The cardiac box, which includes the heart and surrounding vital organs, is a crucial and vulnerable area of the body.
In dangerous situations, such as active shooter incidents or bomb blasts, the cardiac box can be at risk of injury or death.
Body armor is a vital tool in protecting this area and potentially saving lives. Body armor has come a long way in recent years, with advancements in materials and design making it more lightweight and comfortable to wear while still offering maximum protection.
This blog post will delve into the importance of body armor for the protection of the cardiac box area of the human torso, discussing how it works and the different types available.
Whether you're a first responder, law enforcement officer, or just someone concerned about your own safety, understanding the benefits of body armor is crucial.
What Is The Cardiac Box and Why Is It Important
The cardiac box, also known as the thoracic region, is the area of the body that surrounds the heart and lungs.
It is an important area of the body because it is responsible for vital functions such as the respiratory and circulatory systems. The cardiac box is also a vulnerable area during violent encounters, as it is at a high risk of injury from bullets and other projectiles.
Injuries to the cardiac box can be severe and often result in death.
This is why it is important for law enforcement officers and first responders to have body armor that specifically protects this area. Additionally, officers and first responders should be trained on how to properly wear and care for their body armor to ensure maximum protection.
Protecting The Cardiac Box
When it comes down to protecting the cardiac box, you need to understand the two fundamentals of human targeting.
Timers and switches. A timer is started as soon as a bullet impacts the human body. Depending on where the bullet impacts and the number of impacts will determine how fast that timer will expire.
A kill switch is a specific area of the human body when impacted by a bullet, will dispatch the threat immediately. There are two primary areas of the human body that are considered a kill switch. Those two areas are the head and the spine.
For the sake of this blog, we’re going to focus on the timers, which are the organs that reside within the cardiac box.
A timer is started as soon as a bullet impacts the human body. Depending on where the bullet impacts and the number of impacts will determine how fast that timer will expire.
Once the timer expires so does the threat. So where on the human body will start the said timer?
The most common is the high chest area (high A zone) otherwise known as the cardiac box. By putting rounds in this area you are in effect hitting the lungs and possibly the heart.
Aiming for the heart and lungs is a common target area. It makes sense and is the largest area of the human body to aim for. However, the human body can survive roughly three to ten minutes after you blow the heart or lungs out.
It is vital that military, law enforcement, and other security personnel protect this region at all costs. The best way to do that is by wearing the right body armor and ensuring that it's positioned correctly to cover the cardiac box.
Different types of body armor
Soft body armor
With soft body armor, you’re basically looking at a level 3a insert that goes into some type of specialized shirt, vest, or plate carrier.
Level IIIA protects against common handgun rounds and is rated to stop .357 Sig and .44 Magnum. Level IIIA is usually a soft plate but can be made into a more rigid board as well.
We offer this in both a rigid plate and a soft plate, giving you a choice that helps customize how your insert will carry in your backpack. This is definitely solid protection against the most likely threat faced by civilians.
While level 3a soft body armor is lightweight, comfortable, and covers the cardiac box area of the torso, the level of protection it offers is not quite there for law enforcement considering the threats that they face.
Hard body armor
The most popular hard body armor comes in the form of level 3 hard plates.
The ShotStop Duritium® Level III+PA Plate is the lightest, thinnest, and most durable Level III plate available today.
For starters, the Duritium® Level III+PA Plate comes in both SAPI and Shooters Cut plates with 5 sizes for each cut. The ability to customize your body armor for your own personal body type is a very underrated feature.
We offer 8x10”, 8.75” x 11.75”, 9.5” x 12.5”, 10" x 12", and 11" x 14" to fit every officer and soldier from small to large, male to female, skinny to robust.
All of our Duritium® Level III+PA Plates are no more than 0.7” thick and are multi-curve plates to accommodate female officers and men with larger upper bodies. This added feature makes a huge difference in the level of comfort and we build it standard with our Level III plates.
Once you pick up our Level III+PA plate, you’re never going to want to go back to pistol-caliber armor. When you consider the number of bullets officers are facing per incident (11.1 in 2020), the higher calibers from smaller platform guns, and the advancement in ballistics, it makes a lot of sense to make the switch to Level III+ armor.
We also offer a free 15-year warranty with the purchase of any of our Level III plates. This warranty is at least 3x longer than any of our competitors.
Choosing our Duritium® Level III+PA plate gives you the added protection of stand-alone hard plate armor and the durability to stop multiple strikes from rifle-caliber bullets.
Conclusion
Protecting the cardiac box with body armor is a critical aspect of ensuring the safety of law enforcement officers and first responders.
The cardiac box, also known as the thoracic region, is a vulnerable area that is at high risk of injury during violent encounters. Body armor specifically designed to protect the cardiac box can greatly reduce the risk of injury and death.
It is important for agencies to invest in high-quality body armor that is tested and certified to meet industry standards. Furthermore, officers and first responders should be trained on how to properly wear and care for their body armor to ensure maximum protection.