Welcome aboard ! Nice name you picked there. LOL. I have a small grouping from a Texas vet that was in the 41st Armored Infantry,Co A 1st Bn.  Thank you for your service! There is a lot to look at here and discuss. I lived in Texas for 23  years and never went to the Alamo. I have been to LBH. Gettysburg a few times, I reenacted there many times. A long time ago. I just was at the spring military show there. My GGG Grandfather was on Culps Hill. (Union) 1st E.S. MD. Vols.  Enjoy it here.  Regards David

Are you including the German Civilian Service Units?  The 6970th performed troop construction across USAREUR (barracks renovations, road repairs/refurbishment, and range upgrades) from the late 1940s to the inactivation of the unit in 1995.

The first test with the MBU-12 (before it got the name MBU-12) date back to 1974. The first pre-production ones where fielded in 1976 and around 1979 production started. So it is very well possible that they used MBU-12 soft parts for this mask. (same as they did on the HGU-51/P mask and some others) The 12/P is made out of a soft and an hard part that are bonded together. (makes more sense then handcraft an identical part)   On the side of the mask is a circle with three numbers in it (and some dots) can you send us a close up? That shows the quarter of / and the manufacturing year of the soft-shell.

UA3          

Sir, you are one lucky man for that amount! It is worth a bit more than that.  

Speculation… is the MBU-12/p based on this mask? The shell/body are distinctly similar..

I'll try to find the 111th again to get a better picture if needed.

Greetings! That's quite a stretch to assume this helmet was a "Little Bird" helmet used by the TF160 or later the 160th SOAR. I wore this helmet along with thousands, literally 10's of thousands of Army Aviators and Crewman from the early 80's till the mid 90's. Black CARC or any other black paint is not a validating factor. I kept my helmet as others did, it was painted by ALSE personnel various times, during Desert Storm there was wide latitude in painting helmets. No name or inspection data leads me to think it was a surplus or salvaged helmet.  Additionally the helmets used by the AH-6 or MH-6 crews were beat to hell. The cockpit is tight and there's very little room to stow it when taking it off or preparing to fly..every one I've seen are scratched m scarred and have indications of multiple modifications present.  Also if it belonged to the individual referenced in the obituary, it's surprising that his service in an elite aviation unit wasn't mentioned. It could have been something a crew chief or armament tech might have worn.

Thats amazing! I got it for 15$ so im quite shocked it is actually as rare as it is. Thank you guys!