Nice day to kill an ACH!

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uncle money bags

Sharpshooter
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I thought we were talking about some kind of electronic bank withdrawal, but from the context I guess it's a helmet. Apparently only the tacticool know what this acronym stands for.

Google is your friend: ACH is the Advanced Combat Helmet ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Combat_Helmet ), that new-fangled kev-e-lar hat them sojer boys and girls wear.

I did google it, I came up with an entire page of results about bank transfers. And stock quotes for Aluminum Corporation of China LTD. Or one could just be clear about what they are talking about in the first place.

I'm with you. Some of these acronyms really pi$$ me off. Most of the time I just move on without reading them but since we were shooting something I figured I'd try to find out what we just shot.

Wow..
 

ldp4570

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We've had those around since the early 80's, you think they would have improved them with the way body armor has improved. Granted its saved my head from shrapnel several times, but it could be made tougher to protect from rifle projectiles. Granted its still gonna hurt, and really hammer your neck, but its a better out come than the other option.
 

SMS

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It's all about weight. Think about how heavy the rifle-defeating ceramic and steel body armor plates are....do you really want to wear that on your head?

I'll take a ACH or MICH over the old steel pot any day!
 

Brandi

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ACH advanced combat helmet is just the basic term for our current military helmet. There's also "MICH" which is modular integrated communications helmet. Both terms are used interchangeably. The PASGT was the previous generation helmet that had the "fritz" shape but used the webbing style suspension system which was it's doom. The PASGT had a habit of falling forward, obscuring vision, at the worst times. They also discovered in certain situations the PASGT's web suspension was actually making injuries worse because of it's loose configuration. The result was the pad system used today and a helmet design doing away with the PASGT's front "bill" which made using night vision mounts a pain and increasing the level of protection with a few other improvements.

Interesting fact is after WW I the US recognized the superior design of the German "fritz" helmet and wanted to copy it. The "dough boy" helmet in use at the time was only designed to protect from falling debris common in trench warfare and required a new design that was better suited for "exposed" fighting. The only thing that kept us from accepting the German design in WW II was the fact our enemy was wearing the same style helmet and there was too much chance of mistaking American troops for the enemy. Then skip ahead to modern time and here we are using that same design.

I don't think it will be that much longer, relatively speaking, before we "upgrade" to the next generation which, I believe, will incorporate full face protection, integrated communication and reactive armor (although the reactive armor may take longer than the rest).

I have a strange fascination with helmets and collect them. Fire helmets, military helmets, flight helmets, police helmets...it's weird but I like them. If anyone has one they are interested in parting with let me know!
 

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