SDS Helmet as worn by Pvt. Turnbow (poss. Demon Co. 2/5 Inf. Regt.)

[AnDuc49]

Hello all, wanted to share this helmet which I was recently able to trade for from a good friend of mines.

While unfortunately my friend was not able to obtain any information about the soldier when he initially purchased this helmet, luckily enough, there was a nice hidden surprise.

The helmet itself, it is a early production SDS "Warrior" Helmet produced sometime in 2004-2005 in Camouflage Green #483. These helmets were initially issued with a Cotton/Poly H-Nape Chinstrap in Foliage Green #504 and Team Wendy Pads, but at some point in it's career both of these have been replaced. The original Cotton/Poly chinstrap has been replaced with an Ops-Core designed "Head-Loc" chinstrap produced by Lions Volunteer Blind Industries some time in 2011 or after. The Team Wendy pads have been replaced by Oregon Aero Pads which along with the helmet's interior, is caked in dirt and mud from heavy use. These have been arranged with 3 in the rear and 1 in front, possibly to accommodate comm. headsets. The helmet also retains it's original UCP cover which shows has faded and torn from use. The cover is secured in place with a helmet which is held in place by two DIY 550 paracord retention straps as well as the rear flap of the helmet cover. Underneath the flap, we see that the original owner, then Pvt. Adam Neal Turnbow has placed a small piece of laminated paper with his name, rank, blood type and last-4 neatly typed. Looking back at the band, on the wearer's right side, he had initially written "T-8663" which has heavily faded. Afterwards, he wrote his last name "Turnbow" over it. On the left side, he has written "25DCOT8663". I believe this means "2/5 (2nd Batt., 5th Inf. Regt.) Demon Co., T-8663". This makes sense to me as he was living in Ft. Bliss, TX when the unit was reactivated on 16 August 2009.

In interesting thing to point out is the carbiner clipped onto the helmet band. When I first saw them, I was not sure of their purpose, but I did see soldiers of 2-503 doing the same thing with one of them having a length of 550 para cord looped through the carabiner and tied around his rhino arm. I imagine that this was to prevent the loss of the arm in the case that the NVG mount broke, but I' not 100% sure

After it's reactivation, 2/5 Inf. would be attached to 3rd BCT, 1st Armored Div. at Ft. Bliss, TX. They would do on to serve two combat deployments to Afghanistan, one 9-month long tour from Sept. 2011 to July 2012 and a second tour beginning in Dec. 2013 and ending some time in 2014.

As it appears, this helmet is a nice well-used as worn by Mr. Turnbow during his time with the US Army. While I have not found a great deal of information online about him, according to his profile on LinkedIn, he became a Team/Squad Leader at some point, so I would assume that he was promoted from Pvt. at some point during his career. At this point, I'm currently requesting his service records from the Nat'l Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, MO. If everything goes well, I should have a much more concrete understanding of Mr. Turnbow's service history because as of now, this is just guess work on my part.

I hope you all like this as much as I do. Also please feel free to correct any mistakes I might've made.

**Additional note** - Watching footage of Demon Co. during their 2011-2012 deployment, I noticed that a good number, if not all of them, were wearing OCP fatigues and helmet covers. I believe that this helmet might've been a spare that Mr. Turnbow used possibly before being assigned to 2/5 and up to the initial deployment as they were using UCP until that point. Let me know your thoughts.

 

 

[AnDuc49]

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[derrbrad]

I might be able to give insight to the d-clip. We used them to attach the NVG's so if they came loose from the rhino mount they would still be attached to the clip. Tied a short piece of 550 cord to the NVG's with a loop or another clip at the end. That way you don't loose a sensitive piece of equipment in the dark.

[AnDuc49]

I might be able to give insight to the d-clip. We used them to attach the NVG's so if they came loose from the rhino mount they would still be attached to the clip. Tied a short piece of 550 cord to the NVG's with a loop or another clip at the end. That way you don't loose a sensitive piece of equipment in the dark.

 

Thanks for clarifying, I'd only seen footage showing 2-503 doing it, so it's good to hear from someone who was there. Was this done on a personal initiative or were you guys told to do it?

[Justin]

Great post and great helmet! Thanks for sharing

[AnDuc49]

Great post and great helmet! Thanks for sharing

 

Thank you for your kind comment Justin, it's always good to get your feedback and input.

 

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While I'm also here, I'd like to make a comment on the helmet as well after talking to several other collectors about it. In the early 2010s, the US Army was in the process of evaluating the now standard issued OCP camouflage. During this time, combat units deploying to the Middle East were often issued OCP fatigues, helmet cover, etc. but were banned from using it back in the US. After rotating back to the US, they turn in their OCP camo and use UCP camo.

 

Also of note is the "Head-Loc" chinstrap. Looking at 2/5 Inf. deployment photos, I could not find anyone wearing said chinstraps during their 2011-2012 deployment, however they showed up in abundance during their 2013-2014 deployment with around I estimate 90% of the men using them.

 

That being said, this helmet, albeit with an OCP cover and initial chinstrap, was likely used during both of 2/5 Inf. tours, if not at the very least, their 2013-2014 deployment.

 

I will attach some photos below to show a rough timeline. In addition, I'm also including a link to a member of 3rd Platoon, Demon Co. 2/5 which has several videos from their 2011-2012 deployment (link here: https://www.youtube.com/user/DemonFourSix)

 

Men of Demon Co. 2/5 Pre-Deployment in June of 2010

 

Men of 2/5 training at Kamal Jabour, a mock Afghan Village in Ft. Bliss in May of 2011

 

Men of 2/5 Boarding the Buses at Ft. Bliss as they leave for Afghanistan in September of 2011. At this point, they've been issued the new OCP camo in preparation for the deployment.

[AnDuc49]

Cont.

 

Sgt. Salazar and CSM Olvera of 2/5 during their deployment in November of 2011. Note their OCP fatigues and helmet covers

 

Men of 2/5 (all four companies: Action, Blacksheep, Cobra and Demon) posing together in October of 2013 after their 2011-2012 deployment. Note that they have switch back to the older UCP camo

 

 

 

[AnDuc49]

Cont.

 

Men of 2/5 training at Ft. Bliss in preparation for their 2013-2014 deployment. Note that at this point, they're wearing UCP and using the older chinstraps

 

 

Men of 2/5 flying into Afghanistan in December 2013. The soldier on the left obviously has the newer "Head-Loc" chinstrap while the soldier on the right has the older Cotton/Poly version. Note again that they have been re-issued OCP camouflage

 

Great photo of SPC Kirkpatrick of B Co. 2/5 shortly before heading out for patrol in April of 2014. Note the helmet band has almost the exact same formatting as the one seen on Turnbow's helmet; i.e. 25 = 2/5 Inf. B = Blacksheep Co. K (Kirkpatrick) - 0059 (his last four).