What is Body armour?
[[File:US Navy 100714-M-6044V-029 Marine Corps Sgt. Krystal L. Marshall, left, communications detachment maintenance chief, and 1st Lt. Briana Carter, assistant operations officer of Combat Logistics Battalion 15.jpg|thumb|250px|[[United States Marine Corps|United States Marines]] in July 2010 help a [[Sri Lanka]]n sailor to put on a 'Modular Tactical Vest'.]] [[File:Museo archeologico regionale paolo orsi, corazza in bronzo, da tomba 5 necropoli della fossa, 370-340 ac. 01.JPG|thumb|Ancient Greek body armor, ~ 350 B.C.]] [[File:Police officer in riot gear.jpg|thumb|upright|An American [[police officer]] wears a helmet and carries a [[riot shield]]. October 2002]] Modern '''body armour''' (personal armour/armor or body armor) is protective clothing. It is designed to absorb and/or deflect slashing, bludgeoning, and penetrating attacks. It was first used to protect soldiers, today it is used to protect [[Police|riot police]], private [[security guard]]s and [[bodyguard]]s. There are two different types of armour. There is regular non-plated personal armor used by most police, security guards and bodyguards. There is also hard-plate reinforced personal armor, which is used by combat soldiers, police tactical units and hostage rescue teams. [[Armour]] is certainly very ancient, but it was little used in [[infantry]] warfare for quite a long time, with the exception of [[helmet]]s. From about the [[18th century]] to the [[Vietnam War|Vietnam war]], men fought relatively unprotected. The weight and cost of effective armour meant it was no longer practical to have infantrymen armoured. The invention of [[carbon fibre]], modern hard [[ceramics]] and various [[plastic]] compounds are suitable for light armour which is effective in many circumstances. [[Kevlar]], [[Technora]] and [[Nomex]] are [[Aramid]]s, which are long-chain [[aromatic]] [[polyamide]]s. They are used to make bullet resistant vests and bullet resistant face masks. The PASGT helmet and vest used by United States military forces since the early 1980s