Body armor or Body armour, or personal armor/armour is protective clothing, designed to absorb and/or deflect slashing, bludgeoning and penetrating attacks by weapons. It was historically used to protect military personnel, whereas today, it is also used to protect various types of police (riot police in particular), private citizens, private security guards or bodyguards. Today there are two main types: regular non-plated personal armor (used by the people mentioned above, except combat soldiers) and hard-plate reinforced personal armor, which is used by combat soldiers, police tactical units and hostage rescue teams.