Re: KNOCKING THE ARMY-Conversion of NAC w/berets to ball caps

--- Scott Case <tgunner@hotmail.com> wrote:

> As an US Army vet I'll toss my .02 in...

You and everybody else on the damn planet.
 
> I think the beret is stupid.

>From a practicality point, you're damn right.

So is starching your BDUs.

So is spit-shining your boots.

So is that ridiculous way we roll our sleeves.

Guess what?  Army uniforms are NOT designed with
practicality as a driving consideration.
 
> The old ball cap was a very distinctive and unique
> part of the army uniform. 
> When you saw a group of NATO soldiers it was pretty
> easy to pick out the 
> Americans by the 'ball caps'. In addition, the cap

It's still easy--we're the ones with flashes with
crests on 'em.	Everyone else uses cap badges by them
selves.  The French and some other nations wear their
berets differently than we do also.  Oh, and everyone
uses different patterns of BDU.

> points back to the Army's 
> history- remember the Civil War? 

The BDU cap is NOT a Civil War era forage cap.

>Vietnam too...It

Uhh. . . and in the American Revolution we wore
tricorns.  Want that back?

> also points to the 
> American people and the national pastime- baseball.

No it doesn't--the BDU cap is not the same as a
baseball cap.

> Berets were saved for the 'special' troops who went

When was this?	Oh, post 1980.	20 years isn't a
tradition, it's a fad.	Before that (1960s and 70s)
everyone and their second cousin wore berets.

> through a lot to earn 
> the right to wear the thing, unlike other militaries

Bullshit.  The black beret had to do with being
ASSIGNED to a Ranger unit, which is at the whim of
PERSCOM.  I've known FISTers with nothing but jump
wings who have black berets from the time they were
assigned to Ranger bats.  On the other hand, most
people who went to Ranger school never were authorized
black berets because they never were in a Ranger unit.

> around the world who 
> give the things away as part of the uniform. The

Yeah, the US doesn't have things like Unit Citations,
Fourrageres, Infantry distinctions, etc. that are
handed out as part of being part of a certain MOS or
in a certain unit.

> "Army of One" concept wants 
> to glamorize the individual-guess it slipped past

Not quite true--there's a nuance to that ad campaign
that slips past me as well, but then again most people
on the list aren't in the target demographic.

> the PR types that came up 
> with that that the beret was an individual award in
> and of its self.

No, it was a unit distinction.
 
I might make one or two other comments on-list, but
this is really an off-list topic, and furthermore one
I'm sick of.  

It boils down to one simple fact:  Right, Wrong, or
Indifferent, Army Regulations are written by
committees of officers at the direction of general
officers.  In this case, the Chief of Staff issued a
direct order, and it's getting a little old hearing
everyone whining that those of us who wear the damn
thing somehow aren't "good enough" to wear what was
originally a French woman's hat, which was adopted in
black first by the Whermacht because black is
Panzertruppen branch color and they wanted a beret
because you can wear radio headphones over it.

John

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