I was in the Army, stationed in Giessen from April/May 1965 until I rotated home in August 1967. We had some joint field exercises with the modern German army, and for the most part, they had better equipment than we did. I am posting a shot of the Headquarters Building of the 42nd Artillery Group - our base was located on an old Luftwaffe airfield, and this building was part of that complex - when I was there, the post was primarily a Quartermaster Depot. Thanks Lost World for the reminder of those days.

Just as the old German M-42 "Stalhelm" was the prototype for the modern American kevlar helments, these old gasmasks will look quite familiar to American army and Marines, with but one exception: the gas mask filters have been moved to the side on modern designs, to accomodate better firing a rifle while in NBC (Nuclear-Biological-Chemical) battle dress. The individual can choose which side of the maske to mount the filter on, depending on what hand he fires his rifle. A right-handed shooter eg. would mount his filter on the left side of his mask, away from the rifle. I don't remember the nomenclature of the modern American mask, think it's model M-16--like just about everything else in the military.