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- Story Listed as: True Life For Adults
- Theme: Action & Adventure
- Subject: Crime
- Published: 07/19/2025
Helmet - More Cop Stuff
Born 1941, M, from Santa Clara, CA, United States
Helmet
In the late 60’s early 70’s Viet Nam was all the rage. It made the headlines each and every day. People like Jane Fonda were mouthing the left-wing view and the press was eating it up. College professors and their students were taking courses in political stupidity. The left-wing element wasn’t happy with just a classroom or campus; they took it to the street too. When it hit the streets that's when I got involved.
There were demonstrations and riots. Both were new problems with new dangers. Oh, San Jose had a lynching once but that was way before my time and the community was a peaceful place since then.
But now was a different story. The PD sent a team to LA to receive training in crowd control. It also looked into suitable gear for Officer protection. The regulars got Toptex, a helmet that could survive the impact of a 38 cal. Bullet. The reserves got Buco. A helmet that could withstand the impact of a spitball if fired over six feet away. The Toptex helmet was made of fiberglass white with black trim and the Buco was plastic blue and had a detachable visor that could be replaced with a Snap-on face shield. We were all issued a blue jump suit with patches sewn on and combat boots, we were awesome. I dressed out five times.
BYU:
Brigham Young University is a Mormon university and at that time had no black students’ staff or football players. They were to play San Jose State at San Jose. Viet Nam had the players, and this was a potential platform for chaos, so why not. We were in briefing when word came that SJSU was expecting a riot at the game and requested city help dew to the fact that they didn’t Have a police department yet.
We were told that we would be bused to Spartan Stadium and form up at the field house under the flag (well if you’re going to die why not under the flag).
The bus parked on 7th street, and we marched single file to the Field House. We stood in two ranks of thirty each facing the football field. The enemy, I mean citizens, facing us. There was one right in front of me that might have been a woman. It had none of the obvious signs visible, and was dressed in Walmart dumpster special, Walmart hadn’t been invented yet. It smelled like an unflushed toilet and called me pig. At first, I thought it was seeing its reflection off my face shield. I leaned next to my partner and said, “if this goes down, she’s mine.” He nodded and her eyes got as big as saucers. She moved two people away and I mouthed, “I can still get you there,” and winked. She pulled out of line and moved all the way to the end. I don’t remember much about the game except that there was no riot and I never saw the wicked witch of the west again.
In the late 60’s early 70’s Viet Nam was all the rage. It made the headlines each and every day. People like Jane Fonda were mouthing the left-wing view and the press was eating it up. College professors and their students were taking courses in political stupidity. The left-wing element wasn’t happy with just a classroom or campus; they took it to the street too. When it hit the streets that's when I got involved.
There were demonstrations and riots. Both were new problems with new dangers. Oh, San Jose had a lynching once but that was way before my time and the community was a peaceful place since then.
But now was a different story. The PD sent a team to LA to receive training in crowd control. It also looked into suitable gear for Officer protection. The regulars got Toptex, a helmet that could survive the impact of a 38 cal. Bullet. The reserves got Buco. A helmet that could withstand the impact of a spitball if fired over six feet away. The Toptex helmet was made of fiberglass white with black trim and the Buco was plastic blue and had a detachable visor that could be replaced with a Snap-on face shield. We were all issued a blue jump suit with patches sewn on and combat boots, we were awesome. I dressed out five times.
BYU:
Brigham Young University is a Mormon university and at that time had no black students’ staff or football players. They were to play San Jose State at San Jose. Viet Nam had the players, and this was a potential platform for chaos, so why not. We were in briefing when word came that SJSU was expecting a riot at the game and requested city help dew to the fact that they didn’t Have a police department yet.
We were told that we would be bused to Spartan Stadium and form up at the field house under the flag (well if you’re going to die why not under the flag).
The bus parked on 7th street, and we marched single file to the Field House. We stood in two ranks of thirty each facing the football field. The enemy, I mean citizens, facing us. There was one right in front of me that might have been a woman. It had none of the obvious signs visible, and was dressed in Walmart dumpster special, Walmart hadn’t been invented yet. It smelled like an unflushed toilet and called me pig. At first, I thought it was seeing its reflection off my face shield. I leaned next to my partner and said, “if this goes down, she’s mine.” He nodded and her eyes got as big as saucers. She moved two people away and I mouthed, “I can still get you there,” and winked. She pulled out of line and moved all the way to the end. I don’t remember much about the game except that there was no riot and I never saw the wicked witch of the west again.
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