I thought they separated the jumpers from the "glider riders" with different insignia, but I guess it just depended...
Posted on 06/13/2011 6:19:19 PM PDT by cll
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Army is abandoning the beret, after a failed 10-year experiment.
The black beret, which proved deeply unpopular with American soldiers, will be replaced by a patrol cap for everyday wear, US Army spokesman Colonel Tom Collins said Monday.
The move came after outgoing Army chief of staff, General Martin Dempsey, asked the army's sergeant major "to go out and talk to soldiers across the force and see what was on their minds," Collins told AFP.
"One of the things that soldiers consistently brought up was the desire to wear the patrol cap as part of their duty uniform," he said.
The beret will still be part of the Army's dress uniform, but will no longer be worn in the field as soldiers complained that it was impractical, he said.
"It does not have a visor and doesn't shield the sun, doesn't absorb sweat well," Collins said.
One soldier put it more bluntly.
"I hate wearing a wet sock on my head," Chief Warrant Officer Mark Vino, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, told the Army Times. "Plus it makes head/skin break out."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Too bad it took ten years for someone to ask real soldiers what they needed for everyday headgear.
Stupid, false anti-elitism was behind the beret. That never works.
Yes, also known as the garrison cap.
Same here. This is all good news here. The beret looks good in a dress uniform, FAR superior to the...you-know cap. It's just not pleasant at all to wear day-to-day. The PC is the way to go for everyday work.
Those are even less practical. You need something you can basically fold up and put in the utility pocket on your thigh.
The black beret was actually worn by Armored Cavalry units before the Rangers adopted it.
I never ate snakes. Does Opla count?
The Rangers were wearing the black beret as early as 1951.
The c__t cap with the glider wings was the old Airborne hat, that and pants tucked into the spit shined jump boots was a pretty good look.
I thought they separated the jumpers from the "glider riders" with different insignia, but I guess it just depended...
This has proven to be every bit as popular as Zumwalt’s Navy uniform experiments back in the 70’s were. The number one thing that Sailors wanted back was the Cracker Jack dress blues uniform, instead of the half-assed Air Force messcook uniforms old Elmo came up with...
At least the army didn’t go back to making the troops grease the hair with lard and powdering it with flour.....
Any other old salts out there still have a set of South China Sea Liberty cuff embroidered dragon patches for their Blues??
Did you have zippers put into your dress blues jumper in the PI??
How about in the 13 button pants??
Did you keep your Liberty Blues folded inside out under the mattress of your rack to make sure the creases stayed crisp??
What was sewn under the flap of your “Liberty Blues” jumper...??
I wore a black beret (French style rather than military style) to work shortly after the Shinseky decision, announcing to co-workers that the General’s announcement included Navy retirees.
I was at Ft. Sill in 1972, with that red artillery ascot and a red beret, the dress uniform would look awfully bright.
Here is a mention of the period, and experiment that you are talking about.
“In addition, after HQDA encouraged the unofficial use of morale-enhancing headgear in 1973,”
I don’t remember which one we were using in 1972, maybe some of the other guys do.
When I was in the Army they issued us fatigue caps that were soft and shapeless. If you tried to fall out wearing one you would get chewed out and written up for being out of Uniform. I pointed out that it was issue so how could we be out of Uniform and was told to shut up and do what I was told. We had to buy the ones we actually wore at the PX, they were blocked and looked a lot nicer than the issue ones , very similar to your picture but not camo. At any rate I do think they are much better than a beret.
It was a dumb stupid ignorant ridiculous ideal from day one, and that applies to the fool that thought it up.
I forgot all about that dang ascot. LOL! Wow! What a pain that thing was.
Thank God!!! Clinton’s passion for the very gay beret was about as horrible a move as he ever made.
It looked stupid and made our fine soldiers look stupider!!!
Holy Crap! I was born that spring.
Generations of sailors hated that stupid hat!
I left the Army at the end of 1973, and I was not aware of an army wide Beret policy, what years was it?
I was in the Marine Corps from 73 to 79 and we never had a beret. We had the barracks cover, garrison cover and the utility cover and that was it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.