ARMY APPROVED EYE PRO HOW TO
ARMY APPROVED EYE PRO PRO

They also audit each vendor annually to ensure production standards don’t drop off, Odom said. While some brands sell items labeled as safety glasses or goggles, only APEL products have been tested by the Army and shown to provide the level of protection it requires.Īside from the tests that produce a new list once every one or two years, PEO Soldier also pulls samples of each brand once every six months to ensure they continue to meet standards as they age. PEO Soldier officials recommend double-check before buying. In 2011 the Army announced the requirement, but delayed its effective date to allow wear-out of previously issued eye wear. Starting in January, 2016, the APEL mark of approval will offer more than peace of mind: it will be required. “You can get fragments from debris, rocks, stuff getting spit up from a vehicle, or from a blast.” “It’s substantial fragmentary protection,” Odom said of what the standard requires, which hasn’t changed from the last round of testing. The trials determine if they offer sufficient protection from various forms of debris. Any vendor can submit two spectacle options and one pair of goggles in a given year. To make the cut, each submission must pass ballistic testing by PEO Soldier’s Soldier Protection and Individual Equipment office. The 31 approved models come from eight manufacturers: 3M, Arena, ESS, Honeywell, Oakley, Revision, Smith Optics, and Wiley X. And generally having choice is good,” Odom told Army Times. “Soldiers are always interested in eyewear, for looks and for what they do to provide protection. Brent Odom, assistant project manager of soldier protective eyewear for PEO Soldier, attributed the list’s expansion to the fact that “competition has ramped up.” He said new options will help soldiers find a good fit.

UPLC lenses offer rims that hold prescription lenses in the protective eyewear. Of the current options, 10 goggles and six spectacles are Universal Prescription Lens Compatible, with those models clearly noted as such on PEO Soldier’s website and APEL poster. That’s more than double the previous list of nine spectacles and six goggles, granting more ways to comply with an Army directive to only use APEL-labeled eyewear by 2016. The Authorized Protective Eyewear List, released once every year or two by Program Executive Office Soldier, now has 16 spectacles and 15 goggles.

ARMY APPROVED EYE PRO PRO

Safety Glasses USA will pass along details regarding the new required APEL markings as soon as they are released.Soldiers’ options for Army-approved eye pro just expanded. Their ballistic-rated safety eyewear provides a helpful starting point to check against the QPL. The lists provided by many safety eyewear retailers and manufacturers is still helpful. “… only APEL products have been tested by the Army and shown to provide the level of protection it requires.” However, only eyewear on the QPL is authorized for wear during combat, training, or whenever military individuals risk injury from impact.įor now, keep to the advice of PEO Soldier officials who recommend double-checking the official list before buying eyewear since… Note that safety eyewear retailers and manufacturers often list products they say, or whenever military individuals risk injury from impact, meet this standard. Until the new marking requirements arrive, the only way to know if eyewear meets APEL standards is to check the Qualified Products List (QPL). These new markings still appear to be on the horizon for ballistic-rated eyewear, but wearers currently remain in a holding pattern. However, implementation was put on hold until 2016 to “allow wear-out of previously issued eyewear.” Even with 2017 well underway, individuals who wear ballistic eyewear still await the marking system.Īrmy Times details the last known official information in its May 2015 article “ Army releases new, longer list of approved eye pro“. The Army originally announced this marking addition in 2011. Ballistic-rated eyewear holds to a much higher impact standard than ANSI-certified eyewear, however, it still does not have a marking system indicating the product as APEL certified (military grade safety eyewear). Though change is still expected, ballistic-rated eyewear currently has no required marking. The article also discusses where to find and identify ballistic-rated safety eyewear.

ARMY APPROVED EYE PRO HOW TO

“ How Can You Identify Ballistic Eyewear?“ details how to differentiate between civilian ( ANSI) and ballistic (military) standards.

Army approved eye pro