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Helmets Used in Grenada


huntssurplus
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Cap Camouflage Pattern I

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9th IR "Manchu Warriors" did this this in Panama, I don't think they were in Grenada. Maybe some other units did this too.

 

post-153751-0-39134500-1524008729_thumb.jpg

I found this picture which is captioned Grenada, and it looks like it too because they are wearing ERDL which I believe was phased out by Panama.

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Fender Rhodes

2/505 wore ragtops in Grenada. The battalion commander, LTC Keith Nightingale was a huge proponent of camo'ing the helmet to break up it's shape. Not only that, the distinctive ragtop provided a bit of espirit de corps since they were the only unit to do it at the time.

 

Obviously the practice was much more widespread by the time Just Cause rolled around in 1989. By then, elements of the 82nd, along with 7ID and the Rangers were doing the same.

 

The helmet featured in post #22 was hit during the friendly fire incident on 27OCT83.

 

Here's a little bit of trivia for you regarding the picture in post #29...take a look at the suspender strap of the paratrooper on the left...he's wearing a GLINT tape strip down the long axis of the suspender. This was also peculiar to 2/505. Spectre was active over Grenada during the opening stages of Urgent Fury. LTC Nightingale wanted his troopers to be visible in the low-light/FLIR cameras on Spectre for IFF purposes.

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  • 2 weeks later...

they were called the cabbage patch kids after the dolls that were popular at that time, they had a british major that was on some type of exchange program for about a year or so, that started the scrim thing because the british airborne was doing it. I was in the unit next to them (1/508).

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Patchcollector

Interesting thread.I think that the "Raghead" helmets could also be called "Rastahead" because the cloth strips remind me of dreadlocks :lol:

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  • 3 months later...
Sgt_Rock_EasyCo

The pictures of the raghead helmet in posts 26 and 27 are from later in time (1989) or so I would surmise. The 2/505 did not used BDU material at all, but rather sandbag/burlap material of different colors attached by tying netting to the helmet. the Army was transitioning to the new BDU uniform so there were no old stocks to cut into strips really. Many folks in the 82nd were wearing the 1969 slant pocket flower power cammies and the 1970's straight pocket ERDL, in addition to the new BDU. The netting held the strips of burlap that needed to be long enough to break up the outline of the helmet, add camoflauge, but also be affixed in a manner that there was no interference or failure during airborne operations.

I will mention that most of us wish we could have cut our BDU's into strips to use as camoflauge. They were ugly, hot and faded quite easily. Nowadays the white tag first issue BDU are quite rare.

Rocky

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Sgt_Rock_EasyCo

Regarding the AK strike of the K Pot: This helmet was placed in the Division Museum almost immediately after Urgent Fury. I remember seeing it in the Museum in 1984.

The K-Pot was used by only the 82nd Airborne.

The M-1 Steel Pot in an airborne version was used by the Rangers.

The Marines used the M-1 Steel Pot in varying camoflauge covers and chinstraps (?), not sure about their chinstraps but I do remember they had old style Vietnam straight chinstraps rather than the 1980's ones.

Rock

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Sgt_Rock_EasyCo

9th IR "Manchu Warriors" did this this in Panama, I don't think they were in Grenada. Maybe some other units did this too.

 

attachicon.gifd1907f2e9ede3b7c46f277992433d5cc.jpg

I found this picture which is captioned Grenada, and it looks like it too because they are wearing ERDL which I believe was phased out by Panama.

 

Mixture of ERDL's and BDU's. You can see the burlap strips. The Trooper on the far left is wearing ERDL's and has faded burlap strips that have tattered ends. This is because he's been around Division long enough and has some jumps with the helmet in that configuration. The act of exiting the airplane and moving through rough terrain on the ground (branches pulling on the strips) splits the ends while the sun fades them.

 

He's not a rookie.

 

Rock

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