"Blast Boxers" Protect Family Jewels

These kevlar-based boxers are proving popular with UK troops and are now available in Canada.

A U.K. company has developed a product called “Blast Boxers” — protective military clothing the company claims can reduce severe and sometimes deadly groin injuries caused by mine blasts.

The boxers, which look a little like two-toned bike shorts, are made of a woven Kevlar fabric and are meant to protect the groin, upper leg and body-cavity from blast and fragment injuries from IEDs.

A pair costs about C$85 and BCB International said they’ve proven popular with both UK troops, their wives and their girlfriends.

Esprit de Corps publisher Scott Taylor, who served as a professional soldier and has spent time in war zones, said he could see the product taking off in Canada because soldiers fret about the genital injuries caused by land mines.

“That’s every guy’s worst nightmare and if they could find anything to (protect themselves) they would do it,” he said Friday in an interview from his Ottawa office.

Soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq will sit on their Kevlar vests to protect their genitals from explosions, Taylor said, noting soldiers in World War II would sometimes sit on their helmets when they knew there were landmines around.

“They were more afraid of losing their balls than of a head wound,” he said.

According to statistics provided by the Armed Forces, 7.5% of Canadian casualties showed trauma to the uro-genital system. As of 2009, 1,442 Canadian soldiers had been wounded in the Afghan mission.

U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have also struggled with injuries to the groin area and, last year, the U.S. Congress introduced legislation designed to address uro-trauma in its troops, which was deemed “a growing concern among active military personnel. “

A Canadian Forces spokesperson said Friday the army was aware of the product but wasn’t currently considering purchasing them for their soldiers.

Still, Taylor doesn’t think that will stop soldiers from ordering a pair before heading to war.

“The military might end up buying them but in the short term I think guys would see that as an investment,” he said.

By: Shelldrake