One of the things we forgot was the heart shield in WW2! Many people who fought in WW2 were Christians. So this company designed a small slim holy bible, but the rather hard fabric cover, it had a sheet metal cover. So if a grenade went of nearby, or he was shot with low caliber handgun in the heart. The fragmentation or bullet would crash into the hard cover sheet metal, would have to make it through hundreds pages, and hopefully stopped the round or fragment from reaching the heart. It was put in a breast pocket near the heart in an attempt to protect the American soldier in WW2. Many scared mothers and fathers would send their sons those heart shields. I'm not sure how successful they were, but the idea was smart. The bible would even have something like "May this comfort and protect you" or "May this keep you safe from harm" engraved on the cover with a beautiful crucifix engraving. Many soldiers probably felt very confident having that with them. Not to mention there have been several times in battle where a bullet was stopped by a pocket bible. So to add a sheet metal hard cover was smart.

PASGT stands for personnel armor system for ground troops, MICH stands for modular integrated combat helmet and ACH stands for advanced combat helmet

We used 90's era old army vests, helmets, those square first aid kits in the navy all in the 2000s. this makes me feel old. I thought that was modern equipment back then.

Personal armor system ground troops. (Pasgt)

Cool collection. I have a couple interesting less common pieces that weren't on display here myself, an army M1952 vest (ballistic nylon, rather than fiberglass plates), a couple sets of rba, a chicken plate vest from vietnam for door gunners and a vietnam era variable body armor, which i think might have been the first "modern" ground infantry vest with rifle plates in it. It's kind of interesting because the plates themselves have webbing on them to be worn separately from the fragmentation carrier.

Quartermaster didn‘t give me this helmet, *GOD* did

Thats a fine collection,mine is all british so its cool to see how our american friends cover up...thanks for sharing

I wouldn't call the PASGT vest cover 'quick' to slip on, but it does indeed slip on.

I wore the PSAGT Kevlar non desert camo version, we in the Seabees weren't issued desert camo. Awesome video thanks so much for the info, brings back lots of great memories.

When I was in the Marine Corps we didn't get those MICH Helmets till '08 but our version was called the LWH (LightWeight Helmet). We still had the PAGST helmets up until then. Also around that same time we switched from the Interceptor Body Armor to the Modular Tactical Vest(MTV). Funny thing is when I deployed to Afghanistan we left our MTVs back stateside and were issued Scalable Plate Carriers (SPC). which removes the kevlar and kept the SAPI plates. It deemed that mobility was more essential than protection.

Marines wore the steel part and kevlar vest in Beirut and Grenada.

"Vietnam Error" lol. Sort of was

Missing an RBA and IOTV as well as the KDH plate carrier. Also the butt pad he has on the UCP IBA wasn't issued with IBAs, it wasn't introduced until the IOTV.

that's my substitute teacher Mr Gurtski!

I served in a smaller european army about 10 years ago and we had those exact forest camo PASGT vests. Not every country can afford the latest and greatest gear.

with the intercepter vest he had it so the back of the vest was facing up

the m1 is freaking sexy!

Something to consider: The gentleman speaking in the video stated the reason armor went out of use during the middle ages was because bullet penetrated the armor. This is only a part of the reason, and not entirely accurate. Many, many cuirasses were able to withstand pistol and various small arms fire of the day. They were often shot as part of the "proof" process. While it is true that at closer ranges small arms could penetrate most of this armor, I would say that economics was a larger factor. Why have one armored knight when you can equip 4-6 foot soldiers with firearms that are going be be more lethal, if less protected, for the same cost? Besides that point, I enjoyed the quick look at these protective systems.

Good video. I was the quality control person for the 1968 & 1969 Vietnam era helmets (#6521) made by Dana Corporation at their Trenton, Michigan, factory. When I worked there both the materials and the manufacturing process were classified. From what I understand that info is now in the public domain.

Missing the somalia era, steel plated “ranger style” armor.

Wore the M-1 Steel Pot until Late 1983-83. Three C’s: Chit, Chower, Chave! Cook also🙁 wore the Vest into 1983, had to DEMILITARIZE Them with Field Mess Kit Knives, all we had!

Excellent presentation. Thank you, sir.

I’m a retired US Army Infantry NCO serving 1983-2009 and I was issued 3 types of helmets in my tour, I remember hating the Kevlar helmet as did the rest of us. I was in the Gulf War with D Co. 2/502 INF, 101 ABN and we wore regular black leather boots since there wasn’t enough desert boots to go around. We also wore the PASGT vest but no desert Camo cover. I had a spare vest that I sat on in our HMMWV since our biggest concern was land mines as a few vehicles encountered some while we were on the Iraqi border, having the batteries of the HMMWV coming through my butt wasn’t something I looked forward to. They issued us the digital Camo parka and pants which we wore in the winter time since it got damn cold at night. When the 1st Armor Division deployed to Kuwait in April 2003, we were delayed a couple days waiting for IBA vests to arrive since they were new. We arrived in Iraq in 19 May 2003 and it was like being on Mars, it was an eerie scene. Oddly enough, us old salts didn’t particularly like the new ACH helmet since it barely covered the head, what’s next? A tea cup saucer? I was issued the older “Ranger plates” instead of SAPI plates for my IBA due to the low inventory and those things were a lot heavier than SAPI plates!

The magazine belt should be reconfigured to make the bullets magazines serve as additional protective shell on top of the body armor. It would have a positive psychological boost if most of the upper chest and most of the abdomen area are covered. There could be magazine pockets for the upper thighs and arms, too.

Regading 4:18, PASGT is the acronym which means Personnel Armor System for Ground Troops.

Excellent commentary! However, I don't believe that cooking in the "steel pot" would ruin the tempering because if there is food (liquid) in the helmet, the temperature of the helmet would not be able to exceed the boiling point of 212 degrees for the most part. That's why you can boil water in a paper cup in a fire - thanks.

78th Fort Dix. Lighting tomatos always in my heart. Greetings from Germany.

Actually, no the British stayed with the 'Brodie' design but there's many many different variations, with different liners, chinstraps, and we created a new helmet by around 1944 called the turtle helmet

"an outer cover you can quickly slip over" that cover is anything but quick to put on. it took me a solid 40 minutes to get the thing put on right. I have also been told that the covers for the vests were only issued to some people due to them being thought of rather late to be put into mass production

You're looking at the interceptor vest backwards, and it has plate pockets in both the front and back. When you first get to it in the video, you're looking at the back.

The First model of kevlar helmet adopted was Also called "Fritz", it's the name that US soldier gave to the model 38/40/42 of the german "stalhelm", they gave similari design so Fritz for the win!

I like how they completely missed the m55 flak… which was literally seen constantly in Vietnam unlike the 3/4th which was barley seen

That pad on the back of your ACU vest called IBA ( individual body Armor)goes with the new armor system called IOTV. The new armor is not any cooler than the old vest you have, it just balances the weight better. I never Hurd that wege shaped flap called what you said. We called it primarily a groin protector, nut flap, or a dick protector. I was issued the deltoid protectors most commonly referred to as DAPS. I never wore them over seas in Iraq or Afghanistan. I never saw any one else where them either except on TV, never in real life.

Ive probaly watched this 6 times already

Britain bought a load of Vietnam era vests from the USA to be used in Northern Ireland (While Britain was waiting for its own version to be made). The story goes when the vests were issued in NI, many of them had holes and dried blood from their previous wearers.

This guy has some great one liners

In case of body armor the history returns. We can see the same evolution in the Middle age, they were bad protected and they build heavier and heavier armor, to protect them against fire weapons. Til they realized, that they can’t fight in to heavy armor. So they took less armor and start focusing on speed and this evolution was til WW1 then the militaries started to make helmets again and later body armor, too. And they make weapons which can penetrate these and make heavier armor. But f.e. special units focus on speed again. I think, we will build mechanized body armor, so the soldier don’t need muscles anymore, or the history returns again

PASGT for life

Working on putting together a 2004 US Army impression. More specifically, Battle of Sadr City. I just need to find an Interceptor within my price range.

I have a M1 helmet from Vietnam. A soldier really wore it during the Vietnam war. I don’t know his name sadly. It was built on July 1967. That’s it’s manufacturing date. (July 1967). (I can send a picture of it if you want.)

Some one should do "Cooking with m1 helmet"

i love my plate carrier stops everything up to 7.62x59 that covers about 80 percent

The special operations museum is awesome

Just trying to check this out before I get drafted

Do you think offensive weapon development will surpass body armor in the future? Or will there be a need for developing something disruptive as fire arms were vs swords and melee weapons? Maybe rockets/RPG qualify?

Really love your guys videos keep it up!

Digital Camouflage Helmet has a Torri for the Rakkasan my old unit. 1-187IN, 3BCT, 101st ABN DIV(AA).

2:48 Once tested firing 9mm and .45acp onto an M1 shell at about 10 meters. Deformed, but no penetration.

or use it to shave my dad used it to shave in 1960 -1962 in Germany in the 14th armored division as a loader on a M52 105mm self propelled howitzer

The IBA w/ESAPI was OIF. Now the newest is the different plate carriers w/ESAPI.

What type of mich helmet was that with the acu digital camo

Fun fact they used the steel pot was used up into desert storm but it was very rare

I need that 6 color helmet and vest cover.

Just a bit short, I was wearing a plate carrier and not a full ibas in 2008

what did the guy in the background say to the guy who was talking about the helmet at 2:16 ?

Ackshually there were bulletproof armors, but those were extremely heavy and extremely expensive, compared to normal armor, which in itself was already extremely expensive. Edit, I'm talking about the end of medieval / start of Renaissance period of course.

oh man the one full vest is neat

Thanks for the good information , and by the way you have a nice collection

We could great increase the protection of all our armor - vehicular and personal - by adding a few layers of graphene, with negligible increase in weight. It's the Holy Grail of armor protection!

Tourniquet is usually pronounced as 'torny kay' not as 'turnikit'. It's like the name 'Renault', it's pronounced as 'ren oh' but some people think that it is called 'ren holt'.

So he was saying that sometimes soldiers would take out the front plate for mobility?

00:18 prior to ww1 there was no such thing as body armor and helmets You ever heard of a knight

it was imbeded in kevlar not the display case

What's kind of interesting is that before the Brodie helmet was adopted by the US as well, they almost adopted this one: nuke.combat-helmets.com/Default.aspx?tabid=210 Called the EXPERIMENTAL N°2 "DEEP SALADE", it was adopted by the AEF but then rejected because it looked too much like the German Stahlhelm. I suppose the idea of also being (accidentally) shot at by the rest of the allied forces didn't exactly appeal to the army brass.

The helmets were introduced in wwi on the western front to stop cods of dirt thrown in the air by explosives falling on soldiers heads and killing them. Aussie and New Zealand soldiers in Vietnam didn’t usually wear body armour and helmets. Too hot and heavy.

Very cool

@10:00 That IBA, Interceptor Body Armor, to me was the WORST Armor I've ever had. We finally switched to the IOTV in late 2007, early 2008. All the weight was on the shoulder, no real adjustment

You missing the part when the marines were using the matv body armor and switched to the plate carrier

Great video!

sweet post thank you,

When you learn more from this video than you do in your history class

The 3 color iba makes me jealous I wanted one of those

Great vid.

Umm on the OTV you have it backwards, and the helmet was still a PASGT.

My question is, why is it in the first IBA he said that the back was the front?

try and get your hands on the army plate carrier, or new IOTV Gen 4

What he said about Armour was kind of true but Knight armor could deflect bullets, the main reason Armour was no longer used was because troops weren't mobile enough.

I found that hsi collection was interesteing, but little on information. THe early body armour were nothing but fragmentaion protection. It wasn't till the US SF started using modern body armpour did we see bullet protection. the Clasificatrion of protection from projectils is called "Class" these range from 2, 2a, 3, 3a, in soft armour (WIll stop handguns up to a 35 with the Class 3A" to hard armour "Plates", in classes 4, 5 etc.. the first Issue meldes were the RBA (Ranger Body Armour) that was used by the Ranger Regt, first seen in the famous Battle of Mogadishu, or Black Hawk Down story by Mark Bowden. The Rangers wore woodland camo, class 3A vest with Plates that protected from small arms up til 7.62 (308 Cal) ammunition. The Army started issueng the same Body Armour to units that participated in the War in Bosnia. Also during this time the Maries were being issued a version that had a quick release in case of accidents over water. This was due to several accidents where Maries drowed because of the body armour. Afterwards there was the developement of the IBA Individual Body Army, which was the 3 colour camo pattern vest he had displayed backwards on teh table. No one was issed only one plate. Now if a solider only wore one plaate, then he wasn't a smart soldier. This Body Armour was made famous and used during the Invasion and fighting in Iraq and Afganistan. There were problems due to not every soldier getting issued body armour. But in the end everyone was issued it. Afterwards, the US Army developed the version fo Body Armour that he had on the chair in teh Digital (OCP) camo pattern. This is a complete body armour sytem that was designed to protect a soldier more fully. But only non-combatant or verhicle crews wore it because of it's bulk, size and weight. The US Army has changed camo patterns again to the current Multicam /Scorpion/UCP patterns. the body armour is the same as the previous version which you saw on the chair. Helmets have chaged across the boart, and although the protection that has been added sionce the PASGT Helmet came out in the early 80's and used by unsits liek the 82d Airborne Div. in Grenada. the current issue MICH is a lighter version with trhe same level (Class) of protection. Another differnce in the hard plates are the amouts of impacts they can have. The current issue plates can handle two impacts from small arms fire. The Speical FOrces have used body armour longer and have mosty purchaced it through the open market, this allowing them to have better and lighter armour. Delta Force and the SEALs have been wearing Body Armour for almost 40 years now. or since they were developed. THe US Army SF change often their brands of Body Armour, but i knwo that resently they were still using Crye Pression BA. They have also began using other brands of lighter helmets that allow them to wear communication and hearing protection along with night vision. lights, and strobe lights. The Combat Crews in the USMC have also been using full body protection (Armour) coveralls since IED probelms in Iraq and A-Stan. And we are now seeing panels that can be worn over the legs with MOLLE/PALS webbing that can support drop leg pouches and holsters. Gloves have changed alnog with uniforms. The current combat uniforms are Fire Resistant. And tody a soldier can expect to wear a full fire resistant uniform, from head to toe. The Navel Seals Seal Team 6 used special sheaths for their body armour vest that protected them from water, as water can case a 30% drop in protection, combined with a flotation device. JUst slipped the vest panels inside and wore like a noremal vest. There is much more that can be added, but I though I would through in this little peace of information as I found the gentleman wasn't clear nor complete in his information. To add another point in WW1, the Germans developed armour steel plates to be worn over the torso aliong with face shields. ANd it has been found that the first known body armour was used by Alexander the Great, and it was a composite body armoutr that protected against arrows.

nice

Kevlar 'chocate chip' pattern

"Chocate chip" camo

The M1 steel pot

With my iotv, body armor, I took off the shoulder, crotch, neck and back protection to reduce heat exhaustion

armor didn't disapear because bullets penetrated it, a decent full plate woud stand a lead ball easily. the reason is that armies were changing from a feudal standard of a knights with their peadants into a conscript troops. A knight would care to get himself the best gear money can buy, but you wouls not take the troble to purcase anithing like that for a conscripted peasant, besides a gun and a uniform, because you have got tens of thousands of them, buing less gear you can afford more guns. numbers matter

Cool video but what about the marines flaks? Especially Korea to Vietnam

2:42 I have that cover.

I have never seen anyone actually wearing the deltoid protects, and the neck protector and groin and back is just a bunch of unneeded stuff that just adds weight and heat, the majority of people don't even have the side plates in

The flak jacket you have for the Viet Nam war is an army issue. We Marines had a different type with plates sewn in and it was horrible to wear. We HAD to wear it. It was heavy and very hot.

Very interesting!;)

I want this so bad as helmet steel pot

the presentation of the 2nd to the last set, to me you made it seem like it was only isseued 1 plate of protection, when of course that wasnt the case, what military only provides one face of protectiob, other then that great video

Brodie helmet not bullet proof it’s only for nearby explosions and debris coming down Britain did not had that helmet until now the British did not had head protection they only wear hat like cloth but till now they have it it only the good thing that when someone trying to shoot you in the head with the helmet on it’s horrible the good thing is the helmet being scratch so your basically ok

Who is Gurski? (if you don't mind me asking)

Rakkasan helmet patch.. Steel Berets.

The ww2 steel pot had swivel bails. I'm pretty sure originals had fixed bails.

Prior to WW1,no body armour? So i guess he has never heard of medieval knights or Samurai from feudal Japan?

"Prior to WWI, there were no such things as helmets or body armor". Medieval knights, Samurai, etc: Am I a joke to u?

do a full uniform of the us army

Didn’t wear “infidel” patches “over their”..... funny, I had one on my armor carrier, he’ll I had Infidel on my dog tags as my religion....

Body armour really sucks to wear. Worked 2 security contracts that I was forced to wear it in the heat of the summer its truly awful. I hope someday they can get it where it is bearable to wear. And these were soft armour vests and no plates I really feel bad for these infantry guys hauling around all there kit.