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Camo Painted ACH/MICH


Anders Heintz
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Anders Heintz

I finally got this piece in the mail today!! It was probably the hardest I've worked to get a helmet ever, and boy was it worth it! I got it from the man him self, who is now at Ft. Bragg.

 

The helmet was used by SGT. T**** (Censored due to still being active) while with 2/30 Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division. He was a member of their Scout Sniper Platoon "Team Spectre". The helmet was used in Iraq and Afghanistan, at which time it was painted in desert camo. When he returned the helmet was repainted and used in training, hence the current camo scheme and good condition. I did not know that non SF units were allowed to paint and costumize their gear, but these guys did so quite regularily. I also have pictures of other scout's with the 10th mountain (1/87th inf regt) who also painted their helmets. From what he was telling me, they work in a similar manner as LRS units, 7-8 man teams, inserted at night, picked up in the morning.

 

The helmet itself is an MSA helmet made in 2005, it has an X-Treme Comfort one piece forehead pad and the nvg bracket is a cut down customized old style bracket. The chinstrap is a new issued one as he put the old one on his new helmet.

 

A guaranteed 'real deal' painted helmet. And the best thing is he has another one I might be able to get.

 

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Anders Heintz

Thanks guys, I am glad you enjoy it as much as I do! It was an interesting find, and it took a bit of negotiating and figuring out how to get the lid to Texas, luckily I have a friend not far from Bragg who picked it up for me and shipped it here. Needless to say I'm pretty excited about it, and can't wait to see the other helmet he's got!

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That is a great-looking helmet. Even these look miles away from the PASGT days. Congrats on the find.. :thumbsup:

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I don't collect ACH/MICH helmets but, I think I'd make an exception and open up a space for this one if I had it. :thumbsup:

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My only curiosity with this helmet is that if this guy is a sniper, he knows that black does not appear naturally in nature, therefore why would he take such great effort into camouflaging this helmet, only to cover it in new looking black Velcro? Tactically it makes no sense. We aviod black at all costs in the recon community for this very same reason, it sticks out like sore thumb. A sniper which apparently takes as much care as he did to ensure he was camouflaged in my oppinion wouldn't have that black Velcro there. Just my Two pennies

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Anders Heintz

Thanks guys!

 

I'm not sure what the answer is to that 19Delta, I know he said he used the MS2000 strobe on the back, and IR tabs up top. I imagine the flags went on both sides, and the blood type patches was on the front, and when in use probably not a lot of black would be seen. I know he said they didn't use the helmets much when they were operating, they would stash them with other gear somewhere and go do their thing and come back to it. I'll ask him though. The 10th Mountain patch was just there temporarily, they are on the display 'pedestal' now.

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My only curiosity with this helmet is that if this guy is a sniper, he knows that black does not appear naturally in nature, therefore why would he take such great effort into camouflaging this helmet, only to cover it in new looking black Velcro? Tactically it makes no sense. We aviod black at all costs in the recon community for this very same reason, it sticks out like sore thumb. A sniper which apparently takes as much care as he did to ensure he was camouflaged in my oppinion wouldn't have that black Velcro there. Just my Two pennies

 

I've the same opinion, and I'm also curious to see the brand new condition of exterior and full used condition of interior... How can you explain there's no spot in the paints and velcro are brand new...?

 

Well ok, you explain : "The helmet was used in Iraq and Afghanistan, at which time it was painted in desert camo. When he returned the helmet was repainted and used in training, hence the current camo scheme and good condition" but I always have some doubts on these modified helmets, because it's too simple to make one, to invent a story and sell it at an expensive price. It's just my opinion. There's other modified helmet for which I've no doubt, but this one...

 

And I also have another question : what's the personalisation of the NVG mount and rhino ? It was first painted in blue and then repainted in another color ? And why was NVG mount cut ? The color under camo paint job looks blue, and not the common black. I know it also exists in gold (and few other color), but it's the first time I see one in blue...

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Misanthropic_Gods
And I also have another question : what's the personalisation of the NVG mount and rhino ? It was first painted in blue and then repainted in another color ? And why was NVG mount cut ? The color under camo paint job looks blue, and not the common black. I know it also exists in gold (and few other color), but it's the first time I see one in blue...

 

 

Thats not painted blue, its blued metal. Its the regular color of the mount.

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It almost looks as if he just had fun with the camo job and didnt intend to really use it hence the black velcro. I'll run this by a few people to see what they think.

 

just to add, I have a few helmets from guys who have applied black velcro and there jobs were pretty close to what your guy is doing only they werent snipers. Most are on bump helmets, but with the bump helmets they usually spray painted over the velcro.

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Thats not painted blue, its blued metal. Its the regular color of the mount.

 

hum...do you have a picture of that ? Because I NEVER see one in blued metal. Majorities I saw are black metal, and few are golded. But I never see any blued metal...

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Anders Heintz

Thanks guys!

 

The helmet has velcro, like a ton of other SF and non SF lids out there, and most of them black. It's used to mount identifications, IR strobes, blood types etc etc on it, and when in use probably wont see much of the black anyways. I asked him about it though, and his reply was simply that they used it for various things mentioned above, even to stick their gloves on there, which makes no sense to me, but whatever. He also said, as snipers they rarely used the helmet while in action, they were stored at 'caches' with the rest of the gear they were not needing at the time.

 

As for the NVG bracket, it is the older two pronged style which was cut down to prevent snagging, it is painted gray, as in a gray primer, not in a blued metal, but it was not the mount he always used as you can see on the front where the helmet was painted and where there was a later style bracket on there. There is nothing done to the Rhino mount save for the paint job. I have also never seen a blued metal nvg bracket, I've seen very well used black painted ones that are metallic under the black paint. There are a few silver ones out there as well as the tan ones, never quite understood why they thought a silver bracket be expedient though.

 

I managed to get another lid from a guy in the same unit, which I'll post later. It is very similar but much more used and abused!

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Anders Heintz
I've the same opinion, and I'm also curious to see the brand new condition of exterior and full used condition of interior... How can you explain there's no spot in the paints and velcro are brand new...?

 

Well ok, you explain : "The helmet was used in Iraq and Afghanistan, at which time it was painted in desert camo. When he returned the helmet was repainted and used in training, hence the current camo scheme and good condition" but I always have some doubts on these modified helmets, because it's too simple to make one, to invent a story and sell it at an expensive price. It's just my opinion. There's other modified helmet for which I've no doubt, but this one...

 

P-E,

 

You can doubt all you want :) It was not an eBay "SEAL SF DEVGRU USED HELMET" bs listing. It is a 100% legit lid, straight from the source. Sgt. T never advertised it nor did he sell it to me at an expensive price, or tried to tell me tall tales etc. Besides if he was faking it, then he would have told me he was SF as they use these sorts of lids much more frequently then a scout sniper unit...which I didnt know until after I talked to him. There are pictorial evidence of other 10th Mountain Scout units using painted lids and costumzed gear.

 

I found it as a small mention in a Ft Bragg area Craigslist listing where he said he had a customized ACH that he would 'throw in' with some other gear he was selling, and I contacted him asking about the helmet alone and managed to make a deal. I have yet to see a 'faked' helmet that is very well painted anyway.

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Anders Heintz

Thanks Shawn! I am very excited to have added it to the slowly growing collection, and in the process I've become friends with Sgt. T.

 

Without it's primary source history I'd be pretty skeptical, so I'm really grateful to have been able to get it and document it with the helmet.

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