COLUMBIA, S.C. — It’s hot, it doesn’t keep the sun out of your eyes, and you need two hands and a mirror to make sure it’s on straight. After 10 years of complaints, the Army is all but ditching the black wool beret and allowing soldiers to go back to the old brimmed patrol cap for their everyday duties.
“It’s the military equivalent of being able to wear a baseball cap to work,” said Col. Pete Brooks of the South Carolina Army National Guard. “Wearing the beret in 100-degree South Carolina heat was like wearing a wet piece of black wool on your head.”
The Army ordered the change to take effect Tuesday, which marked the service’s 236th birthday.
Elite units in the 1.1 million-member Army will continue to wear their colored berets as a mark of honor — green for Special Forces, tan for Rangers, maroon for airborne troops. But from now on, other soldiers will have to pull out the black beret only for special events. The Associated Press
