The new PC US Army - black berets for everyone

I have never seen military service and I understand what this is about. When I heard this on the radio I couldn't believe it! This is the low budget crap they're resorting to to "restore moral".

The beret is a visible trophy that shows you are one of the elite. The men wearing the beret, could wear it in pride because the beret signified to others "this man is one of the best".

I'd be pissed off if I were a Ranger. That's like giving everyone a gold medal at the Olympics. Wouldn't that diminish the honor of winning first place? The Army seems to be run by morons.

Anyone who has any common sense and anyone who has ever achieved the distinction of being one of the best at something should understand this.

This is the typical mentality of: "bring everyone down to the same level, the lowest" that the liberals espouse. They want people to be ashamed of their accomplishments, when in reality they SHOULD be proud and other people should be proud of them, not jealous. That's what the liberals are, jealous. Jealous of excellence, jealous of people who strive for excellence and jealous of those who take responsibility for their lives and decisions. They're jealous because they are evil.

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The first step is registration, the second step is confiscation, the final step is subjugation.
 
I recently read a book called "The Company They Keep" about Special Forces units. The author was married to a SF NCO and spent a year with a team. She wrote that several team members wore their patrol caps instead of berets. Apparently support personnel(clerks, mechanics, etc.) were allowed to wear berets even if they weren't qualified. This was their way of protesting this.
I totally agree with what others have said here. What a stupid idea. While I never went to Airborne school and was only a mechanic, I did go to Air Assualt school. Those wings mean more to me than anything else I did in the Army. It's because I earned them. Noone gave them to me. I was stationed at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah GA. Ranger barracks was next door. I can imagine the howls of protest from them.
 
My JROTC instructor in high school, Major Mike Farley, was a retired Green Beret. He sometimes told us little blurbs about his assorted "adventures" around the world (i.e., kicking communist butt), but wasn't allowed to say to much. The strange thing was, he was the nicest man you'd ever meet. I mean, he was so nice it was ridiculous. Almost nothing got him mad. He was so patient with us bratty high schoolers back then, and we all looked up to him because of it.

He never wore his beret or his bloused boots, but he had the "special forces" tab on his shoulder. I guess that was enough for him.

But, still, this idea of giving berets to everybody stinks. The BDU-hat works just fine with BDUs. For the dress uniform, well, I don't like the "hot dog" garrison cap, but I can't really think of anything better at the moment..
 
God now we are using the French Army as our role model? Boooon Jooour.Next we will be wearing a feather in our helmets and eating pasta MREs!

[This message has been edited by Tom B (edited October 20, 2000).]
 
This is one stupid ass idea! It took the personal involvement of President Kennedy to officially recognize the Green Beret. He understood. If this is done, it diminishes the devotion, dedication, loyalty, and esprit de corps which for years have been the hallmark of the greatest Army the world has ever know, not just for those who earned it, but for those it is being thrust upon. Why should I feel this way? How about that I am a retired Command Sergeant Major with almost twenty six years service. I wonder how the Sergeant Major of the Army feels about this one? If there is a moral problem, this ain't the way to fix it, Sergeant Major! Yea, and the idea about an easy to switch to a blue beret (U.N.) is pretty damn unnerving! How about we all take the position, "NOT IN MY ARMY!" sundog
 
I just read the news release at Army.mil. It appears that Sergeant Major of the Army will play a roll in the implementation and that it involves a "right of passage" for the soldiers. Huh? It also appear that this is supported by USSOCOM. What ever happened to training, assignments, and promotions? Maybe I've been away too long.... Nah, this is a bad idea. sundog
 
So much for force élan and esprit de corps.

If they want to improve morale, how about paying soldiers enough that they don't need food stamps to feed their kids. It probably took some Pentagon committee a few million just to come up with this "hat plan".
 
sundog: I don't know when you retired CSM but I retired in 1986 with 21 yrs. Couldn't take it anymore. Things didn't have to work, they just had to look good. Form over function. Most of the Sergeants Major I delt with during my last 7 or 8 years worried only about their boss having a good bowel movement that day. What ever the boss said the CSM repeated it like a parrot. Most were good little lap dogs. Had very little respect for them. Had a CSM at my last tour in Germany that was a good NCO and had all our respect. He took care of his NCO's and was told to find another job because of this. His replacement? The lap dog they used for the mold to make all the other little lap dogs. The CSM of the Army is probably just one of the little puppies that kissed sufficient a$$ to receive the appointment to that position. I am not surprised by that kind of behavior by officers but it is disgusting from an NCO. Please don't take this as a flame directed toward you. George Dickel, MSG Retired
 
Is the official name the "garrison cap"? Never heard it called that! We always called it the "cun+ cap"!

Regards! DaMan
 
I expect this kind of nonsense out of Clinton and his appointees. What disturbs the h*ll outta me is military professionals at the command level will have to champion and implement the decision. Hear that? We have military types currently running the show supporting the stoopidity.

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Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Barry Goldwater--1964
 
Sundog,
While at Ft. Bragg, I had the most awesome CSM in the history of the Army (IMO). CSM Johnny J. Austin. That man scared the sh-- out of everyone. Every day, he'd see you, and he knew everybody's name. Even if he was too far to read the nametape, he'd holler at you by name. Even the cherries. It was his personal mission to send every EM to Ranger School. Maybe men like that used to be common, but things went to hell after he left. The Army went to hell shortly afterwards.
Regarding the beret, I have written my congressman, and my two senators. It disgusts me to no end. Self esteem is a false sense of worth. How about the army worry about a soldier's self-respect instead? Johnny J Austin gave us self respect. We earned it. The Beret doesn't go to men who finish a school. Anyone can fake it through a school. Ranger school was 72 days of self-deprivation, but didn't earn anyone the beret. Wearing the scroll was more important that wearing the tab. The scroll meant that you lived the life, whether or not you attended the school. This is why non-Ranger qualified personel get the beret (if they're in a ranger unit), and those Rangers in non-ranger units don't. It is why Airborne units wear the maroon beret (of course everybody in the 82nd is AB qualified, so it doesn't matter much), In SF, nolonger may a cook, or clerk wear the green beret. They require you to wear a tab to don the beret. Berets are earned. Like a silver star, or MOH, or your hard-earned stripes, you cannot just give everyone awards and medals and hope it will increase morale. All it does is tarnish the award, and the person wearing it.
I'm all for the 82nd going back to the garrison cap with glider patch. They shouldn't have their special insignia tarnished by a motor-pool hero.
 
I never got too hung up on berets, although our Pararescue, Security Forces, and Combat Controllers wear their own versions. But I understand the concept behind earning a badge, I'd be more than slightly offended if they arbitrarily started handing out the one I wear...

seniorwingssmall.jpg
 
Tamara - I was a "chairborne typist"... on LZ Nancy southwest of Quang Tri near the Laotion border for 10 months playing at personnel clerk for an artillery unit during the day and playing war at night, then Camp Evans for 2 months doin' the same, and Dong Ha Combat Base for 2 more. My typewriter was saved from numerous ground attacks, rockets, and mortars during those 14 months of '69-'70.

As for the beret, the L.A. Times indicates it will be a replacement for what it termed the "envelope" cap. Now that's funny! I never heard that cap referred to as anything other than a "c**t cap" in all my time in the Army.

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Safe shooting - PKAY
 
Tamara - I was a "chairborne typist"... on LZ Nancy southwest of Quang Tri near the Laotion border for 10 months playing at personnel clerk for an artillery unit during the day and playing war at night, then Camp Evans for 2 months doin' the same, and Dong Ha Combat Base for 2 more. My typewriter was saved from numerous ground attacks, rockets, and mortars during those 14 months of '69-'70.

As for the beret, the L.A. Times indicates it will be a replacement for what it termed the "envelope" cap. Now that's funny! I never heard that cap referred to as anything other than a "c**t cap" in all my time in the Army.

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Safe shooting - PKAY
 
Morale in the Army is probably at the lowest it has ever been in years. I suspect that the beret is seen as a means to help boost it.

Not that everybody in the Pentagon is enthralled with the present Administration. The Navy isn't too happy either. Never in the history of the US Navy has any of our ships (except captured) flown any nations flag higher than our own. It is said that Clinton, in his desire to visit Vietnam before his term of office expires, will abide by their laws and fly the Vietnamese flag above ours. A lot of swabbies are pissed and rightfully so.
 
Actually the Infantry would wear a powder blue, VERY similar to U.N. color, I dont like that idea at all! I'm too proud of being an infantryman and a Ranger maybe it's not a big deal. but I did enjoy the pride and respect I had when I walked across the post wearing black. maybe the tab is all anyone really needs
 
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