Eli5 why aren’t ballistic masks more common in warfare?

Question

You very rarely see depictions of soldiers wearing bullet resistant face masks. I understand that these only protect from small caliber weapons but wouldn’t you take all the protection you could get?

In: 154

Answer 1

Try wearing a ballistic mask on for a few minutes. It can get hot and stuffy and your breath can fog the glass, as well as restrict movement, hearing, and vision. On a battlefield those cons would massively outweigh any pros.