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Small Arms Protective Inserts (SAPI) plates are the latest in personnel armor. The can defeat fragmentation and small arms fire. The SAPI plates are made of a ballistic ceramic tile and backed by multiple layers of unidirectional ballistic material. The plates break up the rounds while the material catches the fragments.

The following photos show marines who took hits but lived because of his SAPI plates.

SAPI plates are responsible in part for the lowest death to wounded ratio for any US military effort.

Photos by LTC Norm Root