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PASGT Ragtop/Manchu Hair Scrim Research


scrimenjoyer
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scrimenjoyer

Hi all,

 

Out of my own personal interest I am currently researching helmet scrims used during Operation Just Cause. I was hoping to make a thread to gather some first-hand accounts of how these scrims were made/acquired as there's a lot of varying information regarding methods used to construct these. As I understand, using helmet scrims gained popularity after being used during Operation Urgent Fury and during Operation Just Cause there were multiple units using ragtop-type scrims, using scrap BDU material instead of mixed burlap type material (in the case of Grenada). From browsing this forum I've read first hand accounts of these being made by either tying BDU strips on to netting worn over the helmet cover or by constructing a new helmet cover and then sewing a single piece of partially torn material on to the cover.

With this thread doing a great job documenting a helmet made with the latter technique.

 

I was hoping that anyone with first hand experience either making or using one of these scrims could chime in. Old photographs of them in use are also great, as well as detailed pictures of authentic or your own reproduction scrims. I understand that there will probably be a lot of different methods that were used to make these, but it would still be great to collate all these methods in one place for any enthusiasts or re-enactors.

 

I've also included some pictures of my imitation ragtop; made by ripping a (old and worn out) BDU into uneven strips by hand and then tying these onto a generic net with knots, the net was then attached to the interior strap with paracord similarly to how the cover is attached. I'm planning on experimenting with the sewing method and was hoping to gather some more information before I commit to anything.

 

Any help is appreciated and thanks for reading. Also, apologies if this thread is in the wrong place.

 

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  • 2 months later...
Capslok Spelczech

I was a COHORT infantryman in 1st Bn, 9th Infantry Regiment during Nimrod Dancer, Nimrod Sustained, and OJC.  Our Manchu Hairdos were made out of a cannibalized square of that radar-scattering camouflage net you found all over the backyard training area, a length of 550 cord gut, and several lengths of camouflage fabric cut from worn-out BDUs. 

 

 You'd cut a square of camouflage net big enough to cover your Kevlar, lay it on top, secure it with the elastic band, gut a foot & a half or so of 550 cord, tie one of the inner white strands to the edge of your net square with an end of line bowline, and then lace it down good and tight by spiraling the gut around the inner suspension band of your Kevlar. 

 

Then you'd tie strips of BDU to the net in overhand knots, making sure not to tie any long strips in your field of vision.  Secure the elastic band using the green 550 exterior sheath with a girth hitch on both sides pulled through the buttonhole on the camouflage cover and tied off to the suspension band with a square knot and two half hitches .  Once you broke up the outline of the helmet , you were done.

 

There wasn't really a lot of standardization as far as length or number of strips.  Most soldiers figured out pretty quickly if they tied too many strips or too long, it had the effect of holding the heat in and made them pretty miserable.  You wanted the strips to pull loose if they caught on something, like concertina wire during a breach.  If you had them tied on too tightly and you snagged them on wire or some Manzanita Redwood down at Fort Hunter Liggett, your chin strap wasn't going to give.  Your teeth probably would, though.

 

Some guys took it way too far. I knew one guy who went downrange to the tailor shop and got an elastic band sewn into a helmet cover, kind of like a spare tire cover on a Jeep or a Bronco.  Then he had the seamstress sew the strips of BDU directly to the top.  It certainly looked pretty, but it also kind of defeated the whole purpose of the Manchu hairdo, which was to break up the symmetrical, unnatural silhouette--it looked like a bunch of spinach planted in regular, straight rows.  

 

 

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