June 26, 20197 yr #1 Hello all, I'd like to share this helmet, my first British one, which I purchased earlier last month. While it lacks the saltiness which I usually find appealing, the fact that this was purchased directly from the vet and that he included photos of him wearing the helmet is the icing on the cake for me, as that makes this helmet my first ever helmet with photo provenance. This particular helmet was used by Warrant Officer 1st Class (WO1) Paul Phillips during his 2012 - 2013 deployment to Helmand Province in Afghanistan with HQ Elements of the 20th "Iron Fist" Armored Inf. Bgde. Once arrived, they took over command of TF Helmand from the 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines on 9 October 2011, officially marking the start of Operation Herrick XV which WO1 Phillips participated in. The helmet itself is a size large which shows signs of usage, but overall is pretty clean. WO1 Phillips has cut off the elastic straps from the MTP Camo Cover and used Scapy Sniper tape to ensure a more secure fit for the cover. On the rear of the helmet and interior of the helmet, his "zap info" (i.e. first two letters of his last name and last four digits of his service number) have been written as well as his blood type. Rather than using a standard helmet band, he has elected to use a "torch band" (designed to hold a flashlight, hence the two loops on the wearer's left) and has sewn in two cat-eyes to increase night time visibility. During their initial deployment, the men of the 20th Armored wore helmet nets on their Mk.7s as evidenced by several photos of WO1 Phillips in Lashkar Gah. According to the vet, he said part-way through the tour, they received tactical advised to remove the netting as the natural terrain (seasonal change I imagine) occurred. The last photo of W01 Phillips returning back from his tour shows that the net had indeed been removed, but the cover is still the same. In addition to the photos, the vet also included two 20th Armored patches, an ISAF patch, a spare helmet band and a UK Army bag (not pictured) I hope you all enjoy this one as much as I do!
June 26, 20197 yr Author #4 Note that the Zap Info in the helmet's interior matches with that written on the band pictured in the post above
June 26, 20197 yr Author #7 Two Handwritten Statements provided by him. Note that in his post-deployment photo, that there is no net on his helmet.
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