[OT] Headgear

Derek said:
Maybe once but not any more, base ball caps are everywhere, commerical 
companies stick logos on them and hand them out, other militaries use
them. 
A part of the uniform for the working day on board ship in the Royal 
Australian Navy is a baseball cap with the ship's name, etc on it.

[Tomb] Same on Canadian ships. And the Army has fairly nice Tilley hats
(Navy uses them too) for some deployments (Gulf War I think?). 

I suppose it's the down side to "Cultural Imperialism" :) everyone likes
to 
use a good idea. Just think how the French felt in the 30's (?) when
armies 
of the world adopted the beret ( with the advent of mechanization? ),
after 
all it was part of the french national dress.

[Tomb] I got a kick out of members of my primary reserve unit trading CF
berets while in New York with locals who (mistakenly) took them for US
Spec Forces. It was funny because when told they were Canadian and that
_every_ Canadian infantryman wore a green beret (not quite true...
balmorals and glengarrys are also worn), they were in awe. This is a
case where people associate what they know (US "green beret" Spec
Forces) with the uniform (green beret) rather than with the training,
selectivity of the force, etc. 

[Tomb] Also, Thank God we adopted the Beret (as opposed to the Kepi or
bearskins or those funny hussar hats).