By Kristin Zagurski, Staff Writer
Omaha World-Herald
Soldiers in Iraq will be more comfortable in their quarters thanks to a donation from the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office.
The Sheriff’s Office today is taking 45 ballistics vests to Fort Riley, Kan., where they will be given to an Army military police brigade that is leaving for Iraq on Friday, Sarpy County Sheriff Jeff Davis said in a statement.
The MPs wear heavy and bulky military-issued vests while out in the field, the statement says. They will wear the vests from the Sheriff’s Office, which are lighter and more comfortable, while in their quarters.
The vests are past their life span for use by law enforcement officers, the statement says.
Davis said the department’s training sergeant came across information that the old vests could be used by soldiers.
The vests routinely have been tested and still are good, he said.
“If I had a child who was going out of the country under these circumstances that they face today, I would just be thrilled to death that they were given some body armor,” Davis said.
The Sheriff’s Office soon will donate more vests to another MP brigade, Davis said. The Omaha Police Department also will be donating old vests to that group.
The La Vista Police Department also has donated some of its old vests to soldiers, he said.
Copyright 2006 The Omaha World-Herald Company