Soldiers to get more eye protection in the battlefield.

• Author: Foster, Sharon
• Position: Tech Talk - Brief Article

Soldiers and Marines soon will begin receiving a new generation of protective eyewear from the Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass.

The latest glasses--dubbed the Military Eye Protection System--offer increased protection and work with half the number of interchangeable lenses needed by today's gear, said Michelle Markey, project officer at the center's production manager's office for soldier equipment. Troops will have a system of sleek goggles or spectacles and one set of interchangeable lenses that can fit both, she said.

"It is difficult to get soldiers to wear eye protection, especially those who are not used to wearing glasses," Markey said. "They are more likely to wear their eye protection if it is something they look good in, and I think these goggles and spectacles will be well accepted."

An estimated 10 percent of all battlefield injuries are to the eye, and that rate has climbed steadily since the Civil War...