"US Helmet stripes" Topic

Regarding those vertical/horizontal helmet stripes for officers and NCOs…
Did all officers and NCOs have them, or just the combat leaders?
For example would a chaplain have them? Or NCO supply staff?

I think not at least for chaplins – the stripes were for leadership, i.e. vertical bars for officers and horizontal ones for NCO's – and as I understand, once the Germans figured this out (and they were pretty quick studies) the practice was largely dropped

Back in the early 1960s, the National Guard continued to use the stripes during training. Most training except at Summer Camp was conducted wearing soft caps or helmet liner only.
My father was a senior NCO, E7/8 and had gear with them. A departing 1LT gave me his liner when I was eight. The helmets had the horizontal and vertical bars on them.

In the 1970s, our caps, soft caps and Boonie hats had luminous tape sewed onto the back. We called them eyes. Good for following men in front during a night patrol. Some leaders had a longer vertical piece sewed in the middle.

Often known as 'ETO Mark was battlefield commissioned in s', all officers and NCO's were supposed to have them. It was a 'follow me' as a thing, and generally done in combat units (ETO only). But often in support units. (1x3"). They were actually quite useful in combat, and remained in use for the war. Some say they developed from the 2nd/5th Ranger orange diamond on the back of their helmets that was for following at night. I have not run into any records indicating the practice was dropped, and many officers insisted on them as a matter of morale. A friend's wartime helmet shows his original NCO stripe painted over in back, with his officers (As he received a battlefield commission in late 44).

Later in the war they decided that actual "combat commanders" needed to be given some love, and added the "combat commander's marks" for officers- a dark green stripe on the epaulets. for NCO's a thin dark green stripe below their rank stripe on the arms. Those were specific for men actually in a command position. The epaulet slides stayed around for a while, but the NCO stipe pretty much vanished soon after the war.