Recently (last week or so) there have been several photos published of our Special Ops boys in Afghanistan.
They all have a device strapped to the top and front of their helmets. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/trade.center/gallery/special.forces.11.18.html (click on the several photos on the left)
What is it?
It’s most likely an element of their night-vision apparatus - the part that remains attached to their helmets. They probably have the occular piece stowed away in their packs until they need them.
Check out Black Hawk Down - an amazing read about the Mission in Modidishu, Somalia. One of the biggest problems our Special Forces ran into down there was that they didn’t bring their night vision gear with them on the mission. They all though it would be a quickie - in and out w/in an hour, tops. Since they were going in at high noon, almost all the troops decided to save the extra weight and pack extra ammo. Unfortunately, it ended up being a 14 hour fire-fight.
The single element (hardware-wise) that makes them truly unique is their ability to fight in the dark. Lose the night-vision, then they lose their edge (or a very small bit of it at least). In the book, almost every (surviving) soldier said that from that point on, they would never leave their night-vision gear back at base - ever again.
Still, even without n-v, they were still a balls-to-the-wall killing machine.
Yeah, MarcAnthony7, that looks like the mount for the NVG shown here on an SPH-4 helmet.
BTW: I liked Blackhawk Down. When all of that happened, I didn’t really know what was going on over there. Not as good a read as Clancy, but a good account of modern warfare.