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?
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Two things. First, the majority of casualties do not occur due to small arms fire. Most casualties in modern war occur from artillery, which these masks would not be effective against. Second, there is a constant balancing act between not wanting your head/face to get damaged, and being able to do things with your head/face such as breathing, seeing, or hearing. If we go back to medieval helmets, period artwork often shows soldiers in pitched battle with raised visors since the ability to see better, breathe more easily, or order subordinates more effectively were more valuable to them than the added protection of keeping their visor down. This is why modern helmets are entirely open faced. The ability to see better and breathe more easily is more important than any token amount of added protection.
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