The Proper Use Of ICW plates

[Pullo]

I thought ceramic ICW rifle plates go in front of the Level IIIA soft armor or in other words the soft armor goes behind the ICW hard armor plates.
So what is the right way?
Thanks

[militarymoron]

that's correct.

[2-BPM]

a ICW plates have to be used with soft armour, the soft kevlar catches secondary fragments that may burst from the backside. ( most rifle plates use ceramic) stand alone plates tend to be thicker, and thus do not require a soft armour layer underneath. i like the standard military set up of soft armour and sapi plates, and having seen a sapi shot with a 7.62x54R (NON-AP) i have confidence it this set up. the inside layer caught the ceramic slivers and chips, and acted as a pad to distribute the energy. plate gets pulled out, switched and your rig is back in service. the LCpl had a big bruise and some tender ribs, but after two weeks of FOB security, he was ready to go back out. i dont like plate carriers for this reason. i like having the soft inserts on my sides, and now we have smaller plates for there to. here is the classic disclaimer; this is what i have seen, i'm sure there are others who have more experience with a broader range of armour.

[Erick Gelhaus]

Pullo-
You've got the sequence right.

Where plate carriers seem to excel is used atop of already worn soft armor. This works, for me & others, real well in the L/E patrol world.

We're already wearing (or sure as heck should be) concealable armor. Now a situation developes where the plates would be useful. Throw on the plate carrier. You've up-armorered (to a limited degree) yourself and gained some load bearing capability.

Trying to wear a plate carrier atop of an IBA / OTV is counter-productive.

Erick

[MX5]

you've got it right - soft armor between you and the insert.