--- title: "Why troops in Vietnam could write on their helmets" description: "Troops in Vietnam didn't \"get away\" with choosing to write on their helmets, and neither do the troops who do it today." date: "2022-06-02" modified: "2023-05-31" authors: - name: "Blake Stilwell" job_title: "Editor-In-Chief, Air Force Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/blake/" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/popular/troops-wrote-on-helmets-vietnam/" categories: - "History" - "Join the Military" - "Military Culture" - "Vietnam War" - "War History" tags: - "Military History" - "Vietnam War" --- # Why troops in Vietnam could write on their helmets ![vietnam war helmet]() Maybe it's ticking off the number of days he's been in country. Maybe it's announcing to the world that the wearer is a bad motherf\*cker. Or it could be simply the troop's blood type and drug allergies. No matter what's written, one of the enduring images of the [Vietnam War]() is one of the Army or Marine Corps' infantry troops, sitting out in the jungle or around a rice paddy, wearing a helmet covered in graffiti. Truth be told, troops in Vietnam didn't "get away" with choosing to write on the helmets that were issued to them, and neither do the troops who do it today. ![modern write on their helmets]() *Some things never change.* As one might imagine, it would be considered counter to good order and discipline to write on one's helmet cover. The helmet, after all, is [a uniform item](), typically owned by the government. To deface it would be to deface government property while at the same time violating the rules of wearing your uniform properly. But none of this ever prevented the troops from doing it. Some troops in Vietnam only ever wore their helmets when doing perimeter duty or moving materiel from one area to another, and didn't really have the downtime with their helmets to make any sort of writing on them. For those who did write on their helmet covers, they'll tell you there were more important things happening than worrying about what was written on their helmets. **READ: [These 13 photos of US troops with enemy flags show some traditions never die]()** Of course, the difference between troops back then and troops today is that yesteryear's combat troops could be draftees, which means they're not the professional army the United States uses as the backbone of its military power these days. Even so, those who wrote on their helmets were not allowed to wear the helmet with its cover on while in the rear. The MPs would make sure of that. In any case, soldiers were required to wear a cap while in the rear, and the helmet would go back on only when they went back into the sh\*t, where no one cared what they wrote anyway. ![vietnam write on their helmets]() *What are they gonna do, punish them with a tour in Vietnam?* Vietnam veterans say the graffiti depended on which outfit you were moving with, and was usually okay as long as it didn't defeat the purpose of camouflage in combat. Others say that as long as the graffiti didn't disparage the Army, the United States, or the chain of command, it didn't matter what you wrote or how you wrote it. If a new NCO or lieutenant was coming into Vietnam for the first time and all he cared about was helmet covers, his troops would call him "dinky dao" anyway. ## Author Blake Stilwell is We Are The Mighty's Editor-in-Chief, covering military news, entertainment, and history, along with veteran education, employment and entrepreneurship. He is a former U.S. Air Force combat cameraman with degrees in Graphic Design, Television and Film, International Relations, Public Relations, Business Management and Middle Eastern Affairs. After leaving the military, he began working in film and television production in New York and Los Angeles, work that included ABC News, NBC Olympics, and HBO Sports. He then spent two years in Washington with White House Communications, before joining the Near East Foundation. At NEF he served as an International Development Fellow, then Communications Officer, and finally, Media Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Based in the Palestinian Territory, he coordinated strategic communications between eight country offices, international media, and government and NGO partners. He began a career focused on writing and editing in 2015 with We Are The Mighty. He left in 2019 for Military.com, but returned as Editor-in-Chief in 2025. Blake’s work has been seen on CBS News, Fox News, CBC, The Chicago Tribune, Task & Purpose, Military Times, Recoil, Skillset, American History, and was shockingly even used in a Supreme Court argument. He is an avid traveler and small business owner in Ohio, where he spends most of his energy fixing up a very old house. ### Author social links [Facebook]() [Twitter]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()