[Fred Broca]

Personnel Armor System for Ground Troops Helmet

In service

1983 - present (United States military reserve)

1985 - present (other countries)

Used by: United States Air Force, (historical), United States Army (historical,) United States Army Reserve, United States Marine Corps (historical,) United States Navy

Wars

Invasion of Grenada (first usage)

Invasion of Panama

Persian Gulf War

Battle of Mogadishu

Yugoslav Wars

Global War on Terrorism

War in Afghanistan

Iraq War

Russo-Ukrainian War

Designer: U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center

Designed: 1977 (helmet)

Manufacturer: Gibraltar Industries (first known helmet/vest manufacturer) Made by numerous manufacturers, such as Isratex, Inc.

Variants: U.S. Navy Flak Jacket (Mk 1, Mod 0)

Worn by: Bazooka, Breaker, (v1, v2) Clutch, Col. Courage, Duke, Dusty, Flash, Footloose, Grandslam, Grunt, Hawk, (v1) Rapid Fire, (v1 and Hall of Fame Series,) Roadblock, (v1) Scarlett*, Short-Fuze, Steeler, Zap

Personnel Armor System for Ground Troops (PASGT, pronounced /ˈp?zɡət/ PAZ-gət) is a combat helmet and ballistic vest that was used by the United States military from the early 1980s until the mid-2000s, when the helmet and vest were succeeded by the Lightweight Helmet (LWH), Modular Integrated Communications Helmet (MICH), and Interceptor Body Armor (IBA) respectively.

Designed in the mid-1970s as a replacement for the M1 helmet and previous fragmentation vests, prototypes of the PASGT were tested in the late 1970s before being fielded in the early 1980s. In the early 2000s, the PASGT vest began being replaced by the IBA and the PASGT helmet was replaced soon thereafter with the LWH and MICH. As of 2018, the only remaining U.S. military users of PASGT in any capacity are the U.S. Army Reserve and the U.S. Navy, the latter of which retains the PASGT helmet for use by sailors aboard its warships, in addition to a PASGT-derived vest known as the "U.S. Navy Flak Jacket".

PASGT is an acronym, standing for Personnel Armor System for Ground Troops. When used by itself, PASGT refers to both the vest and helmet together.

In the U.S. military, the PASGT helmet was most commonly known by its wearers as simply the "Kevlar". The nickname has since been adopted for usage with other helmets. The PASGT helmet was also referred to by its wearers in the U.S. military as the "K-pot", similar in name to the colloquial nickname "steel pot" for the steel M1 helmet, which was in widespread U.S. military usage from the 1940s, to the 1970s, including the Vietnam War. The PASGT helmet was also, but less commonly, known by its wearers as the "Fritz" helmet for its resemblance to the Stahlhelm, which was the standard helmet used by the German military forces in the First and Second World Wars.

.
An early prototype variant of the PASGT helmet and vest in the ERDL pattern.

The PASGT helmet is a combat helmet first employed by the U.S. military in 1983 and eventually adopted by many other military and law enforcement agencies internationally. The shell is made from 19 layers of Kevlar, a ballistic aramid fabric treated with a phenolic resin system, and is rated at Threat Level IIIA. The helmet and offers protection against shrapnel and ballistic threats. It meets the 1800 requirement of MIL-STD-662 E. It weighs from 3.1 lb (1,410 g) (size extra small) to 4.2 lb (1,910 g) (extra large).


U.S. Navy sailors in January 2017 wearing the PASGT helmet.

Overview

The PASGT helmet is typically painted olive drab, though other colors such as tan, grey, and black could also be used. Camouflage was available in the form of cloth helmet covers with varying camouflage patterns, such as woodland, six-color desert, and three-color desert. Some PASGT helmets were retrofitted with newer camouflage colors, such as the Universal Camouflage Pattern and MultiCam.

Outside military use, the PASGT helmet has been used by SWAT teams, where it is often painted black. It has also been used by United Nations Peacekeeping forces, where it is often painted United Nations blue.

When worn with a helmet cover, the PASGT helmet is often fitted with a band around it that has two light recharging glow patches (sometimes known as "cat eyes") on the rear, intended to reduce friendly fire incidents. These bands are also used to hold vegetation or small personal items, as with the M1 helmet before it. These bands can have names and blood types printed on them to identify the wearer and their blood type in the event of a casualty. In the U.S. Army, PASGT helmets often featured a patch with the wearer's rank insignia on it stitched onto the front, and/or a second patch showing the symbol of the wearer's unit on the sides. The U.S. Marines wore the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor insignia on the front of the helmet as an iron-on transfer, similar to the one worn by Marines on the breast pocket of the BDU. This practice continued with the adoption of the LWH, but fell out of use and was discontinued because the mounting base for night vision devices covered the emblem, and required a hole in the fabric to attach, defacing the symbol.

Development

The PASGT helmet was developed by the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center[10] after the Vietnam War during the mid-to-late 1970s. It completely replaced the steel M1 helmet in U.S. military service by the end of the 1980s. It first saw use in combat in 1983 during Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada, became standard issue for the U.S. military in 1985, and completely replaced the M1 helmet for frontline troops by the end of the decade. Army units stationed in Alaska were the last to receive the helmets, some not getting the PASGT until 1988.

Accessories

Various add-on accessories were developed for the PASGT helmet, including a helmet mount assembly to attach night vision goggles and a riot protection helmet visor mount.

Replacement

The PASGT helmet was replaced in U.S. military service by the Lightweight Helmet for the U.S. Marine Corps and the Modular Integrated Communications Helmet by the U.S. Army, which was in turn replaced by the Advanced Combat Helmet.

Both were eventually replaced by the Enhanced Combat Helmet (ECH) around 2012 and 2014.

The PASGT system is still used by some U.S. allies and still sees some continued limited use in the U.S. military as of 2017, where it serves as one of various vests for sailors assigned to duty aboard U.S. Navy vessels. - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pers..._Ground_Troops

*Scarlett wore a mustard colored PASGT helmet in the early issues of the Marvel run.


Schwarzkopf's helmet, a PASGT, represents "how technology and innovation work together in the field of ground-forces protection,” says Frank Blazich, Jr., the Smithsonian's curator of modern military forces.

Known as PASGT (for Personal Armor System Ground Troops), the helmet was introduced to the U.S. ground forces in the years following the Vietnam conflict and was initially employed in limited numbers during actions in Grenada and Haiti in the 1980s. It was in wide use by American ground forces by the time Operation Desert Storm was initiated in 1991, when U.S. forces led a coalition of 34 nations to liberate Kuwait after its occupation by Iraq in August of 1990.

In 1965, DuPont chemist Stephanie Kwolek invented Kevlar. That was a game-changer, says Blazich. In the 1970s, several Army agencies?led by the Army Natick Development Center at the Watertown Arsenal in Massachusetts?began work using layers of tough, puncture-resistant Kevlar 29, a synthetic ballistic fiber bonded with a synthetic polymer resin, to create a helmet capable of stopping most bullets, as well as shrapnel and shell fragments in a skull protecting device that weighed between 3.1 (for the small model) and 4.2 pounds (for the extra-large size).

Because of the malleability and plasticity of Kevlar in the design process, the Army and its agencies were able to make a far more efficient helmet design, creating the PASGT, similar to the one General Schwarzkopf donated to the Smithsonian in 2007. Its design also allowed for coverage of the ears and the back of the skull all the way to the nape of the neck.

Though some of the American troops referred to it as the K Pot, referring to its outer Kevlar material, others called it the Fritz for its resemblance to the scallop-edged Stalhelm helmet worn by German soldiers in both World Wars. But despite the disparaging nickname, the PASGT's protective qualities, due to the Kevlar exterior, proved a vast protective improvement over the M1. While still not perfect at stopping close-range bullets and shrapnel and shell fragments, the helmet?s provision of safety was recognized as a quantum protective leap forward.

First used combat in Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada in 1983, by the time Operation Desert Storm came around in 1991, it was welcomed as standard equipment until the PASGT, too, was replaced by a new model in 2003. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smith...eld-180963319/


The Personnal Armor System Ground Troops, or PASGT, used from 1979-2003, replaced steel construction.


The PASGT replaced the M1 steel constructed helmet.


The PASGT is constructed of 17 layers of Kevlar-brand aramid fiber treated with phenolic resin.

[hardcorps]

Yeah, manpack size radios are still a thing, and you always have to have spare batteries that are about the size of a brick.

Swagger sticks were banned in the USMC. Unfortunately, a few DIs had a tendency to poke or hit with them, so they ruined it for everybody. This is why we can't have nice things. A fair few guys still have them for display, they are just not carried in uniform.

DIs, DSs, and range personnel wear the campaign cover but me personally, I think all ground personnel should wear it, particularly instead of the beret. The campaign cover is basically a Stetson Boss of the Plains cowboy had with a "montana peak". It was used by the Army and Marines, and exported to Africa and the UK army by Frederick Russell Burnham who, IMHO, is the most interesting man in the world in real life It is uniquely American cover, unlike the french looking berets. You never see a mime or a street painter or sobbing frenchman wearing a Stetson campaign cover.

[Fred Broca]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hardcorps

Swagger sticks were banned in the USMC. Unfortunately, a few DIs had a tendency to poke or hit with them, so they ruined it for everybody. This is why we can't have nice things. A fair few guys still have them for display, they are just not carried in uniform.

I also saw an article where the Marines are considering banning the use of "sir," and "ma'am."

[hardcorps]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fred Broca

I also saw an article where the Marines are considering the use of "sir," and "ma'am."

yeah, after the rainbow clip a year or so ago, we are fuqqed. This is how we all end up wearing silver jumpsuits with numbers for names in the future.

[sbartek1974]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fred Broca

I also saw an article where the Marines are considering banning the use of "sir," and "ma'am."

Things are so ridiculous these days

[MongooseMG]

An outside group recommend that the Marines do away with sir and ma'am for their Drill Instructors in boot camp (instead calling them Drill Instructor Last Name) partially out of claimed gender equality issues and partially to match the other services (which have long used Drill Instructor Last Name due to different service traditions). As far a I know the Marines have not commented on the suggestion other than that they have received it.

[Fred Broca]

Later generation ECH high cut

Type: Combat helmet

In service: 2012 - present

Designed: 2007

Manufacturer: Ceradyne and Gentex

Produced: March 2012 - present

Mass 3.3 lb (1.5 kg)

Worned by; Heavy Artillery Roadblock, (the Classified Series #28) and Alvin "Breaker," Kibby, (the Classified Series #29)

The ECH's profile is very similar to the Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH) but is thicker; they can be differentiated from the ACH by the different chinstrap. The ECH helmet's shell is made of an ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) material. The helmet provides 35% better protection against small-arms fire and fragmentation than the Advanced Combat Helmet, and it protects against certain rifle projectiles. The helmet is of the "tactical cut" type and thus offers less coverage but does enable better mobility. The helmet is compatible with camouflage fabric helmet covers.[5] The helmet has been shown nearly impenetrable to fragments fired by test guns. In a v50 test, guns were unable to attain the velocity required to get 50% of the fragments through a helmet.[6] The helmet's design allows for the addition of devices such as communications and night-vision equipment.

The ECH has a 4-point chinstrap/napestrap head retention system. The Marine/Navy and Army variants are differentiated in that the Marine/Navy version uses an X-Back retention system (called the Class I) and the Army uses the H-Back retention system (called the Class II).

A high cut variant of the ECH with side accessory rails and a contour similar to the Ops-Core FAST (Future Assault Shell Technology) helmet already in use by special operations forces was issued to Marine combat arms units beginning in 2021. Unlike in the earlier version of the helmet, the distinctive D-ring attachment at the jawline is not present in this design.

Development

In an effort led by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL),[8] ECH development began in 2007 under the Army Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) Program. In July 2009, more than $8 million was awarded to four vendors for five helmet designs. Mine Safety Appliances was awarded $4.7 million, Gentex Corporation was awarded $1.8 million, BAE Systems Aerospace & Defense Group was awarded $764,000, and 3M subsidiary Ceradyne was awarded $729,000. Testing in September revealed that each helmet failed in ballistic and/or blunt force tests. In February 2010, the Navy joined the program and issued their own requirements. Marine Corps officials suggested design improvements such as better materials to industry and testing resumed in June 2010. Three vendors were to be downselected, and the remaining two would be tested in November. If the program proceeded as planned the Army would acquire 200,000, the Marine Corps would acquire 38,500, and the Navy would acquire 6,700.

Ceradyne won the competition to produce the Enhanced Combat Helmet in March 2012. In July 2013, the U.S. Marine Corps ordered 3,850 helmets for deployed Marines, to be fielded before the end of 2013. The Marine Corps plans to buy 77,000 helmets, enough to outfit a large contingent of deployed U.S. Marines.

Fielding was scheduled to begin in October 2013. The Marine Corps' ultimate goal is to issue the ECH to all 182,000 Marines.

The Army helmet fabrication goal was to develop an entirely new methodology for mass-producing complex shapes and combining layers of different thermoplastic materials. During this time, ARL and partners created a new molding technology, which included a manufacturing process reducing labor by 40% and waste by 70%.

The ManTech program has also produced the Ops-Core FAST helmet, fielded by the Green Berets, the Navy SEALS, and other special operations forces. The FAST helmet offers 25% weight reduction; a derivative of the FAST helmet, known as the Maritime (MT), offers a 35% weight - reduction. The FAST helmet and its derivatives also use UHMWPE, and the technology includes new manufacturing processes developed at ARL, in collaboration with U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development And Engineering Center and Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier.[15] ARL and its partners received the Department of Defense Manufacturing Technology Program Achievement Award in 2009 for work on ECH. - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enha...(United_States)

[Fly4v]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbartek1974

Things are so ridiculous these days

Well, I just got a message for Marty in the year 2030.

Things get even worse.

I doubt what he had me do to reverse the trend will be effective.

[Fred Broca]

Slouch hat

Worn by: Recondo

A slouch hat is a wide-brimmed felt or cloth hat most commonly worn as part of a military uniform, often, although not always, with a chinstrap. It has been worn by military personnel from many different nations including Australia, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, India, New Zealand, Southern Rhodesia, France, the United States, the Confederate States, Germany and many others. Australia and New Zealand have had various models of slouch hat as standard issue headwear since the late Victorian period.

Today it is worn by military personnel from a number of countries, although it is primarily associated with Australia, where it is considered to be a national symbol. The distinctive Australian slouch hat, sometimes called an "Australian bush hat" or "digger hat", has one side of the brim turned up or pinned to the side of the hat with a Rising Sun Badge in order to allow a rifle to be slung over the shoulder. The New Zealand Mounted Rifles wore a similar headdress but with the New Zealand military badge attached to the front of the cloth band (puggaree*) wound around the base of the hat's crown.

In the United States it was also called the Kossuth hat, after Lajos Kossuth. During the American Civil War (1861?65) the headgear was common among both Confederate and Union troops in the Western Theater, although not always with its brim turned up at the side. During the Spanish - American War, as commander of the Rough Riders, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt became known for wearing a slouch hat.



The name "slouch hat" refers to the fact that one side droops down as opposed to the other which is pinned against the side of the crown.

This style of hat has been worn for many hundreds of years, especially during the English Civil War during the 17th century when it became associated with the forces of King Charles I, the Cavaliers, but it was also fashionable for the aristocracy throughout Europe during that time until it developed into the cocked hat with two (bicorn) or three (tricorn) points.

It was introduced into Australia around 1885, although it traces its military use back to Austrian skirmishers. The modern slouch hat is derived from the black "Corsican hat" (Korsehut) historically used in the Austrian army during the Napoleonic Wars. The headwear saw primary use by 15 battalions of Austrian Jagers (skirmishers) and it featured an upturned brim, leather chinstrap and feather plume. The regular infantry also saw limited use of the Corsican hat in the periods 1803 - 06 and 1811 - 36.

The hat had its brim pinned up on the right side with a cockade in the national colors and was worn with the home uniform as well. German colonial police units in South West Africa wore a khaki slouch hat with a small national cockade on the front and the right side pinned up by a metal Imperial crown device.

It became associated with the Australian military around the end of the 19th century, and since World War I it has been manufactured in Australia for the Australian Army by companies such as Akubra, Mountcastle & Sons and Bardsley Hats. The Australian military still wear the slouch hat with a Unit Colour Patch to identify their unit, and it has become a national symbol in Australia.


Australian Light Horse troops wearing slouch hats, November 1914

The slouch hat was first worn by military forces in Australia in 1885 when the newly created Victorian Mounted Rifles adopted the hat as part of their uniform after their commanding officer, Thomas Price, had seen them worn by police in Burma. On 22 December 1890, the military commanders of the then separate Australian Colonies prior to the Federation of Australia met to discuss the introduction of the khaki uniform throughout Australia. They agreed that all Australian Forces with the exception of the Artillery would wear the slouch hat. It was to be looped up on one side?Victoria and Tasmania on the right and the other colonies (later states) on the left. This was done so that rifles could be held at the slope without damaging the brim.
After Federation, the slouch hat became standard Australian Army headgear in 1903 and since then it has developed into an important national symbol.

The slouch hat (also known as a hat KFF, or hat khaki fur felt) is worn as the standard ceremonial headress for all members of the Army, except those belonging to units or corps that have an official headress such as a beret, and is treated with the utmost care and respect. It is also worn in some units as general duty dress. When worn for ceremonial purposes, the "Grade 1" Slouch hat is worn with a seven-band puggaree, six of which represent the states of Australia while the seventh represents the territories of Australia. A Unit Colour Patch is worn on the right of puggaree, while a Corps or Regiment Hat badge is placed to its front and the General Service Badge (The Rising Sun) worn on the left brim which is folded up and clipped into place.


Australian Army Grade 1 Slouch Hat with Royal Australian Engineers corps badge

The slouch hat worn by the Army is one of its trademarks, but it is not theirs alone: the Royal Australian Air Force wears the HKFF with a dark blue or "Air Force Blue" Puggaree, as a Non Ceremonial head dress for the RAAF; the Royal Australian Navy is also known to wear the hat when wearing camouflage and other uniforms, and has the same features as the RAAF's HKFF.

Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR) wear a jungle green coloured puggaree with no colour patch, which dates back to traditions when serving in Malaya. Staff Cadets at the Royal Military College, Duntroon also wear a darker pugaree, however it contains eight pleats. The eighth pleat signifies the graduation of the first international cadet through the Royal Military College who hailed from New Zealand. They also wear the chin strap of the hat the opposite way around from that of the rest of the Army, as the first commander of the 1st Australian Imperial Force, William Throsby Bridges, was found wearing his slouch hat back to front when he was fatally wounded at Gallipoli.

Some units of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps such as cavalry and light horse regiments wear emu plumes behind the Rising Sun badge. This is a reference to a practice dating from World War 1, where Light Horsemen would chase down emus and steal their feathers to mount in their hat as a mark of their riding skill.

United States Military

The slouch hat has been known in the US military at least since the American Civil War, being fairly common among officers.

The standard headgear for US soldiers in the Vietnam War in the 1960s was a fatigue baseball or field cap that offered little protection from the sun. Local tailors made a slouch hat in a style between a French type bush hat of the First Indochina War and an Australian type bush hat with a snap on the brim to pin one side up that was widely bought and unofficially worn by American troops in Vietnam. The local tailors usually used green fatigue cloth or leopard skin pattern military camouflage from old parachutes. The hat often had a cloth arc emblazoned with the word VIET-NAM on the brim. The US 1st Air Commando Group members officially adopted the green slouch hat on 22 May 1964 as their distinctive and practical headgear.

In 1972 the US Army authorized female drill sergeants to wear a similar type cloth bush hat with the brim pinned up on the side as their distinctive headgear. - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slouch_hat




Puggaree

British - Indian Connection

So how is it that the Australian Army, to this day, wear upon their slouch hats a coloured cotton band called a "Puggaree"?

The Australian Army website states:

"Intended for insulation, the puggaree was a traditional Indian head-wrap, adapted by the British for headdress worn in hot, sunny regions."

Australian Army website

"The Puggaree connection appears to go back to the British - Indian interaction during the British occupation of India. The Sikhs served as the backbone of the British Indian Army with some officers becoming so well acquainted with their "native" troops that they, at times, even chose to dress like them (out of interest or necessity). It would appear that this tradition of wearing a Puggaree continued on (albeit in a symbolic manner) even after the British-Sikh connection was somewhat tested after India gained independence and Pakistan was formed in 1947 (resulting in the separation of the Sikh homeland of Punjab.") - The Puggaree ?€” Australian Sikh Heritage

The Forgotten History of the Australian Slouch Hat

* puggaree - a thin muslin scarf tied around a sun helmet so as to hang down over the wearer's neck and shield it from the sun.

[CapBritain]

As a kid, I so associated slouch hats with Australian soldiers, I thought Recondo was Australian.