Posted on 06/14/2011 10:41:17 AM PDT by STARWISE
The U.S. Army said Monday that it was 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, U.S. Army spokesman Col. Tom Collins said.
The move came after outgoing Army chief of staff, Gen. 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.
*snip*
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 foxnews.com ...
..Ping!
Shaping those things are a pain — and there is good reason why there called “Monicas”.
Four million berets bought from CHINA thanks to that pusillanimous traitor — the Sink Emperor.
I guess that WILL be a big disappointment to the gays!
Looks French.
BTTT
Good move. Now maybe the Black Beret can go back to the Rangers where it was and should always be.
Hear, hear!!!
The beret used to be distinctive and a source of unit pride in those units that featured berets. But, it lost its distinctiveness when issued to everybody. Not hard to understand.
IIRC, the beret was a Clinton-administration idea to make our military more in sync with the Europeans.
""Plus it makes head/skin break out."
It does that to you because you didn't earn it.
(Old RANGER here.. 'plank holder' A/1/75th here)
Actually, it was then-Gen. Shinseki’s (Army Chief of Staff, as I recall, roughly 2001 timeframe) attempt to make the line troops feeeeeeeeeel as elite at the true elites of the Army...Hell, I was there.
Still have mine (and wear it!). Some basic attention to detail at the start, and keeping it folded instead of storing it flat, along with giving a rat’s backside about how it is to be worn, and it looks pretty good. But still a pain to put on with one hand, ‘tho it can be done...
... still serving, btw...
Your right on that. Clinton did it on purpose, he hated the military.....and figured he’d make them a joke...
Can the Rangers have THEIR black beret back, now.
The idea originated with Gen. Eric Shinseki during the WJC admin. And yes, the original order was placed with the Red Chinese. After it was so revealed Shinseki allegedly changed to US suppliers after his bitter and asinine public defense of the PRC award. Shinseki was about as valuable as SecDef Less Ass-spin. Were quite a few FR threads back then.
Sounds like my son will keep his maroon Airborne one though.
When I was in a “Patrol Cap” was a steel pot!
One just released Marine son and two active Army Reserve sons is a lot to keep up with...
:-)
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