| In May 2006 tactical
commander Chris Joyner,
a private security contractor
assigned to the U.S.
Embassy in Baghdad, was
riding in an armored vehicle
when an IED nearly ended
his life. The powerful blast
almost rolled the five-ton
vehicle. The explosion broke his cheekbones and dislocated his jaw. A spray of molten copper and shrapnel destroyed his right eye and lacerated his face and body. Although dazed and disoriented, he never lost consciousness. When a medic tried to cut open his MSA Paraclete RAV, Joyner stopped him. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he cried, “just pull the cord!” Cutting the tough, 1000- denier nylon could take 10 minutes—time Joyner didn’t have. The medic grabbed the emergency cord and pulled. In seconds, the fully loaded vest separated into five components and was out of the way. “It saved my life,” Joyner said of the RAV’s patented cutaway system. In fact, he was told that the 10 minutes saved by the quick release of his MSA Paraclete vest were truly the difference between his life and his death. In September 2006, he visited the MSA Paraclete plant in North Carolina to thank those who made these vests. |
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