VIDEO HERE (15:09 minutes)
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That's the steel hat I was issued. I don't know how old mine was, but I do know it was Vietnam era or earlier seeing as I could vaguely see where somebody scratched their name and a serial number starting with RA, meaning Regular Army, on the inside. I went into the army in 1978 and by that time we used our Social Security numbers rather than a serial number.
I was issued the damned thing but I rarely wore it seeing as I wasn't in a combat arms unit.
The only times I wore it was when we had an alert - we'd throw on our web gear and steel hats, draw our weapons and go to the motor pool to our vehicles where we immediately took them off and sat on them or chucked them into the backs of our trucks while waiting on the word to either move out or more often than not, fall out to the barracks and make formation to start our regular work day.
Even when we went to the field we didn't wear the damned things. I usually wore a pile cap or sometimes a soft cap. The helmets were hung above our cots and used as a basin for shaving or to take a whore's bath with.
yeah, shaving, taking a bath, even cooking in a pinch but never worn unless we got a green c/o that had a hard-on for having us wear them or a sgm that wanted to bitch about not hooking our chin straps. benning '81. it got way worse with the k-pot. they figured if the army cared enough to give us real protection we better damn well wear the heavy, hot, unbalanced and otherwise useless thing.
ReplyDeleteand to cook popcorn ! you need a few things though. some popcorn your mom sent you,
ReplyDeletemaybe 2 c-rat tins of peanut butter and a claymore mine.
1) remove the bottom half of the C-4. put the mine back together- you want it later.
2) clean your steel pot as best you can. then use the oil from the c-rat peanut butter that always sits on top to grease it. add popcorn. use your helmet liner as a lid as soon as it starts to pop.
was taught this by our squad leader back in the 101st. a very long time ago now.
it went well with bug juice. or that Kool aid crap.
it would be best to dig a hole for the C4 to burn it. smaller than the steel pot.
it burns really hot and it does cook up quick from what I remember.
it does burn hotter than a heat tab. just do not drop anything on the burning C4- it will go bang.
The thought of cooking something in a pot I used to wash my asshole and balls just never appealed to me.
Deletenot trying to be a smart ass but, did you ever wash your face again after you once cleaned your junk?
DeleteSure, after I scrubbed it out, but there's a big difference in possibly getting something on your skin and purposely ingesting it.
DeleteI don't eat in the bathroom either.
Policing up spent brass at the range, shaving, whore's bath, sometimes to sit on.
ReplyDeleteI remember when on board a C141 once, a guy getting air sick and using his steel pot.
Good times...
I hated mine. It was so heavy it would put me to sleep on warm days while sitting around waiting on a fire mission. Also my battery co used to claim he could always spot me out at night for special duties because I was the one carrying my helmet. Also I won;t ever watch anything from that woke whack liberal History Guy again but that's just me he sometimes has a very liberal bent on his topics that don't deserve views.
ReplyDeleteWell, that's your choice but I go for information rather than politics. Avoiding liberals is pretty hard to do on any kind of media.
DeleteYeah, that thing. Wore one a bunch in 1st Cav. We'd wet the camo cover and stretch it on before it dried to make it pretty. But from what I know about the newer stuff it's heavier and no separate liner.
ReplyDeleteWatched a reserve guy spending his two weeks with us puke oranges and milk into his liner on a C-130 when we got to practice combat landings at Ft. Hood. Nobody told him what that flight regime entailed and I was just an E-3 at the time. After that I tried to let our summer 'interns' know what was 'sup, so they didn't get surprised.
I never gave our Reserve or NG guys that trained with us the shaft. Never thought that was productive. That asshole might be watching out for your ass while you sleep some day.
The Army converted from RA or US numbers to one’s SSN about midway thru my Basic training cycle at Ft Polk from Jan - Mar 1968.
ReplyDeleteOh shit, I thought it was in the early '70s.
DeleteI went to Navy boot in April 71, had a S/N. Switched to SSN sometime in the next year.
Deleteother than basic, the only time i ever remember wearing mine was field duty... 'Reforger 76'.
ReplyDeleteyeah, im that old.
Well, I barely missed Reforger 78, but I caught 79 and 80.
DeleteNever wore mine much, either. IO was in an admin unit, so we only went "to the field" maybe once a year, they were always after us to wear them then. Sometimes I got away with wearing a liner with the camo cover, but not always.
Deletewent there in 76 as well with the 101st. had a blast after the field game bullshit.
Deletetours and the like. they had buses running people everywhere.
...on a lark, some guys in my platoon used a helmet to make C-Rat stew. Seasoned with onion, steak sauce or McIlhenny's hot sauce, the stew consisted of whatever combo of C-Rats was available. On one occasion, we'd set in for the night and a recon team passed through our line. Though otherwise sequestered, I knew one of the guys from another occasion and we had a brief exchange. He passed on a packet of dehydrated "long-rats". Reconstituted in a helmet and heated up with a piece of C4, it was breakfast the next morning. First and only time I had long-rats. Right tasty even though for all the world it looked like dog food
ReplyDeleteI used mine for a pillow more than once. The curve of the front of it fit perfectly the curve of my occipital bone.
ReplyDeleteI still have one. It is painted bright red on account it was from the Big Red 1. It was a farewell gift to the battalion commander along with a lot of other ridiculous things. The battalion motto was 'never broken' so many of the farewell presents were slightly bent.
ReplyDeleteA late-cousin was in 1st of the 2nd - Black Scarves. Earned his scarf in '66, a "plank owner" if you will.
DeleteDuring a spring day of field games at Ft Riley, I found one under a tree that had been smashed FLAT. I hightailed it back to the Deuce and a half and hid mine under the seat. Then at the end of the day, tucked the smashed one under my arm at formation while wearing the liner. Top was speechless. There was a pile of garand clips full of 06 blanks there as well. Not sure what happened to the blanks, they disappeared during my first divorce.
ReplyDelete