When I used to work in the Bronx, whenever I had a partner who decided he “needed” a bullet proof vest, I’d tell him to take it off.  If he didn’t listen, I left him on the corner of the Grand Concourse and E. 138 Street and made him walk the 40+ blocks back to the hospital while I continued the tour with one of my other partners who lived in the area.  Some people thought I was crazy for doing that.  My reasoning was simple… if you’re going to insist on wearing it then actually need it.  Otherwise your sending off the wrong signal… a signal of mistrust to the people we were trying to help.  After the new jack’s walk through the South Bronx and arriving at the hospital alive, they usually realized they really didn’t need it after all.

I never would have thought twice if my partner would have shown up wearing one of these bullet proof polo shirts.  I really doubt an EMT could afford the $12,000 price tag, so there really wasn’t anything I had to worry about.  The shirt is made by Miguel Caballero who specializes in these types of items for the security minded individual with a lot of extra cash laying around to burn… kinda like the CEOs of Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors.

As the website suggests, these items are both ideal and priced for Princes and Presidents.  I can totally see Obama wearing some of these polos… and I think I might have even seen Dubya wearing one while on vacation at one point.  Which of course makes me wonder about that whole wardrobe flap with Palin.  Is someone going to complain that Obama has a set of 5 polos that cost him $60,000?  I don’t think anyone would begrudge him all the protection we can afford to give him, but what if the guy is using a sniper rifle and does a headshot like they did on JFK?  The polo really isn’t going to work well in that case so maybe it’s really only good for Princes.  I’m sure that the Secret Service have security guys who realize this though, right?  Right?

Damn.

I should totally become a security expert.