Hey folks,
Here is an odd question. I'm just one curious about and am wondering
what others think.
It is a question of the fitting of battle dress and combat armor. Does
armor have to be fitted to the individual? It seems to me that someone
would have a lot of trouble fitting into someone elses battle dress.
It seems to me that it would be a difficult proposition to design a suit
to fit EVERYONE.
Actually, let me put this in the context in which it was originally
brought up: Would there be different models of battle dress for sexes?
*I* have assumed so. But when it came up recently, I was surprised when
someone disagreed with me. In hearing a lecture by Dr. Kathy Sullivan (First
US female astronaut to space walk) I found that she had a great deal of
difficulty when they tried to put her into the 'male' space suits.
No, I am not talking about relief tubes, I am referring to the fit of the
suit. I seem to remember that there was difficulty matching the size of
the chest unit with the legs. I seem to remember that one female astronaut
had trouble because she took the largest size chest unit, to fit into, but
then the sleeves were so long, her arms would only reach down to the forarms.
The problem was not restricted to the chest. The size of the female hips
being statistically larger than male hips caused more problems. A female
astronaut had difficulties because to fit into a unit. She ended up with
a fit where (in order to accomodate her hips) the crotch of the pants was
down around the middle of her thighs.
I once had the experience of watching a woman of my height and
weight try to get into my clothes. The result was quite amusing, but
suffice to say that it just did not work.
These to me seem significant design problems. To my mind sufficient enough
to call for separate designs of armor for different sexes. It seems to me
that the Aslan would Definitely have differing designs. But I think it
would be necessary for humans too.
Yours with a red face,
Scott Kellogg
"Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000 computer.
I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana Illinois, on the
12th of January, 1992..."
- HAL 9000: in 2001: A space odessy