Slashdot Mirror
British Soldiers Get Germ-Fighting Undies
Ant writes "Yahoo! News reports that British soldiers will be getting germ-fighting underwear. The antimicrobial underpants have been introduced by the Ministry of Defense as part of a new desert uniform for soldiers. They are the first undergarments issued to British troops, who traditionally have had to supply their own.
Military officials said Thursday the unisex trunks were made from artificial fibers for comfort, with silver particles woven into the material to prevent sweating.
"It is coated to prevent bacterial infection, and we have tried to arrange the seams so that they don't chafe," Col. Silas Suchanek, who led the team that procured the new equipment, said Thursday."
... how long til they get the rest of their equipment?
The British army is woefully underequipped... but hey, as long as they've got pants and tea, they'll be fine!
Just another harmless drunk
Well do they keep out sand?
*ducks*
Use 'slashdot stuff' in the subject line in any email you send me if you want to get past the spam filter.
The underpants gnomes finally figured out the missing part of the plan.
Step 1. Steal underpants.
Step 2. Sell to the military (ta-daaa).
Step 3. Profit!
Really, we should defer to the UK's right to name its own institutions and call it the "Ministry of Defence", just like Pearl Harbor should not be "Pearl Harbour" or "Perl Harbor" (as I've been admittedly prone to think).
unisex trunks
...nuff said.
Well, it's another development in our war to eradicate biological agents in our war on terror.
If you locate a hazardous bacterial sample, simply find a British soldier and drop it down his pants.
My postings are informational and does not constitute legal advice. Act on it at your risk.
Then the germs evolve and become resistant to silver and we're in REAL trouble.
Wow, war even drives innovation when it comes to clothing fashion. Seriously, these underwear seem to be really great. I wonder if the British Army will open up their own Yahoo! store and sell these underwear...
No? Well... now comes with complimentary free underwear!
If the number of British army enlistees suddenly skyrockets in the next month, we'll all know why.
Considering testicles don't like high temperatures, (it's one of the reasons we have them in a sack outside our body, and why everyone should use boxers) what are the chances that these new undies will cause damage to the soldiers testicles since they are stoping them from properly regulating their temperature by sweating, in a desert no less?
The silver threads in the knickers are a good idea. That means if a werewolf bites him/her on the arse or crotch that the soldier will be protected.
I didn't know that the British armed forces were into the occult and supernatural.
It aint a reassuring thought.
WTF? I can understand unisex "outer" uniforms, but the idea of unisex underwear is plain stupid. Is the British Army trying to pretend that men and women are exactly the same, even "down there"?
From the picture, the underwear look like standard men's boxers, except without the front flap. Why leave out the front flap in men's underwear? Probably because they had to make a concession to these being "unisex", and a flap is clearly a male-only feature. Also, what about guys who prefer briefs?
The end result is that men will have a harder time freeing willie to irrigate the desert, and women will be forced to wear what are essentially men's underwear (and, I would imagine, are less comfortable for women--correct me if I'm wrong).
The site I have the pictures on is down, but hopefully I can give a detailed enough explanation of what happened to me last year to make folks realize the importance of anti bacterial undies.
:) http://www.scvi.net/activex/tv19.htm
I was sittin on the toilet one day and noticed a swollen ingrown hair to the right of my right testicle. I tried to pluck the hair out, followed by squeezing the little bastard. Nothing was coming out, so I said, "fuck it" and just left it at that.
During the week, it developed from an ingrown hair to a very painful boil. It got to the point where I could hardly walk anymore and had to see the doctor.
Soon as the doctor saw it, he said "We're going to have to lance it". Kaiser usually doesn't give out painkillers if they can avoid it (once had a broken toe and they refused me pain meds) Luckily I had a male doctor, and I think that fact made him more sympathetic to my pain.
He numbed the spot up, then poked the spot with a scalpel, probably going in about 2-3 centimeteres, followed by some very painful squeezing to get all the crap out of the bacterial playground that had formed next to my nutsack.
I thought that was it, but nope. The doctor said "We have to leave a wick in there so it heals right" A wick? WTF? Basically a wick is a peice of cotton gauze stuck in the hole where the boil used to be. This prevents the opening of the wound from sealing up, and allows the hole to heal from the bottom up.
For the next month, I had to make daily trips to kaiser to have the wick removed, and replaced. The first wick was over a foot in length! Every week the wicks got shorter and shorter until they finally told me it no longer needed a wicking.
I can totally see these types of bacterial infections knocking out a soldier for a month. For me, I could not walk without popping 2 or 3 vicodin after they inserted the wick. At least I had the luxery of my house, high speed internet, and cable TV (not much interneting during this ordeal, as it was very hard to sit)
--toq
OH Ps, im typing this live while i'm at work at the karaoke bar, watch the live stream here and say hi
On the plus side, we've descovered the illusive "2: ???" step...
1: Collect Underwear
2: Sell Silver
3: Profit!
Sweet Jesus, man! That's the worst story I've heard in months! I'd recommend keeping that to yourself.
Don't anyone dare modding this man up. Think of the children!
I've come for the woman, and your head.
I hate to comment on my own comment to bitch about moderation, but I noticed a few comments below mine stating that it should be downmodded.
Look, this is what happened to me. Like it or not. The comment came from my heart, formed by my own personal experience. Sure, it's gory, sure it's detailed, but this is exactly what happens to folks when bacterial infections happen. Boils form on the skin, and in the crotch area, this makes for a very debilitating condition. Like I said, I had the luxery of my house, soldiers in Iraq don't have the same immenities that I have.
Just a follow up, after this happened my wife and I started buying anti bacterial soap. Since then, I haven't had so much as a zit on my legs. Before the boil, I showered every day but with regular old soap. Regular soap just isn't enough to prevent this from happening. Just one juicy bit of info I read on antibacterial soaps, you have to leave them on the skin for at least 2 minutes for the active ingredient to work.
So please mods, don't downmod my parent post. It was completely on topic and showed the dangers of bacterial infections of the crotch. Thank you.
--toq
I got my silver underwear from REI several years ago for mountaineering. What sold me was mostly the reduction of odors, since when you're on a mountain, you're wearing that sweaty underwear for two days of solid work! Highly recommended.
hey! thinfoil underwear!!
HORRAY!
How long before the US Army follows suit?
I enlisted four and a half years ago in the Army National Guard, and in two weeks time I'm actually leaving for Iraq. As per the regulation, we are supposed to wear the Army issue briefs. That's what we did during Basic Training - but God knows those things aren't made for comfort. They chafe, and once you've been in the field for a few weeks - well, let's just say that the risk of infection increases. Which is why it pays to carry a lot of baby wipes and Gold Bond.
I actually wear boxers instead of the standar-issue briefs now and it is definitely more comfortable. But anyway, now that I'm headed for the desert, I wouldn't mind having this nifty new underwear - I hope the US Army takes up this good idea. You don't realize how much you take the little things for granted until you're out in the field and out of clean pairs of underwear.
Vivin Suresh Paliath
http://vivin.net
I like
Suppose we could get a pair of these knickers to the goatse guy? Looks like he could use some germ fighting action in that area of his body.
Why slashdot? Why not?
but do they have an anti-skid feature? it would be a shame to have u'r silver undies look like a shiny drag strip.
Victoria's Secret announced the imminent launch of their new "Patriot" line.
Stay sentient. Don't drink bad milk.
Athletes will probably enjoy anti-chafe undies as well. At the moment the best alternative is the UnderArmor brand's line of underwear. The difference in comfort is considerable. After 2 or so hours of running I'd normally come back with painful rashes, 3 hours and they may even bleed slightly. The sleek underarmor fabric keeps things sliding painlessly and kept this from happening, as opposed to normal cotton boxers.
The problem is the $20 dollar pricetag per pair! Even if it isn't really better than the UnderArmor, at least it'd provide some competition to drive the prices down a bit for performance underwear.
Why leave out the front flap in men's underwear?
Not trolling, but seriously, does anybody actually use that thing? When I go to a public urinal, I want speed and stealth i.e., a commando raid. The last thing on earth I'm looking for is to get caught playing fabric origami just to access the plumbing. Or is the purpose actually to act as a squeegee during retraction to minimize the chances of..er..having to shake your leg afterward?
Conversely you'd be amazed how miserable chafing underwear and sweaty socks can make you, and how quickly.
An infrastructure for supplying the troops with clean underwear, silver magic or not, is second in importance only to supply of food and ammunition (well, communications and...well, it is quite important).
If you don't change underwear regularly you are bound to get very nasty rashes in just a few days (which will put you out of any useless service). If you leave it to the individual serviceman to supply his own trunks, then there is a high risk some won't change them often enough.
I would guess that underwear lasts longer in desert climate than in more temperate climates due to that the sweat evaporates faster and leaves less time for the germs to grow, but all the same anti-germ underwear seems like a good idea. You increase the underwear changing interval which means you can cut back on the supplies organization (and the individual soldiers don't have to carry as many pairs of underwear).
German soldiers get Brit-Fighting undies.
emt 377 emt 4
The metallized silverfoil undies will show up on radar.
I doubt that we will ever figure out - and I suspect that even if we did figure out we couldn't do much about it
I have just the solution for the female soldier on the go -- http://www.shenis.com/
and we have tried to arrange the seams so that they don't chafe,
So, they're wearing them inside-out then.
Coincidently, I do this half the time in my underwear 4-day rotational schedule (forwards, backwards, inside-out forwards, inside-out backwards).
*scratch scratch*
Now, where's that stench coming from?
Athlete's foot is one of the more common problems while infections may occur as a result of untreated injuries. (untreated fungal infections may also lead to bacterial infections if not properly treated.)
You actually don't want to get rid of all bacteria, since some bacteria are actually good for you and helps keeping the bad bacteria out.
Another issue is that there is a risk of getting multi-resistent bacteria that is harder to treat if you expose bacteria to antibiotics for a prolonged time. This is one reason why you shouldn't treat virus infections with antibiotics - it has no effect on the virus.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
More like ask the female soldiers to send their used underpants to your prison inmates.
Little do they know you just want those panties for your massive silver extraction operation!
That reminds me the joke:
I'll do anything
A man was sitting at a bar enjoying an
after-work cocktail when an exceptionally
gorgeous young woman entered. She was so
striking that the man could not take his
eyes away from her. The young woman noticed
his overly-attentive stare & walked directly
toward him.
Before he could offer his apologies for
being so rude, the young woman said
to him, 'I'll do anything, absolutely
anything, that you want me to do, no
matter what it is, for $100 on one
condition.'
Flabbergasted, the man asked what the
condition was.
The young woman replied, 'You have to tell
me what you want me to do in just three
words.'
The man considered her proposition for a
moment, withdrew his wallet from his pocket &
slowly counted out five $20 bills, which he
pressed into the young woman's hand.
He looked deeply into her eyes & slowly,
meaningfully said, 'Paint my house.'
There's a picture on Wikipedia. It stops a lot of germs. Impressive.
Karma: Positive (probably because of superiour intellect)
Most US Forces use Under Armor underwear. It doesn't have silver to prevent bacteria, as far as I know, but it seems to last forever and keep sweat and chaffing away. I think they wash their clothes in the US, so maybe silver particles were not on the top of their list.
http://www.underarmour.com/
STFU.
That translates to "Shut The Fuck Up", you moronic troll, just to make sure you understand. No, your sarcasm was not lost on me.
Anyone who is willing to put thier life on the line so I can drink Gin, sit in my basement and flame Slahdot trolls can have whatever the fuck they need to get the job done.
Comfortable undewear that prevents what is at the least an uncomfortable skin condition and at worst is a medically dangerous condition - namely boils and necrosis - are cheap compared to having more trained, competent professional people ready to take military action. These people work in situations that would have me soiling those silver boxers.
I may not agree with why those people are over there, but I sure as fuck want then to come home alive, healthy and able to enjoy the quality of live they were defending, you short sighted skinflint.
I'm not happy about most taxation either, except when my money goes to a good cause such as this.
Bah, I could go on, but flaming a troll like you is too easy. Think before you post, Mr. Reagan.
Soko
"Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
"Just a follow up, after this happened my wife and I started buying anti bacterial soap."
Yep, so now you are breeding bacteria that are immune to anti-bacterial agents. Eventually, you will have just as much bacteria as when you started, but you will no longer have the option of applying an anti-bacterial agent when you need it. E.g. when you have an open sore that needs to heal.
I, along with many many other Marines in Iraq, was recently issued something that sounds very similar. I actually haven't even worn mine yet favoring the Under Armour I purchased myself before deploying. A note on the silver fiber, though. First, judging from experience of the others who have worn it, nothing in it prevents sweating. And second, according to the tags, at least, the silver is what prevents microbial growth.
-- Napalm sticks to kids.
Don't believe everything you read in the tabloids. I serve with the British Army, and when it comes down to it, we get what we need, and what we do get is damn good.
Anecdote: Our battallion was in the middle of a training rotation at the National Training Center in the desert that is Ft. Irwin, CA. At the conclusion of each mission, we would have a rather scathing after action review led by our evaluators. These AARs were filmed. We had just completed a pre-dawn assault on an enemy position that was protected by a *lot* of concertina wire. As a result, more than a few of us had torn our BDUs. We were tired and sort of spaced out.
We all sat on the side of a wadi, upslope from the Army camera crew that was setting up to film the AAR. My buddy Jim was sitting next to me, and I happened to glance over at him. His nuts were completely exposed from a six inch rent in his trousers, and he was sitting on his butt with his legs spread wide and his elbows on his knees, so he was giving the camera crew a view they didn't necessarily appreciate.
Jim, being Jim, just shrugged and put some 50 mph tape (basically green duct tape) over it. He was the same guy who forgot to button his trousers after taking a leak one January afternoon on a training exercise at Ft. Drum, but that's another story.
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