I love that skeleton, look great out in the weeds like that. I assume it's out of view from the nearest road?
I have a few German caps, sans insignia for the WW2 versions. But something about the shape of that helmet just screams *bad guy* to me.
When the US Military switched to the new kevlar helmet, with that very similar shape, I thought sure it would be rejected immediately. Maybe the camo cover keeps it from looking as ominous, dunno.
Funny you'd bring that up. There were times on active duty when sleep deprivation would take hold and I'd start see us as a large group of German soldiers in SS camo.
Seriously, after a while it just started looking that way to me, and I'm really not that big a fan of German stuff! The rifles (M16A2s back then) started looking like MP-44s, the light machine guns (M-60s as an ROTC and M249s on active duty) like MG-42s. The time it stopped looking like that would be when I saw vehicles.
It actually made it easier for me during those times when I was digging deep as I would imagine we were in the most immersive re-enactment ever put together. That way, I would consider it a fun event that I didn't have to pay to attend.
But as for the shape of the Kevlars, they came in handy because they provided much better side coverage of the head (and 82AB soldiers in Panama who got capped in the mellons while wearing them
and survived proved they were indeed bullet resistant) and the shape was good for rain. I just really hated wearing NVGs on them and doubly hated when we wore NCGs and MILES gear. I think they weighed a lot more than our rifles did at that point. And you'd get the dreaded "K-pot" itch, an itching sensation that would driver you nuts because someone always just waiting to get up in the face of anyone who took their helmets of for any reason in the field.