No, I keep the vest on (Icon's Mil-Spec vest) to A) set the example to younger guys and B) avoid headaches by meeting our simple requirements. That's why I like the dustbandits and icon vests...they help us meet our requirements without looking entirely clownish.
Depending on the command, servicemembers who take off any required PPE can be found "not in the line of duty" if they get in an accident. We're doing the 2nd annual High Desert Heroes Ride here and half of the purpose of the ride is to show our young warfighters that meeting our cycle requirements is easy.
My wife is in the Army here at Fort Irwin and Im stationed at the Marine base in Barstow. Yeah, Fort Irwin is THE premier training base for pre-Iraq deployments. The NYT just did an article about it, actually. We also saw Carl Weathers (Apollo Creed) out here teaching actors how to act like soldiers (huh? I dunno!). The Wall Street journal is doing an article on him soon, I think. So it's great training here.
