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Thanks to one of the my best friends who alerted me to this helmet on Ebay, I was able to purchase this helmet at a very reasonable price. I will admit, I did quite a bit of research and some serious debate before I bought the helmet. There were some very odd characteristics with this helmet that kind of threw me off for a bit.
First off, I figured the helmet was made by RBR, but wasn't entirely sure what model. Thanks to Pump150, he was able to help me identify it as an RBR copy of the PASGT. One of the reasos I figured it was an RBR was because of the hexagonal screws that held the helmet suspension in place.
Second thing that threw me off was the fact that the helmet had a black X on the rear suspension that was made from black electrical tape. Upon further inspection when it arrived, the black X was made from a piece of cardboard covered in black electrical tape. Also note in the pictures the sand that is trapped on the sticky side of the tape. As Pump150 mentioned, this black X is something you see with the USMC LWH.
Third, the screws that held the helmet suspension in place were a combination of the standard RBR hexagonal screws AND the screws you find on the PASGT helmet. Unfortunately, this helmet is missing one of the screws and I'm in the process of finding a PASGT replacement.
Fourth, the suspension inside the helmet is very worn and is not something you'd expect to see being used by a US soldier. To take that one step further, the inside of the helmet has been changed. Normally, a RBR PASGT has a lining like this:
Judging from the inside of this helmet, it has had velcro added to the inside for the use of pads.
Fifth, the abscence of a NVG mount or evidence of a NVG mount ever being on this piece was puzzling.
With all the above mentioned things, the people that I showed this helmet to were in agreement that it was likely a foreign used helmet as opposed to a helmet used by a US soldier. To me, this helmet screamed Afghan or Iraqi usage.
While I was researching the Afghan Border Police, I found a few interesting pictures. In several pictures, I found the ABP using what appears to be the RBR PASGT. Furthermore, several of the pictures show them being painted tan instead of the normal black.
I can't say for 100% certainty that this helmet is ABP used, but there are a lot of things that point to it being a definite possibility. The one thing that for me adds a lot of weight to the argument is the homemade black X in the rear. Like Pump150 said, the black X is seen in the Marine LWH. The Marines are heavily involved training the Afghan Border Police.
Like I said, this is circumstantial evidence and is certainly not a guarantee of ABP usage, but it certainly puts it into the realm of possiblity.
First off, I figured the helmet was made by RBR, but wasn't entirely sure what model. Thanks to Pump150, he was able to help me identify it as an RBR copy of the PASGT. One of the reasos I figured it was an RBR was because of the hexagonal screws that held the helmet suspension in place.
Second thing that threw me off was the fact that the helmet had a black X on the rear suspension that was made from black electrical tape. Upon further inspection when it arrived, the black X was made from a piece of cardboard covered in black electrical tape. Also note in the pictures the sand that is trapped on the sticky side of the tape. As Pump150 mentioned, this black X is something you see with the USMC LWH.
Third, the screws that held the helmet suspension in place were a combination of the standard RBR hexagonal screws AND the screws you find on the PASGT helmet. Unfortunately, this helmet is missing one of the screws and I'm in the process of finding a PASGT replacement.
Fourth, the suspension inside the helmet is very worn and is not something you'd expect to see being used by a US soldier. To take that one step further, the inside of the helmet has been changed. Normally, a RBR PASGT has a lining like this:
Judging from the inside of this helmet, it has had velcro added to the inside for the use of pads.
Fifth, the abscence of a NVG mount or evidence of a NVG mount ever being on this piece was puzzling.
With all the above mentioned things, the people that I showed this helmet to were in agreement that it was likely a foreign used helmet as opposed to a helmet used by a US soldier. To me, this helmet screamed Afghan or Iraqi usage.
While I was researching the Afghan Border Police, I found a few interesting pictures. In several pictures, I found the ABP using what appears to be the RBR PASGT. Furthermore, several of the pictures show them being painted tan instead of the normal black.
I can't say for 100% certainty that this helmet is ABP used, but there are a lot of things that point to it being a definite possibility. The one thing that for me adds a lot of weight to the argument is the homemade black X in the rear. Like Pump150 said, the black X is seen in the Marine LWH. The Marines are heavily involved training the Afghan Border Police.
Like I said, this is circumstantial evidence and is certainly not a guarantee of ABP usage, but it certainly puts it into the realm of possiblity.
Last edited by nkomo on Sat Oct 25, 2014 5:50 pm; edited 3 times in total
