In Brit Commonwealth armies is is also used by those who ride in heavy off-road vehicles. It was the orginal black beret (from 1918)
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 ...
One of the craziest bastards I ever heard of turned the tables on Ivan wearing a bath robe, slippers, smoking a damned pipe and commanding a fast attack Submarine.
Every SOB aboard was locked and loaded.
On their A game
Capt Whitey Mack
Nobody gave a **** about the uniform
The only reason Anyone gave a **** about uniforms was that they sucked. They were and for decoration.
It’s 3 AM and you have Ivan in your fire control solution.
Who cares what you look like?
Wear the Stetson. Hell Yeah! Wear the Stetson!
Looks gay to me!
The beret is also for the world’s most elite military forces.
In Brit Commonwealth armies is is also used by those who ride in heavy off-road vehicles. It was the orginal black beret (from 1918)
In some ways the beret wasn’t practical. Having 2 uniforms instead of 3, though, makes sense. And, if you recall, the blue uniform predated the greens by at least one Revolutionary and Civil War. The green Class A’s didn’t show up until the 1950’s.
I’d get rid of the whites, too.
You’d have your cammies and your service uniforms. That’s it. Saves on money. Saves on time.
I don’t especially like the fruit salad, either. I’d find some other way to display that.
You’ve been here on Fr a long time, like myself. I vaguely recall the threads on FR when the original decision to adopt the beret came out..they were both funny AND intense..don’t know if they are still available via search..probably be funny and prescient to go back and read them
You’ve been here on Fr a long time, like myself. I vaguely recall the threads on FR when the original decision to adopt the beret came out..they were both funny AND intense..don’t know if they are still available via search..probably be funny and prescient to go back and read them
it is...
I came in in 1975 and was assigned to the 1st Cav Division in C/2/12 Cav (The Blue Lancers). We had the blue berets that matched the 11B MOS for about a year. The arty units had red berets. Tank units had black berets. The Air Cav boys wore black stetsons. It sure was colorful on parade days.
My favorite. “I love the smell of burning felt in the morning.”
... and while you're at it, bring back the Army TW uniform too!
More than you think. The first batch of berets were made in China, so the Army had to find a beret made in America. Personally, I am glad to see it gone. I hate it to no end.
Did you see this?
They hated the beret when it was suggested. I didn’t really care. I wore one before it became policy. I liked how easy it was to store compared with the cap. Go inside and you’re forever looking after that cap.
The sun visor part is legit. I hadn’t ever thought about the “soaking up sweat” part, but it’s probably true, too.
I’m in favor of keep it simply.
LOL! Glad the mods missed the first part of your post - gave me a good laugh! BTW, what’s a TW uniform?
Still, one pet peeve down. Next up: let's give our boys a 7.62mm battle rifle.
Saw it and I couldn’t be happier!!!
The Ridgeway was a sharp hat, but it was never “GI”. You had to buy it on your dime, otherwise you were stuck with the M1951 or later the godawful “Cap, Field, Hot Weather”. The troops either loved or hated them, nobody was ambivalent about them. In defense of the Ridgeway, I think the majority of the guys that hated them had inexpensive models that wouldn’t hold their shape. The only one worth a darn was the Bancroft which had a wire frame, but the $16 price tag was pretty intimidating for a GI making less than $4K a year.
I just haven’t seen the effective date in the article.
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