In US Army, the beret is out and the cap is back

Yahoo News ^ | Mon Jun 13, 7:00 pm ET | AFP

[Responsibility2nd]

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."

[vpintheak]

Having served in a Cav unit as a Mortarman, I knew of many Infantrymen who earned the Spurs. They earned it. I got reassigned before I had the chance to do it. Also, Officers like to see all their boys wearing the Stetson in formation whether they earned it or not, they were ordered to wear it, and some of them under duress.
Ever hear of the expert Infantry Badge? I earned it and I knew people from other MOS’s that earned it too. Couldn’t wear it, but got the promotion points.
Fact is, it is the Infantryman that busts his butt the most in the Army. The most crap jobs, and the biggest chance of dying in war. This is not to take away from what any other MOS and what they do.
So unless you are just trying to start crap, lay off the Queen jokes. Who kicks the most butt in chess? (Queen)

[ex-snook]

Whatever happened to the good old ‘C’ cap?

[ex-snook]

Whatever happened to the good old ‘C’ cap?

[The KG9 Kid]

Actually, the uniform I had in mind when I wrote "The US Navy’s decision to make sailors dress up like pretend Marines is an outrage" is this one:

The gray one is only borderline annoying, but it's the khaki version that makes me want to throw something at their heads.

When I was in the fleet as a lowly E1-E2, I used to get ticked off at how the Navy dressed up their enlisted to look like CPOs with shiny rank badges and I'd start thinking that they were officers and render a salute. Didn't take long for me to basically ignore all Navy personnel unless I was absolutely sure that I could see some standard of familiar rank: Captain's bars, Oak leaf, etc.

[vpintheak]

LOL! Still have mine!

[PJ-Comix]

The most popular (and comfortable) of all Army caps was the M-1951 Field Cap. It was replaced by a rather ugly looking flat top cap which Fidel Castro adopted. After that came a baseball cap which was disliked. They try and try but it still remains that the M-1951 Field Cap was ideal.

[cizinec]

On a serious level, I’m not saying they didn’t “earn” their spurs any less than all the other MOSs who do infantry jobs “earned” an EIB or a blue cord, but the infantry is very possessive of its symbols and very free with everyone else’s. If the infantry wants to keep its symbols sacrosanct, I understand that and agree with it, but they need to do the same for everyone else’s. That includes 19k and the black beret.

And yes, I’m just starting crap. I will lay off the Queen jokes when my infantry buddies lay off the gun bunny jokes. Lighten up, bro. That’s why they’re called “jokes.”

[oh8eleven]

The guy looks like he's Air Farce and the babe looks like a BAM. Unbelievable.
My only encounter with the "fleet" was a 5-6 month Carib cruise back in the late 60s on an LST (ugh). They wore the classic denim work uniform on ship and whites on libbo.
Me and 90% of the battery had just come back from 'Nam and no one effed with us ... ever.