I guess this question would be hard to answer in SIngapore !IN other countries when Body armor is available to the civilians, than it is a possible scenario! PArents or theserviceman's love one sending better made BA to them in the battlefield.
We have seen lots of these in the US military when in the Vietnam era, parents sending their kids side arms like a pistol and stuff like that.... not a concept that we Asians would think of becasue we never have the environement to gather these goodies!
SAdly , a lot of time the military weapons and equipment is not the best but a compromise ! somtimes it is dirty politics somtimes it is the budget! SOmtimes even when I was in the SAF, I use a lot of non SAF issue equipment which gets me thru a lot of harsh traiining. ( items like Gortex ponchos, camelbaks, swiss army knife, US SBO, SBO Belts just name a few! ..... not avaialble to us when in service but defeintly made our life much better.
DaveC