So the black beret will be abandoned as the official headgear for the Army Combat Uniform, and the patrol cap will return:
A top issue was the beret, which became standard headgear on June 14, 2001. Then-Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki said the change was not about recruiting, retention or morale, but rather about “our excellence as soldiers, our unity as a force and our values as an institution.”
But soldiers during the past decade have bemoaned the beret, which takes two hands to put on and can't be carried in a pocket. Unlike the patrol cap, which has ventilated sun protection, the beret isn't even included on the deployment packing list.
While the cap is far more practical, the beret is definitely much cooler looking, so this says a lot for the soldiers' common sense -- "Hey, we're soldiers, so we are macho and don't have to worry about how we look." I've also noticed lately that a lot of Good Ole Boys who had taken to wearing cowboy hats have gone to caps. Maybe there's a wave of post-macho self-confidence breaking out there.
Nah.
The bad-asses who always wore berets -- Rangers, Special Forces and Airborne -- can continue to do so. Fitting.
