Body armor plates manufactured in Centerville, Iowa, were exhibited in Monday’s “Made in America” event at the White House. R-M-A Armament C-E-O Blake Waldrop is featured in a video on the company’s website. “I started this business to help better protect the end user, my fellow Marines, my fellow police officers,” Waldrop says in the video. “I lost a friend in Iraq January 1, 2005. The same plates that were issued then (to soldiers) are issued now. We got in this business to make a better product, to make a superior product.”

The company’s ceramic body armor plates are inserted in what are often called “bullet proof vests.” The factory in Centerville makes about a thousand units a week and they’re sold to police departments throughout the country. One manufacturer from each state was invited to exhibit their product at yesterday’s (Monday’s) event in Washington, D.C.

(Radio Iowa)