Haha... I tell you what is really clownish... the old steel
helmet had a plastic inner liner, with its own leather chin strap.
If you can't picture what I mean, look at those Vietnam and WW 2
movies, you will see that the American GIs have a steel helmet and
what looks like a thin leather strap going across the brim of the
helmet. That strap holds the inner liner in place.
Anyways... for the recruits who did not have a jockey cap or beret,
when they were performing guard duty, the standing order was that
they were to use the plastic inner liner as a headgear ! From far,
the recruit would look like a nut case with a helmet about 2 sizes
too small for his head.
The steel helmet itself was pretty useful. It could be used as
water bucket and during defense exercises, when your fire trench
was flooded, you can use the water bucket ( helmet) to bale out the
water !
We have never tried boiling water in it, like the movies. Main
reason is that we may end up having to sign 1206 for it if somehow
it is damaged or blackened by fire. Also, remember, there was a
helmet cloth over it and it was a hassle to remove it.
