Wasn’t Shinseki the nut who took the black berets from the Rangers and gave it to all Army soldiers and then contracted to have them produced in China?
Remember this:
Army Recalling China-Made Black Berets
May 2, 2001
Facing growing criticism from Congress, the Army has decided to recall and dispose of hundreds of thousands of black berets made in China, officials announced today.
Gen. Eric Shinseki, the Army chief of staff, ordered the move after lawmakers voiced concerns that the purchase appeared to violate federal rules to buy American-made products if they are available.
‘’The Army chief of staff has determined that U.S. troops shall not wear berets made in China or berets made with Chinese content,’’ the deputy secretary of defense, Paul Wolfowitz, said in a statement today.
Pentagon officials said the standoff with China over the detention last month of the crew of an American surveillance plane had increased the pressure to cancel the beret deal.
The House Armed Services Committee held a briefing last week to address members’ concerns that the Army was violating rules to ‘’buy American,’’ officials said.
The Army has countered that its decision to buy the berets from China and Sri Lanka, Romania, Canada and South Africa was in response to a tight deadline it set to acquire 1.3 million berets by June 14, the Army’s birthday. One American manufacturer is furnishing some of the berets, officials said.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C01E4DF1438F931A35756C0A9679C8B63
Here’s my favorite story on the topic of black berets. I especially like the quote from “Jim” and the closing...
Letting My Hair Down (Editorial Column)
Monday, September 30, 2002 3:00 AM EDT
By: Patricia Matson
I had an interesting conversation with a re-enactor recently. After the action and pageantry of special events are over, it’s usually rewarding to talk with the people involved.
After the Battle of Paoli dedication and re-enactment, some of the spectators then went on to Historic Waynesborough, the house where Revolutionary War General “Mad” Anthony Wayne lived. After the battle in 1777, British troops were sent to search Wayne’s house. They didn’t find him there, since he had stayed with his troops, but they did arrest a couple of servants.
Re-enactor Jim portrayed a member of the light infantry of the 40th Regiment of Foot, a sort of British special forces back then, which made the search. Jim is also a soldier in real life, getting close to retirement.
He said he was thinking about transferring into a different re-enacting unit, one that marched in drill but didn’t do any running through fields, since his knees are not responding to stress too well these days.
I was charmed by a confession Jim made: He said that he had chosen to re-enact with his particular group because of the hats they wear. I could sympathize with that; the hat he had tucked under his arm was pretty neat-looking - black, with the left side of the broad brim turned up and adorned with an ostrich plume.
“Most people think I’m joking when I say that,” he chuckled, “but it’s amazing what guys will do to get to wear neat hats.”
I was reminded of the fuss last year when the U.S. Army decided to change its headwear to black berets for everyone. Before, most of the army wore sort of baseball caps in the field, but the Rangers had worn black berets.
The Rangers are an elite, fast-moving Army strike force, and it’s tough to get into and make it through the training. One of the force’s marks of honor was being allowed to wear black berets, unlike the rest of the Army - until recently.
In World War II, U.S. Rangers trained with the British Commandos, who awarded them green berets, but the U.S. Army wouldn’t allow their wear, and deactivated the Rangers at the end of the war. In 1951, during the Korean War, 13 companies of Airborne Rangers were founded, and they wore black berets for night training. Later, they were disbanded - until the Vietnam War, the next time the elite troops were needed. After 1974, the black beret became standard issue for the Ranger battalions. Special Forces troops wear the green berets, and Army airborne units wear maroon berets.
In June 2001, the Army adopted the black beret for all its soldiers’ wear. The official rationale for this was that the army has been transforming itself from a cold war force to a force generally capable of rapid deployment in situations that demand immediate responses, and the black beret symbolizes the Rangers’ adaptability.
Grumbling from the Rangers said that berets-for-everyone was a ploy to boost morale across the Army, without requiring anything more in the way of training for the regular soldiers. Meanwhile Ranger morale plummeted, as everyone else got to wear “their” berets.
Following this decision, the Rangers went to wearing tan berets. I suppose that sooner or later, the Army will get around to co-opting those or forbidding them, as well.
The Army has been guilty of much more damaging stupidities than about-faces on the issue of berets, and certainly the armed forces have much more important things to worry about these days. Although considered by some as symbols of honor, the color and style of hats may not really be a major matter in the grand scheme of things. But the underlying issues of troop morale and soldiers’ adaptability are vital ones.
You may improve other soldiers’ morale by giving out black berets, but it’s kind of like the emphasis on self-esteem in the schools: Telling people that they’re good soldiers may make them stay in and try harder, but it doesn’t actually make them any more capable, any more than telling Johnny he’s smart will make him able to read.
What the armed forces really need to do is make sure that their people get the training needed. Give every soldier Ranger training, if that’s what’s called for by the dangers in the world today, but don’t just stick a feather in his hat and call it adaptability.
Patricia Matson can be reached at editor@phoenixvillenews.com