mordant wit

In a comment thread two days ago, Margot linked to an article at Soldiers for the Truth that stated that U.S. soldiers were recently ordered not to purchase or use alternative body armor. In view of what has come to light about the shortcomings of the standard government-issue armor, I was somewhat taken aback at her comment, and read the article she linked to. I was shocked, to say the least:

The soldiers, who are currently staging for combat operations from a secret location, reported that their commander told them if they were wearing Pinnacle Dragon Skin [body armor] and were killed their beneficiaries might not receive the death benefits from their $400,000 SGLI life insurance policies. The soldiers were ordered to leave their privately purchased body armor at home or face the possibility of both losing their life insurance benefit and facing disciplinary action.