Thanks for everybody's input! I don't really want to divulge too much information, but I'm going to be wearing soft body armor for my employment soon. I'm looking for the best way to stay cool and dry, especially during the summer months.
During most of the year, I'll be wearing some kind of t-shirt, then soft body armor over the shirt, on top of that would be a polo shirt, and then probably one of those 5.11 tactical photographer looking vests. Yes, I know I am going to look like a "tacticool tool", but that's the most effective way for me to conduct my employment.
During the cooler months (Fall and early spring), I'd be wearing a long sleeve polo over the soft body armor. During the cold months (winter), I'll be wearing a jacket instead of the 5.11 tactical photographer vest.
A few thoughts:
1. Undergarment:
I don't wear concealable body armor much any more, but I used to wear a regular cotton T-shirt underneath. I bought V-necks as they would work just as well with an open neck shirt as they fit with a dress shirt and tie.
As noted above, wicking undergarments like UnderArmor, or back in the day, a poly-pro base layer do a great job of wicking sweat away from you, but you'll still get damp in the areas where the moisture is trapped by the body armor and has no where to go.
My body armor's carriers are black so I wear a black t-shirt under it. If your t-shirt and body armor carrier are light/dark opposites, the carrier can be more discernible under a light colored shirt in some lighting conditions.
2. Concealing soft body armor effectively involves some compromises.
If you want actual concealable armor that a casual observer won't notice, then you need to accept reduced coverage around the shoulders.
The material also makes a difference. My last (and current) soft body armor is made from Spectra (one of the trade names for ultra high molecular weight polyethylene) and it offers a couple advantages:
- the Class IIIA Spectra armor is about the same thickness as Class II Kevlar, so it's more concealable at a given level of protection, and
- the fibers are sealed/encapsulated so that it isn't adversely affected by moisture.
3. A Polo shirt is a very poor choice for an outer garment.
The stretch nature of the fabric and the generally plain front on a polo shirt conspire to show any edges or surface irregularities under the shirt.
A short or long sleeve cotton or poly cotton shirt with buttons down the front and front pockets is a much better choice as it tends to break up any outlines underneath it.
In hot weather one of the vented Columbia shirts work well as the loose cut of the shirt, the slight wrinkles in the poly cotton fabric, combined with the front pockets do an excellent job of obscuring any outline from the body armor underneath.
If you wear one of those, you won't need to wear a tacticool vest or an unseasonably warm cover garment that just screams "guy with body armor or a gun". And regardless of what you'll be doing, looking obvious probably isn't the best way to do it.
