"Helmet protects Soldier from bullet wound"

At first, the headline quoted above seems trivial, way obvious, and hardly newsworthy. But then, helmets worn by soldiers in the Twentieth Century were primarily designed to protect the wearers from shrapnel, not direct bullet fire. And this story is a testament to how far we've come in military tech. Helmets are now stopping bullets, not just deflecting shrapnel.

And the following excerpt exemplifies the true spirit of the American soldier under that helmet.

While [Capt. John] McFarlin’s unit recently responded to attacks on an Iraqi police station in Buhriz, he was hit in the helmet with a shot from an AK-47.

“I was suppressed for a moment and then I got back up" and returned fire, said McFarlin of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Band of Brothers’ Military Transition Team who oversees the 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division.

A day after the attack, McFarlin was still sporting the damaged helmet. He said he felt unaffected by his brush with death.

Here's a link to other cool things the U.S. Army uses.