Abstract: Personal body armor has hard armor plates on the front and back of the wearer which extend between a left vest section and a right vest section formed of soft armor. Foam pads are affixed to the interior of the vest sections which space the soft armor and the hard armor plates from the wearer's body and define multiple vertically extending air channels between the wearer and the hard armor plates and the interior of the soft armor. The air channels promote ventilation of the armor and cooling of the wearer. For additional comfort, the soft armor is formed of multiple conventional layers of ballistic material and a {fraction (1/16)} inch molded plastic layer. The hard armor plates are configured to avoid interference with the usual range of motion of the wearer.