ballistic vest, how do you keep it cool?

[Ranger7450]

I'm not a cop first, I just wanted to make that clear.

I work for Brinks, I have worked here for almost 8 months now, an ballistic vests were i work are up to you. You can buy them if you like, if not. You dont have to. I decided to buy one from a local police supply company. I went with Point Blank body armor, threat level IIIA (defeats up to .44 magnum) The guy at the police supply company said to get a vest that at LEAST defeats my own gun ammo because he said 80% of police officers are killed with there own gun. I carry a Springfield XD in .40S&W an the threat level II defeats .40acp but wanted to be on the safe side so i went with the next level up. ;)


I work 8 hour days, an i have had the vest for 3 days now an...i have no idea how you guys pull off writing tickets in the beating sun and chasing criminals. I spend about 75% of my shift driving in the ice cold a/c but by the end of my shift my undershirt is SOAKED. How do you guys keep cool? Any tricks or suggestions?

[Switchback]

Be physically fit and stay hydrated.

Trying wearing SWAT gear.

..or hell, 80-lbs or so of body armor and gear-laden vest carrier in the mid-east (100-130F). You don't get used to it.

[Ranger7450]

Be physically fit and stay hydrated.

Trying wearing SWAT gear.

..or hell, 80-lbs or so of body armor and gear-laden vest carrier in the mid-east (100-130F). You don't get used to it.

:eek: I dont know how you guys do it....Its been 3 days in 85F in soft body armor an IM complaining! :D

Is there any certain shirt to wear under my vest to keep from sweating so much?

Thanks for your time guys, stay safe!

[Kimble]

Is there any certain shirt to wear under my vest to keep from sweating so much?

Our office got called out on a hostage situation today and it was in the upper 80's. We all had on dress clothes (we're plainclothes investigators) and had our tactical vests over them. I had an undershirt, a dress button-down shirt, a tac vest over it. It was damn HOT!

[BP348]

Short simple answer is you don't. They were designed to protect you not keep you cool.

[phantasm]

I work midnights, and once the temperature breaks 70, I end every shift with a soaking wet t-shirt.

[Legoate]

You just soak it up and sweat. Where I work it's over 100 most of the summer, we had 100 degree temps in April. You just sweat, then go home and shower. No getting used to it.

[smcc360]

How do you guys keep cool? Any tricks or suggestions?

Regrettably, there is no trick. You just have to think past it, and realize that being all sweaty is better than being all bloody.

[counihan]

I always wear Under Armour. The cold gear for the winter when I lived up north, and the hot gear for the summer obviously. I used to wear cotton undershirts all the time, but they seemed to always get bunched up and seemed to carry the sweat more.

[ChesCopPodz]

By switching to midnights. Thats what I did. I still end up funk nasty every morning during the summer. Just gotta live with it

[Creeker]

For years, everybody raved about how the Underarmour shirts would solve that problem.

I finally tried them. Still had the problem.

Now several other companies are making knock-offs of UnderArmour, wally world has theirs, Target, too.

The only difference I saw with Underarmour was that they didn't allow cotton to stick to your body, since the Underarmour was basically form fitting... and this was absent any body armour.

The bottom line in a humid climate is that you are going to have to live with it.

On a side note, there is some type of tubing rig that hooks into your A/C vent on your vehicle while you are in the vehicle. It blows under your vest... and behaves as a sort of umbilical chord. I don't remember what the name of it is, but the pricing of it has dropped tremendously since it first came out.

[SnapShawt]

They have those gadgets you can connect to the AC and feed into/under the vest, however that works. Of course that wouldn't do anything when you're actually out of the unit unless it somehow traps it. Heck if I know. I'm used to it. I work in south central Texas, so the heat/humidity is just part of life here anyway.

[Jay7376]

On a side note, there is some type of tubing rig that hooks into your A/C vent on your vehicle while you are in the vehicle. It blows under your vest... and behaves as a sort of umbilical chord. I don't remember what the name of it is, but the pricing of it has dropped tremendously since it first came out.

coolcop

[patchcop]

I think every cops who wears his vest knows the soaked sweaty shirts after duty. I tried a lot of different ****s under the vest, special made shirts the vest company made to fix the sweat, cotton shirts, everything. After duty the shirt is wet and I want to have thousand noses:eek::D no matter what Kind of shirt I had under the vest. Wear it or wear it not, sweat or die!

[Insayn]

Nothing will keep you cool, but your choice in undershirts will help you feel comfortable when you get soaked. With time, you get use to it.