# Combat troops not wearing helmets? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 7, 2015, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combat-troops-not-wearing-helmets/727279 "2015-08-07T23:07:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combat-troops-not-wearing-helmets/727279/21 "2015-08-08T16:31:54Z")
Green berets : as long as they have silver wings upon their chest. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combat-troops-not-wearing-helmets/727279/22 "2015-08-08T17:00:15Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > Ha! I wish!! Have patience then. I’m sure it’ll come. Should be a few weeks after you retire. How easy is it to have personal non-standard gear that’s been used by SF? Were electronic sights the first and went Delta Force - Rangers - rest of army? ChefGuy, I guess you were right and those movies you mention are just lazy/unprepared then. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combat-troops-not-wearing-helmets/727279/23 "2015-08-08T18:34:21Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > ChefGuy, > I guess you were right and those movies you mention are just lazy/unprepared then. I figured it was because the Stars don’t think it looks cool to have a heavy steel pot on their heads, and because, you know, _heavy_. You can tell whether or not the entire helmet is being used when you don’t see a chin strap (which is attached to the steel part) or if you see a pebbly texture (the liner), or if the cammo covering is all poofy and ruffled. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combat-troops-not-wearing-helmets/727279/24 "2015-08-08T18:45:38Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I figured it was because the Stars don’t think it looks cool to have a heavy steel pot on their heads, and because, you know, _heavy_. You can tell whether or not the entire helmet is being used when you don’t see a chin strap (which is attached to the steel part) or if you see a pebbly texture (the liner), or if the cammo covering is all poofy and ruffled. In which movies did you notice that? I’d like to have a look. I can see it being heavy for older helmets but, at least in the Canadian military within the last decade, I didn’t find them that heavy at all. Uncomfortable, yes. And yes, main characters have magical protection that minor characters don’t have against projectiles, hence the absence of need for anything that could obscure the face and styled hair. A lot like this, where you would think they would realize the flaw in their otherwise heavily armored design: [http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/6/64/Chaos\_Lord\_Eliaphas\_the\_Inheritor.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20121107180902](http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/6/64/Chaos_Lord_Eliaphas_the_Inheritor.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20121107180902) ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combat-troops-not-wearing-helmets/727279/25 "2015-08-08T18:59:47Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > The helmet has two parts: the shell (the heavy metal outer piece) and the helmet liner (made of plastic and contains the suspension). You can wear the liner alone, but it will only protect to the extent that a hardhat will. It always makes me roll my eyes when I see combat troops in a movie wearing just the liner, and trying to pass it off as a full helmet. This applies of course to our good pal the M1 steel bucket – it’s a helmet, it’s a shovel, it’s a cooking pot and a washbasin, it’s a stool and a hammer… and yes I do recall in cheaper movies and TV shows they’d spray paint the liner with metallic/OD color and pretend that was it, in order to lighten the load on the actor (also, sometimes honor guards in “dress” ocassions back in CONUS would be authorized to use the liner, painted to look good). The post-1980s helmets, of which in the case of the USA there seems to be a new version every decade in both the Army and Marines, composite/thermoplastic shell and liner are integrated and more permanently attached (plus in the field you add mounting hardware for such things as nightvision). ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combat-troops-not-wearing-helmets/727279/26 "2015-08-08T20:40:26Z")
> **[The Box O' Truth #29 - The Helmets O' Truth](https://www.theboxotruth.com/threads/the-box-o-truth-29-the-helmets-o-truth.353/)** > > Several people have asked me to shoot a new Kevlar helmet. My old buddy Ponyboy finally found a couple and sent them to me to test. > > Before we start, let me explain that we are not conducting "scientifically valid" tests on these brain buckets. It is... Some informal testing by these guys shows the newer composite helmets to be surprisingly bullet-resistant. The old steel pot helmets wouldn’t even stand up to handgun bullets. I think their results were interesting, but skewed by them repeatedly shooting the same helmets. A “fresh” helmet might have done better at stopping the intermediate rifle rounds. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combat-troops-not-wearing-helmets/727279/27 "2015-08-08T21:30:00Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > This applies of course to our good pal the M1 steel bucket – it’s a helmet, it’s a shovel, it’s a cooking pot and a washbasin, it’s a stool and a hammer… It’s a latrine… WHAT ?! I cleans it before I puts it back on ! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combat-troops-not-wearing-helmets/727279.md?page=1)