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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."

9 of 280 comments (clear)

  1. Ok, they now have pants.. by Nairoz · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... 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
  2. Underpants Gnomes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    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!

  3. Ministry of Defense by a.different.perspect · · Score: 5, Informative

    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).

  4. Infertility by xor.pt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?

    1. Re:Infertility by DuckofDeath87 · · Score: 5, Informative

      For one thing, these look like boxers. For another, wearing breifs prevent your testicles from moving so much. This prevents Testicular torsion (yes it is real). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testicular_torsion

      Though, I do wonder if the heat problem is as bad as you say. Any one have any reliable websites?

  5. The dangers of bacterial infections in the crotch by t0qer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    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 :) http://www.scvi.net/activex/tv19.htm

  6. Re:Unisex? Hello! by LiNKz · · Score: 5, Funny
    ...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)...


    This is just a dodgy attempt at getting a random geek-girl to talk about her undies ;)
    --
    Proceed with Format (Y/N)? Y
  7. I enjoy my silver underwear! by Rejemy · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  8. Re:On a serious note... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    You're in the f'in Army. Go commando. Quit being a pussy.