No shoulder armor? They're very vulnerable this way.
Also, Moralez here reminds me A LOT like Sergeant Johnson from Halo, right down to the smirk and the cigar. Good piece you commissioned, Snek.

Honestly? There's a few reasons why they would choose not to wear it.

First, there's the fact that most shoulder protection is only soft-body armor that protects against pistol rounds or shrapnel, and won't help with rifle rounds at all. Having hard-body armor would mean affixing rigid metal/ceramic plating to your arms or shoulders. Even with soft-body armor, there's the fact that shoulder protection can restrict mobility in the arms, which is not optimal.

And, depending on the situation, the slight decrease in protection can be worth it in terms of reducing weight. Armor is quite bulky, heavy, and hot. Military personnel sometimes opt to wear just the plate carrier+plates and a helmet if they're gonna be marching a while. Take for example the old USMC armor kit (OTV) vs the Improved version (IOTV). With all the components, the IOTV weighs ~30lb lighter than the full kit OTV (which is still 30-35lb). This does not include the weight of your ruck or weapon. Add in a very hot and/or humid environment and you have some very miserable personel.

Obviously, if you're gonna be in a vehicle (say as a gunner) for a while, you can afford to add all the extra components, you're not really gonna be marching a lot.

If anything? You should be more concerned by the fact that none of them have any helmets or ear protection. :P


Regardless, I agree that this piece looks awesome.

I was just making a WH40K Space Marines joke, you know, how they wear those huge shoulder pauldrons?

Oooooh, well shit that went right over my head. Lol, my bad. Now I kinda look like a spaz, eh?

Interesting information regardless!
A lot of military types seem to like my stories, and having them point out errors helps me keep things authentic.