protective
equipment is a leading cause of preventable injury for all
members of the Armed Forces, whether deployed or in training.
(5) Studies on operational physical performance and fitness
in female members of the Armed Forces suggest that the best way
to decrease the likelihood of injury is through consistent
physical training with equipment that mirrors that which is
used in a combat environment.
(6) Properly fitting personal protective equipment for
training and deployment will assist in the gender-integration
process in the Armed Forces as well as improve overall combat
effectiveness, while simultaneously bringing about a reduction
in injuries.
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress--
(1) that committed resources for new generation personal
protective equipment for female warfighters is essential to
their warfighting readiness;
(2) to encourage the Armed Forces to expedite contracting
for and procurement and fielding of new generation personal
protective equipment that better fits and protects all members
of the Armed Forces, including female members, and reduces
preventable injuries; and
(3) to encourage collaboration between the Armed Forces,
academia, and industry on the use of emerging technologies,
such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), human factors modeling,
and digital predictive human modeling, in the development of
next generation of combat equipment and personal protective
equipment.
SEC. 3. REPORTS ON FIELDING OF NEWEST GENERATIONS OF PERSONAL
PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT TO THE ARMED FORCES.
(a) Reports Required.--Not later than January 31, 2021, each
Secretary of a military department shall submit to Congress a report on
the fielding of the newest generations of personal protective equipment
to the Armed Forces under the jurisdiction of such Secretary.
(b) Elements.--Each report under subsection (a) shall include, for
each Armed Force covered by such report, the following:
(1) A description and assessment of the fielding of newest
generations of personal protective equipment to members of such
Armed Force, including the following:
(A) The number (aggregated by total number and by
sex) of members of such Armed Force issued the Army
Soldiers Protective System and the Modular Scalable
Vest Generation II body armor as of December 31, 2020.
(B) The number (aggregated by total number and by
sex) of members of such Armed Force issued Marine Corps
Plate Carrier Generation III (PC Gen III) body armor as
of that date.
(C) The number (aggregated by total number and by
sex) of members of such Armed Force fitted with legacy
personal protective equipment as of that date.
(2) A description and assessment of the barriers, if any,
to the fielding of such generations of equipment to such
members.
(3) A description and assessment of challenges in the
fielding of such generations of equipment to such members,
including cost overruns, contractor delays, and other
challenges.
SEC. 4. SYSTEM FOR TRACKING DATA ON INJURIES AMONG MEMBERS OF THE ARMED
FORCES IN THE USE OF NEWEST GENERATION PERSONAL
PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT.
(a) System Required.--
(1) In general.--The Director of the Defense Health Agency
(DHA) shall develop and maintain a system for tracking data on
injuries among members of the Armed Forces in and during the
use of newest generation personal protective equipment.
(2) Scope of system.--The system required by this
subsection may, at the election of the Director, be new for
purposes of this subsection or within or a modification of an
appropriate existing system (such as the Defense Occupational
And Environmental Health Readiness System (DOEHRS)).
(b) Report.--Not later than January 31, 2025, the Director shall
submit to Congress a report on the prevalence among members of the
Armed Forces of preventable injuries attributable to ill-fitting or
malfunctioning personal protective equipment.
SEC. 5. INCLUSION IN ANNUAL PERIODIC HEALTH ASSESSMENTS OF MEMBERS OF
THE ARMED FORCES OF QUESTIONS ON INJURIES INCURRED IN
CONNECTION WITH ILL-FITTING OR MALFUNCTIONING PERSONAL
PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT.
The annual Periodic Health Assessment (PHA) of members of the Armed
Forces undertaken after the date of the enactment of this Act shall
include one or more questions on whether members incurred an injury in
connection with ill-fitting or malfunctioning personal protective
equipment during the period covered by such assessment, including the
nature of such injury.
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