Unbreakable: The Evolution of Body Armor (Ep. 5)

For over 3,000 years, warriors have relied on armor to survive the battlefield. But body armor has changed dramatically—from hammered bronze plates and medieval chainmail to Kevlar, ceramic strike faces, and experimental future materials.

In this episode of The Rank and File Podcast, Tyler Brown and Tyler Randall walk through every major leap in armor technology, explaining not only how each type was made, but what threats it was designed to counter. From Bronze Age spears to gunpowder muskets, from fragmentation in the world wars to modern ballistic rifles, the story of armor is the story of survival.

00:00 – Intro
02:23 – Ancient Armor: Bronze to Iron
07:35 – The Medieval Revolution: Mail & Plate
15:00 – Gunpowder Changes the Game
20:08 – World War I & World War II: The Return of Armor
25:26 – The Ballistic Era: Kevlar, Ceramics, and Modern Plate Systems
37:26 – Future Armor: Graphene, Liquid Armor, and Exoskeletons
43:41 – Outro

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