Abstract: A protective vest and associated system are described. The vest may include at least one cooling subsystem configured to cool the torso of the wearer. The cooling subsystem may employ a fan, a coolant bladder with non-toxic coolant, a thermoelectric module and a heat sink. A heat exchange aperture in the vest shell may be enveloped by an armor shroud which also forms a fan air flow duct. The vest may include temperature sensors and a heart rate monitor, and may communicate with a wearer computing device by which the vest may be controlled and the geographical position of the vest and condition of the wearer may be monitored. The wearer computing device may further provide real-time tactical information and vest performance data to the wearer. Multiple wearer computing devices corresponding to respective protective vests may communicate with each other, or a department computing device, by way of a server.