The Bowling Green State University football team introduced the 2017 version of its Military Appreciation helmet on Monday afternoon. The helmet will be worn for the team’s Military Appreciation Day, which will be held when the Falcons host Akron on Sept. 30.

The helmet is similar in design to the 2016 model. The most notable feature is the center stripe. Within that stripe are the names of 111 former BGSU students who gave their lives in the line of military service. The names were compiled last year with the assistance of Vietnam War veteran David Ridenour. Ridenour is a Bowling Green graduate and member of the BGSU Army ROTC Alumni Society.

This year’s edition of the helmet will utilize a brown shell. The center stripe will be orange chrome with brown lettering for the names. The number ‘111’ appears on the back, centered underneath the end of the stripe. The Falcon head logo on the sides incorporates a stars-and-stripes flag pattern for the “BG” letters. The face mask will also be orange chrome. In 2016, the colors were reversed, with an orange shell and name lettering coupled with a brown stripe and face mask.

The beauty of these lids is not only their uniqueness but their direct connection with the university’s past. The presentation is also not over-stated; if you did not know the names were there, you would likely not even notice them. All of these factors make this BGSU helmet one of the best military-themed uniform elements in all of college football.