“I am writing to show and tell you of the in-field performance of the fantastic protective eyewear ESS has developed. The attached photos were taken before and after a sniper attack outside of Mosul, Iraq, on July 3, 2006.
I was positioned in the right rear hatch of my rolling Stryker when a sniper that had claimed the life of a fellow soldier and good friend three days prior struck again. This time, the sniper's bullet hit my gun mount and continued on to fragment and splatter on the right lens of my ESS CDI sunglasses.
While I was knocked down with the impact of the bullet, I suffered only minor injuries to my head and was back in action within the week. As strong testimony to the physical toughness of the CDI glasses, after the sniper attack I simply replaced the fractured lenses and continued to wear the glasses in combat for the remaining five months of duty in Baghdad. The frames were dinged a bit, but still functioned as new, even after taking a hit from a 7.62 sniper round.
Many thanks to your product development department and all of those associated with making these fine products available to our brave young men and women that continue to fight the fight in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Sgt. Ross Shores, 172nd Stryker Brigade, 562nd Eng. Co