You ever wonder if getting your tail shot off would be a significant problem for furry soldiers? I mean, it's a bit hard to armor a tail. o.o

The only light and malleable solution I can see is chain mail, but that doesn't work quite so good for bullets and so forth.

Maybe some sort of light, banded material? It wouldn't have to be particularly tough as long as it's flexible enough that the tail would be pushed out of the way by the bullet instead of resisting the impact. As long as there isn't resistance, the bullet should just slide off of the material if it's hard enough. ... Maybe.

I hear silk stops bullets, but I'm not sure if that's actually true.

Nah. Even if it did... it wouldn't redirect enough of the force to keep it from hurting the tail, I think... plus, silk garments self-destruct in like, a month. Bad choice for combat material.

One solution (illustrated by Susan Van Camp and posted at the link below in my Photobucket account) at least in an SF setting is to make a "tail bag." Look on the back side of the armored figure on the right of the image. For those with flexible enough tails it can be curled up and tucked inside a small shell worn like a fanny pack. Now something like an otter or 'roo might have more of a problem, but even a squirrel should be able to coil up their tail and brush into a manageable size. Of course then the consequences of getting shot there become a lot worse...

http://s173.photobucket.com/albums/.....n_Van_Camp.gif

Glad to have found this one posted here on FA. Whenever I find one done for/about "me" I want to link it as a favorite. Too bad there isn't an extra category for things like that. (Favorites / appearances / requests / references / etc.)