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

If the trade off is . . .

Wear a ballistic face shield that provides marginal at best protection to the wearer, while impeding your ability to effectively see and kill the enemy,

OR

go without same and be able to better see, sight, and kill those trying to do the same to you,

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most soldiers will avoid those face shields like the plague.