This story can't be true. Or maybe I should say: knowing the US Army, the story must be true.
I can remember the hoopla that accompanied the change to the beenie, which no one thought of calling a wet sock. Everyone - all the soldiers, esp the licks-piddle functionary officer corps - stood and cheered when the beenie was introduced.
The beenie was a symbol of the renewal of the Army, at least that's what all the officers said.
“Now, we're all members of an elite force. We're as good as the Marines.”
If I recall, didn't the “Rangers” get angry when the black color was stolen by the straight leg types.And the poor “Rangers” had to be mollified with a brown beret.
Now, did the officers really believe that introduction of a beret would transform them into a great fighting force? I don't know. But from what I've observed, almost all have their opinions and beliefs shaped by whatever directive emanates from DOA. Stay tuned, folks. Round two coming up.
Umm, no - it was not all that popular with the troops or the officer corps when introduced. It was popular with the political leadership (elected, appointed or commissioned).
There were a goodly amount of internal complaints about the beret when introduced, but command directives are not generally open to debate. Complaints from the force about the beret led to numerous changes in uniform policy within individual commands and posts; exceptions to when the beret was required, etc. In many ways, that made the situation worse, because Joe might be perfectly fine with his headgear on one post and completely unsat in another, doing the exact same work for the same types of unit.