I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5491 

To improve the fielding of newest generations of personal protective equipment 

to the Armed Forces, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 19, 2019 

Mr. WILSON of South Carolina (for himself, Ms. SHERRILL, Mr. KELLY of 

Mississippi, Mr. STIVERS, Ms. STEFANIK, and Mrs. LURIA) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To improve the fielding of newest generations of personal 

protective equipment to the Armed Forces, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Body Armor for Fe5 males Modernization Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings: 

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1 (1) Ill-fitting personal protective equipment 

2 (PPE) for members of the Armed Forces impedes 

3 performance and lethality by reducing range of mo4 tion, speed, and agility, and can interfere with the 

5 aim of shoulder-braced weapons. 

6 (2) Access to female-specific personal protective 

7 equipment, or smaller-sized unisex personal protec8 tive equipment, has traditionally been limited. Such 

9 equipment has typically been provided only to some 

10 deploying members of the Armed Forces, but not to 

11 those going through initial entry training (IET), or 

12 for regular unit training events. 

13 (3) Members of the Armed Force need to be fa14 miliarized with and train in their combat gear before 

15 deploying in order to be fully prepared and mission 

16 capable. 

17 (4) Research shows that poorly fitting personal 

18 protective equipment is a leading cause of prevent19 able injury for all members of the Armed Forces, 

20 whether deployed or in training. 

21 (5) Studies on operational physical performance 

22 and fitness in female members of the Armed Forces 

23 suggest that the best way to decrease the likelihood 

24 of injury is through consistent physical training with 

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1 equipment that mirrors that which is used in a com2 bat environment. 

3 (6) Properly fitting personal protective equip4 ment for training and deployment will assist in the 

5 gender-integration process in the Armed Forces as 

6 well as improve overall combat effectiveness, while 

7 simultaneously bringing about a reduction in inju8 ries. 

9 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con10 gress— 

11 (1) that committed resources for new genera12 tion personal protective equipment for female 

13 warfighters is essential to their warfighting readi14 ness; 

15 (2) to encourage the Armed Forces to expedite 

16 contracting for and procurement and fielding of new 

17 generation personal protective equipment that better 

18 fits and protects all members of the Armed Forces, 

19 including female members, and reduces preventable 

20 injuries; and 

21 (3) to encourage collaboration between the 

22 Armed Forces, academia, and industry on the use of 

23 emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence 

24 (AI), human factors modeling, and digital predictive 

25 human modeling, in the development of next generaVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:46 Dec 29, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5491.IH H5491
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1 tion of combat equipment and personal protective 

2 equipment. 

3 SEC. 3. REPORTS ON FIELDING OF NEWEST GENERATIONS 

4 OF PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT TO 

5 THE ARMED FORCES. 

6 (a) REPORTS REQUIRED.—Not later than January 

7 31, 2021, each Secretary of a military department shall 

8 submit to Congress a report on the fielding of the newest 

9 generations of personal protective equipment to the Armed 

10 Forces under the jurisdiction of such Secretary. 

11 (b) ELEMENTS.—Each report under subsection (a) 

12 shall include, for each Armed Force covered by such re13 port, the following: 

14 (1) A description and assessment of the fielding 

15 of newest generations of personal protective equip16 ment and auxiliary personal protective equipment to 

17 members of such Armed Force, including the fol18 lowing: 

19 (A) The number (aggregated by total num20 ber and by sex) of members of such Armed 

21 Force issued the Army Soldiers Protective Sys22 tem and the Modular Scalable Vest Generation 

23 II body armor as of December 31, 2020. 

24 (B) The number (aggregated by total num25 ber and by sex) of members of such Armed 

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1 Force issued Marine Corps Plate Carrier Gen2 eration III (PC Gen III) body armor as of that 

3 date. 

4 (C) The number (aggregated by total num5 ber and by sex) of members of such Armed 

6 Force fitted with legacy personal protective 

7 equipment as of that date. 

8 (2) A description and assessment of the bar9 riers, if any, to the fielding of such generations of 

10 equipment to such members. 

11 (3) A description and assessment of challenges 

12 in the fielding of such generations of equipment to 

13 such members, including cost overruns, contractor 

14 delays, and other challenges. 

15 SEC. 4. SYSTEM FOR TRACKING DATA ON INJURIES AMONG 

16 MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES IN THE 

17 USE OF NEWEST GENERATION PERSONAL 

18 PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT. 

19 (a) SYSTEM REQUIRED.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Defense 

21 Health Agency (DHA) shall develop and maintain a 

22 system for tracking data on injuries among members 

23 of the Armed Forces in and during the use of newest 

24 generation personal protective equipment. 

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1 (2) SCOPE OF SYSTEM.—The system required 

2 by this subsection may, at the election of the Direc3 tor, be new for purposes of this subsection or within 

4 or a modification of an appropriate existing system 

5 (such as the Defense Occupational And Environ6 mental Health Readiness System (DOEHRS)). 

7 (b) REPORT.—Not later than January 31, 2025, the 

8 Director shall submit to Congress a report on the preva9 lence among members of the Armed Forces of preventable 

10 injuries attributable to ill-fitting or malfunctioning per11 sonal protective equipment. 

12 SEC. 5. INCLUSION IN ANNUAL PERIODIC HEALTH ASSESS13 MENTS OF MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES 

14 OF QUESTIONS ON INJURIES INCURRED IN 

15 CONNECTION WITH ILL-FITTING OR MAL16 FUNCTIONING PERSONAL PROTECTIVE 

17 EQUIPMENT. 

18 The annual Periodic Health Assessment (PHA) of 

19 members of the Armed Forces undertaken after the date 

20 of the enactment of this Act shall include one or more 

21 questions on whether members incurred an injury in con22 nection with ill-fitting or malfunctioning personal protec23 tive equipment during the period covered by such assess24 ment, including the nature of such injury. 

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