At some point the Army is going to run out of beret colors

[Box]

Everyone in 1ST SOCOM briefly wore green berets.
...not USSOCOM
1ST SOCOM

Before the SF Tab became a thing the differnce was the size of the flash. But organizational headgear was organizational headgear. Then there was a tab - so if you had a green beret and no tab then you were most likely a support guy.
Who gets to wear Tan?
...do guys in Regiment WITHOUT a tab have to wear something else?
No.
ORGANIZATIONAL HEADGEAR.
Organizational Headgear worked fine for EVERYONE a long ,long time.
Now everyone needs their own identity and a mood-beret to show how tactical they are feeling with their current MOS
...because muh' feelings

Put everyone in the 1st Special Forces Command in a fucking green beret and be done with it. If you arent wearing an SF Tab - guess what you probably arent an SF guy.
but you are in the organization and therefore you are part of the team.
"Team Guys" above all should recognze the importance of "the team" so why do we need MORE colors to further take away from the spirit of "the team"
...why dont the troops that completed SFBCC-S get a beret color? Shouldn't THEY be recognized too ??

Nothing is special any more.

 

[Devildoc]

Everyone in 1ST SOCOM briefly wore green berets.
...not USSOCOM
1ST SOCOM

Before the SF Tab became a thing the differnce was the size of the flash. But organizational headgear was organizational headgear. Then there was a tab - so if you had a green beret and no tab then you were most likely a support guy.
Who gets to wear Tan?
...do guys in Regiment WITHOUT a tab have to wear something else?
No.
ORGANIZATIONAL HEADGEAR.
Organizational Headgear worked fine for EVERYONE a long ,long time.
Now everyone needs their own identity and a mood-beret to show how tactical they are feeling with their current MOS
...because muh' feelings

Put everyone in the 1st Special Forces Command in a fucking green beret and be done with it. If you arent wearing an SF Tab - guess what you probably arent an SF guy.
but you are in the organization and therefore you are part of the team.
"Team Guys" above all should recognze the importance of "the team" so why do we need MORE colors to further take away from the spirit of "the team"
...why dont the troops that completed SFBCC-S get a beret color? Shouldn't THEY be recognized too ??

Nothing is special any more.

Which, @Gunz , which is why I am just fine with the Marines' unform: they are special unto themselves.

I have the same issue with the Navy and all of the "warfare" breast badges.

 

[Gunz]

The USMC did approve the Marine Special Operator breast Insignia in September 2016. Marine Special Operators Insignia

Yes sir, I remember when the Det One guys started showing up at MacDill...before they were called MARSOC. Then, a few years later, when they were finally allowed the "Raider" title, I was hoping the old Raider patch would be authorized wear.

 

[AWP]

Everyone in 1ST SOCOM briefly wore green berets.
...not USSOCOM
1ST SOCOM

Before the SF Tab became a thing the differnce was the size of the flash. But organizational headgear was organizational headgear. Then there was a tab - so if you had a green beret and no tab then you were most likely a support guy.
Who gets to wear Tan?
...do guys in Regiment WITHOUT a tab have to wear something else?
No.
ORGANIZATIONAL HEADGEAR.
Organizational Headgear worked fine for EVERYONE a long ,long time.
Now everyone needs their own identity and a mood-beret to show how tactical they are feeling with their current MOS
...because muh' feelings

Put everyone in the 1st Special Forces Command in a fucking green beret and be done with it. If you arent wearing an SF Tab - guess what you probably arent an SF guy.
but you are in the organization and therefore you are part of the team.
"Team Guys" above all should recognze the importance of "the team" so why do we need MORE colors to further take away from the spirit of "the team"
...why dont the troops that completed SFBCC-S get a beret color? Shouldn't THEY be recognized too ??

Nothing is special any more.

Wasn't that the "candy stripe" period where the non-SF soldiers wore a horizontal-bar version of the unit flash and SF-qualed had both the tab and the full flash?

 

[Devildoc]

Yes sir, I remember when the Det One guys started showing up at MacDill...before they were called MARSOC. Then, a few years later, when they were finally allowed the "Raider" title, I was hoping the old Raider patch would be authorized wear.

View attachment 30372

This has significant historical connotation. That would have been very cool.

 

[Box]

Wasn't that the "candy stripe" period where the non-SF soldiers wore a horizontal-bar version of the unit flash and SF-qualed had both the tab and the full flash?

Indeed - but when the candy stripe went away EVERYONE wore a full flash. When I first came in the Army, I spent two years as a support guy in the 7th SFG. The "old guys" didn't care that support guys wore Green Berets - what bugged them is that we had a full flash.

In fact, if we go back far enough we could even find candy-stripers serving on an ODA. Go back a tad bit and we could even find "full flash" qual'ed guys with a Quartermaster or some other odd career branch MOS because SF wasn't its own branch until the mid-1980s.
"Top Skanes" was the Mess Sgt in 7th SFG back in the 80's and was Ranger/SF Qualified.

Nobody really gave two shits about beret color back then. Most of the grief started when pregnant females from the 112th and 528th started parading around the Smoke Bomb Hill area in oversized green berets dropping halfway down the side of their head like a renegade pizza chef. That is when the old guys and the higher ups really started freaking out.

The "big" beret color change across 1st SOCOM was brought about when it was commanded by a gent that didn't have a Green Beret - Rangers still had black berets back then. I was already halfway through the SFQC and didn't really care WHAT color they were going to wear.
...and now we give everyone their own color - "Mood Berets" - mark my word - it wont be long and CA will throw a hissy fit for their own headgear now that Psyop's are getting a special color.

We should change the tab from "Special Forces" to one that just carries the abbreviation for "Professional Forces Focusing on Training" (PFFT)

 

[Ooh-Rah]

Most of the grief started when pregnant females from the 112th and 528th started parading around the Smoke Bomb Hill area in oversized green berets dropping halfway down the side of their head like a renegade pizza chef.

 

[Kraut783]

"it wont be long and CA will throw a hissy fit for their own headgear now that Psyop's are getting a special color."

I hope it doesn't come to that, lets just keep it the way it is.

 

[CQB]

What do Marines get? Nothing. No bling, no trinkets. Nothing on their uniform they haven't earned. No division patches, no regimental patches, no berets, no tabs, scrolls. If a Marine goes through the Ranger course, he can't wear the tab. If he goes through the Jungle Warfare course (as I did) he gets no Jungle Expert patch. Marine infantry train in air assault. We get no Air Assault badge. If there was a badge for amphibious assault...we wouldn't get one.

Don’t sweat it, there’s an old saying, “the more ornate the uniform the worse the soldier.”
As for beret colours; I’d go Ming blue or a delicate & very fetching mauve.

 

[AWP]

Indeed - but when the candy stripe went away EVERYONE wore a full flash. When I first came in the Army, I spent two years as a support guy in the 7th SFG. The "old guys" didn't care that support guys wore Green Berets - what bugged them is that we had a full flash.

In fact, if we go back far enough we could even find candy-stripers serving on an ODA. Go back a tad bit and we could even find "full flash" qual'ed guys with a Quartermaster or some other odd career branch MOS because SF wasn't its own branch until the mid-1980s.
"Top Skanes" was the Mess Sgt in 7th SFG back in the 80's and was Ranger/SF Qualified.

Nobody really gave two shits about beret color back then. Most of the grief started when pregnant females from the 112th and 528th started parading around the Smoke Bomb Hill area in oversized green berets dropping halfway down the side of their head like a renegade pizza chef. That is when the old guys and the higher ups really started freaking out.

The "big" beret color change across 1st SOCOM was brought about when it was commanded by a gent that didn't have a Green Beret - Rangers still had black berets back then. I was already halfway through the SFQC and didn't really care WHAT color they were going to wear.
...and now we give everyone their own color - "Mood Berets" - mark my word - it wont be long and CA will throw a hissy fit for their own headgear now that Psyop's are getting a special color.

We should change the tab from "Special Forces" to one that just carries the abbreviation for "Professional Forces Focusing on Training" (PFFT)

Ah, yes. Thank you for jogging my memory. Those days were before my time, but as a history junkie and former support guy I'd heard and read the stories. When I was in back in the 90's we even had 2-3 MACV-SOG vets, so their stories and perspectives were eye opening. Every single one of them cited pregnant females in green berets as the catalyst for change.

 

[Deleted member 2517]

instagram has been the biggest winner out of all this.

 

[11Bull]

The black beret is the only reason the 82nd has retention.
When I put that awful thing on my head at basic training I knew I should have joined the Marines.
When it was a Ranger thing it was cool though.

 

[Box]

So - why NOT a different color for Civil Affairs?
They have a selection and a culmination event?

Why NOT a different color for SOAR?
They don't just fly helicopters - they fly COOL helicopters.

The SFAB got a beret - and lord knows they earned it...
amIright?

Why doesn't everyone get a regimental shoulder cord as well?
Why should the Infantry be the only group of folks sporting a cool looking rope on their uniform?

It's really a confusing message being sent - in a profession that relies on uniformity as the cornerstone of its very existencial success - the US Army is in an all out sprint to embrace and encourage individualism.
In a unit that frequently bemoans the evils of the "everyone gets a trophy" cultural mindset - we go out of our way to make sure everyone gets a beret or a tab or a combat badge so they can feel "validated"



...so glad I am retired and no longer required to play along with the shit show that is continuously "transitioning" from a uniformed force into a costumed enterprise.


Say that out loud three times and see what it does to your ears - "enterprise"
It isnt a unit or a command anymore.
It is an "enterprise" now

Enterprise..................
.....................Enterprise
.....................Enterprise

 

[Brill]

...so glad I am retired and no longer required to play along with the shit show that is continuously "transitioning" from a uniformed force into a costumed enterprise.

Say that out loud three times and see what it does to your ears - "enterprise"
It isnt a unit or a command anymore.
It is an "enterprise" now

Enterprise..................
.....................Enterprise
.....................Enterprise

You appear to now be ready to transition to Federal service! All I’m going to need you to do is change your party affiliation on your voter registration card.

The IC is now an enterprise and agencies are now on campuses: compounds had scary connotations.

 

[“The Old Man”]

I distinctly remember having buds in AIT. Who were NG SF and wore the “candy flash”. They had already been to jump school. That was 1980 if memory serves.
My enlistment option was SF (H4) so I got to wear the unit patch. But I did not wear the beret. Because I was not assigned to a group.
Just my useless .02.

 

[BloodStripe]

The CSO's, Recon, Riggers, Air Crew, and pilot Marines won't agree with this, but I'm all for removing all devices from Marine Corps uniforms.

 

[DA SWO]

The CSO's, Recon, Riggers, Air Crew, and pilot Marines won't agree with this, but I'm all for removing all devices from Marine Corps uniforms.

Why?

Guys who've done more then the minimum should be recognized.

 

[Johca]

So the standard is a robust and vigorous PT test? As mission roles and actual capability utilization purpose differ among types of units and even among the career MOSs being connected to unit of assignment what is the common denominator human performance and human factors minimums for determining being there doing more than the minimums?

History of the Army's Black Beret

 

[Devildoc]

Why?

Guys who've done more then the minimum should be recognized.

It's the culture of the corps: you are already special; nothing should make you 'more' special.

My father, retired Marine, went to Ranger school. He also graduated first in his class from an Army intel school, the first Marine to do so. These are buried in his DD214; otherwise, you'd never know.

 

[Brill]

It's the culture of the corps: you are already special; nothing should make you 'more' special.

My father, retired Marine, went to Ranger school. He also graduated first in his class from an Army intel school, the first Marine to do so. These are buried in his DD214; otherwise, you'd never know.

Marines with gold jump wings and dive bubble kinda stand out...especially in Nerdistan.

amiright @Teufel ?