Slap in the face to America's fighting elite?

[Rhino]

Justaguy
Forum Host
posts: 61
(2/10/01 2:02:06 am)
| Del All Slap in the face to America's fighting elite?
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Army's Black Beret In Controversy

By ELLIOTT MINOR, Associated Press Writer

FORT BENNING, Ga. (AP) - Around this home of the glory-covered Army Rangers, the black beret is a badge of honor recognized even by children.

The distinctive headgear, tilted in a way that gives those who wear it a fearsome swagger, is worn only by the Rangers, a small, elite force that is tapped for some of the most hazardous and demanding missions.

But starting this summer, as part of an Army push to boost morale, every soldier, right down to buck private, will wear the black beret, regardless of whether they work in the motor pool or lead commando raids.

Emmett Hiltibrand, a retired Ranger and Vietnam veteran from nearby Columbus, Ga., said most Rangers don't like it but have been ordered not to discuss it.

``The Rangers are not Rangers just to wear the beret,'' said Hiltibrand, president of the 75th Ranger Regiment Association. ``They are Rangers because they are a different cut of cloth. The Rangers have made the black beret famous and it belongs to them.''

The decision came from Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki, who hoped the black beret would be a symbol of unity that would show that ``soldiers of the world's best army are committed to making ourselves even better.'' The move takes effect starting on June 14, the Army's birthday.

All Army soldiers will wear the black berets with dress or casual uniforms, or with combat fatigues while in garrison. In the field, they will continue to wear the baseball-style cap or Kevlar helmet. The beret will replace the current fold-up ``overseas'' cap, the saucer-like ``service'' cap, and the baseball-style cap.

Currently, only three types of units are authorized to wear berets: Airborne units wear maroon berets, Special Forces wear green (and are known famously as the Green Berets) and Rangers wear black.

An editorial in the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer said: ``Issuing a beret to every soldier who is sworn into the Army is like putting a Cadillac hood ornament on a Pinto.''

The 2,000-member Ranger force is one of the most storied units in U.S. history. They are often used for missions that require lightning strikes.

The Rangers were the first soldiers to scale the cliffs at Omaha Beach on D-Day. They parachuted into Panama in 1989 and went to Somalia in 1992-93. During that mission, 18 Americans - including six Rangers from Fort Benning - were killed in a failed attempt to capture a Somali warlord.

Rangers are put through punishing training that includes five-mile runs at six to seven minutes per mile, 15- to 30-mile marches with 90-pound rucksacks and at least one parachute jump each week. They practice urban warfare in mock villages.

Two former Rangers, Dave Scott of Bozeman, Mont., and David Neilsen of Leesburg, Va., are marching 700 miles from Fort Benning to Washington to protest the wider use of the black beret.

``If everyone is issued a black beret without meeting the Ranger standards, it will completely diminish the value of the beret,'' Scott said.

Along Victory Drive, a strip of businesses that caters to the 100,000 soldiers and family members at Fort Benning, some ordinary soldiers said they liked the idea of wearing berets and believe they will boost morale, but wish the general had picked a color other than black.

``It's like we're taking away something they worked hard to get,'' said Staff Sgt. Dimitri Crowell, a transportation specialist.

Just off the post is Ranger Joe's Barber Shop, where soldiers go for ``high-and-tight'' haircuts.

Ranger Joe's also has a store that sells uniforms, knives, arctic sleeping bags, glow-in-the-dark watches and knives. One of the store's specialties is a pre-shaped beret, steamed and shaved of fuzz, that adds more panache than a standard-issue beret. The store already has the black berets with a blue patch that ordinary soldiers will wear.

Earl Brannon, 60, said he and the eight other barbers at Ranger Joe's called their congressman to object to the black beret plan.

The Baltimore Ravens ``worked all year to win the Super Bowl and get a ring,'' he said. ``Why not give the whole National Football League a ring?''



absinthe
Gold Star Member
posts: 83
(2/10/01 2:44:47 am)
| Del
uh..ok
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Apparently the author of this forgot to mention that tankers had the black beret first. If he's going to report its history...he should at least do it accurately. Seeing how any scrub in a ranger unit gets to wear it, (as is the case), Their dissappointment is more like a whine.


absinthe
Gold Star Member
posts: 86
(2/10/01 3:10:47 am)
| Del
Re: uh..ok
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I forgot to add this..

www.rjsmith.com/reunion-2000/beret-auth.html (http://www.rjsmith.com/reunion-2000/beret-auth.html)

the origional ranger beret was brown anyway...not black. see my post on 'Patriots in uniform'.


EagleTed
Forum Host
posts: 90
(2/10/01 7:26:03 am)
| Del Re: uh..ok
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Why not give them all a Stetson.


Life, Liberty, Property


Jack Rail
Gold Star Member
posts: 66
(2/10/01 3:33:32 pm)
| Del I just don't get it
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Near as I can tell, there was no building consensus for this move within the Army. It just came out of nowhere (well, Shinseki's head). Yet folks I know who have worked with Shinseki say he's a level-headed guy. This decision doesn't support that thinking.

There was no need for this silly policy, which you can bet will be reversed by a future CofS; but I feel no pain for the Rangers. The first guy quoted got it right. You get to liking and identifying with distinctive uniform items and it's irksome to change for piddly reasons, but the beret doesn't make a Ranger -- a Ranger makes (made) the beret.

I just wonder if Hillary Clinton owns stock in a beret-making company.


Stranglehold
New Member
posts: 4
(2/19/01 11:04:00 am)
| Del Re: I just don't get it
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Anyone who is SF or Former-SF will tell you they are a Special Forces Trooper, a Green Beret is a hat. And it is a hat that sucks actually, not waterproof, etc. But they love their Beret because they have to go through Jump Qual. and SF Qual. to earn it. And in that, lies the rub, right? It is an earned thing and those liberals in the military and the politicians that goad them or that the Lib-Mil Personnel wish to impress don't understand a damned thing about earning anything, from a living to anything else.

If you see a "Green Beret," they will have an SF Patch and Jump Wings, they may or may not have a Ranger Tab, because that is a separate Qualification. Ranger Qual. is rather tough...

I think this goes back to the dimbulb Army "Woman" who suggested that the Marine Corps Dress Blues should be done away with. Another Clintonite.

Why not just have a damned Raspberry Beret like the "Prince" song? There, anyone that goes in the Army can be as gay as they wish, as long as they wear the little French Hat with a pretty color.

Makes you wanna geef in your soup.


"Sometimes you wanna get higher, sometimes you gotta start low, some people think they're gonna die someday...I got news, you never got to go."


absinthe
Forum Host
posts: 115
(2/19/01 8:22:45 pm)
| Del
they are different
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Stranglehold...who are these Mil-Libs that champion the beret policy change? I've served with many bleeding heart libs and others who were in for the college money. As much as they liked to complain about the army they volenteered for I never heard of support comming from them.

The main reason I don't support it is that I was sick of seeing skinny out of shape PAO pukes wearing the red Airborne beret just because they were in the unit. I've seen REMF logpac drivers wearing the black one because they were attached to a forward unit. There have been a lot of people wearing these berets that never earned them. I'm not aware of any unit orders that authorize non SF pers to wear the green. The same can't be said for black and red.

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On a side note...I was thinking about the 2 Rangers marching in protest. UCMJ allows for the involvement, participation, and activism in political/intrest groups during down time unless it is in protest to the directive of ones chain of command to include civilian leaders[i


The Sonarman
Forum Host
posts: 367
(2/20/01 8:12:50 am)
| Del
Re: they are different
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Howdy Stranglehold. Speaking as one of the forum hosts, welcome to the party.
Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum (Epitoma rei militaris, Prologue, 3)


absinthe
Forum Host
posts: 129
(2/21/01 10:40:23 pm)
| Del
Re: they are different
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rather than edit my last post..I'll go ahead and say I misunderstood the 2 marchers. I was informed that neither are Active so the participation clauses dont apply.

[DesertFox]

"Slap in the face to America's fighting elite" is something of an overstatement. This post is just to keep the record straight.

The Rangers are tough. They deserve the accolades they get. But they are by no means America's only "fighting elite."

They're elite on the tasks they specialize in. But they'd be useless on a conventional armor battlefield or in an armored cav unit, where their equipment and training are at odds with the type of battle being fought.

They'd be helpful but not "elite" deep in the enemy rear, training indigenous forces, where the "elites" are the SF.

Rangers are used for such tasks as rescue-the-ambassador, blow-the-bridge-behind-the-lines, take-out-a-specific-bad-guy, and hit-and-run ambushes and long range recon in terrain unsuitable for mechanized or armored warfare. In these types of warfare they are indeed elite.

Few Rangers spend all or even most of their careers in Ranger units, because the regimen is just too demanding. As men get to hankering for wives and families, they opt for more conventional work.

[DesertFox]

Here's Shinseki hizself in a November message concerning the beret:


CSA SENDS - THE ARMY BLACK BERET

The Army must change to maintain its relevance for the evolving strategic environment. To provide our Nation strategic options for mastering the complexity of that environment, The Army committed, in its Vision a year ago, that "as technology allows, we will begin to erase the distinctions between heavy and light forces." In the United States Army, the beret has become a symbol of excellence of our specialty units. Soldiers of the Special Forces, our airborne units, and the Ranger Regiment have long demonstrated such excellence through their legendary accomplishments and unmatched capabilities. Their deployability, versatility, and agility are due, in part, to their organizational structure and equipment. But more significant is their adaptiveness, which keeps them ready to take on any mission, anytime, anyplace.

Today, the distinctive emblem of these units is the wear of the beret. But, over the past 50 years, berets have been worn by a variety of Army formations--airborne, armor, cavalry, infantry, ranger, special forces, and others. The black beret was being worn by formations Army-wide, when it was approved by the Army for wear by the Ranger Regiment in 1975. Today, it remains one of our symbols of excellence in The Army as reflected by its wear in the Ranger Regiment.

We are transforming today's most powerful Army in the world from a Cold War Legacy Force to an Objective Force with early entry capabilities that can operate jointly, without access to fixed forward bases, and still have the power to slug it out and win campaigns decisively (Intent, June 1999). This Transformation will correct the condition in today's Legacy Force where our heavy forces are too heavy, and our light forces lack staying power. To master this strategic transition and to establish the parameters for decisiveness in the 21st century, The Army must become adaptive to be strategically responsive and dominant across the entire spectrum of military operations.

To symbolize The Army's commitment to transforming itself into the Objective Force, The Army will adopt the black beret for wear Army-wide. It is not about increasing recruiting; we achieved our recruiting target of 180,000 recruits last year--without a beret. It is not about retention; for the second year in a row, we exceeded our reenlistment goal by a wide margin--without a beret. It is not about morale; Soldiers are ready today to go into harm's way. It is about our excellence as Soldiers, our unity as a force, and our values as an institution.

Effective 14 June 2001, the first Army birthday in the new millennium, the black beret will become standard wear in The Army--Active and Reserve Components. Sergeant Major of the Army Tilley will lead the effort to craft implementing guidelines, including indoctrination standards that all Soldiers will meet before they are authorized to wear the beret. Special operations and airborne units will retain their distinctive berets.

Soldiers remain the centerpiece of our formation. We will march into the next millennium as The Army--the strategic joint force of choice for the 21st century.

SHINSEKI http://www.army.mil/beret/

[DesertFox]

Same URL as the above.

A Short History of the Use of Berets in the U.S. Army

· Green Beret. During World War II, US Army Special Forces personnel wore a variety of headgear during their operations as members of special operations units. Those who served with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Europe often adopted whatever headgear their French or Belgian Resistance compatriots wore. This was often a beret, since many of the OSS teams served in France. The beret, worn in a variety of styles and colors, showed even up on OSS personnel in the Far East. Many of the first members of the US Army 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), formed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in June 1952, were veterans of the OSS. Berets of various types and colors began being worn unofficially as early as 1954 on the unit's field exercises in Germany and at Fort Bragg and Camp Mackall, North Carolina. The color green was favored because it was reminiscent of the World War II British Commando-type beret that had been adopted by the Commandos on 24 October 1942. After testing in 1955, the 77th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Bragg specified, still unofficially, that its soldiers wear a beret of Canadian Army design in rifle green. Special Forces personnel in Europe in the 10th Special Forces Group (A) simultaneously adopted a green beret, even wearing it publicly with the Army class A uniform, despite the lack of official approval. Special Forces troopers first wore the green beret publicly at Fort Bragg during a retirement parade in 1955. In 1957, however, the Fort Bragg post commander banned the wearing of the beret. This ban was reversed on 25 September 1961 by DA Message 578636, which authorized the green beret as the official Army headgear to be worn by Special Forces. The first official wearing of the newly authorized green beret was at a Special Forces demonstration staged for President John F. Kennedy at Fort Bragg on 12 October 1961. President Kennedy was instrumental in the approval by DA of the green beret for US Special Forces. Currently, all Special Forces-qualified soldiers wear the green beret with the authorized flash of their Special Forces Group.

· Black Beret. The tradition of wearing black berets began with armored units. In 1924 the British Royal Tank Regiment adopted the first modern military beret, based on the Scottish highland bonnet and French Bretonne beret. The regiment selected the headgear for its practicality--brimless for use with armored vehicle fire control sights and black to hide grease stains. In the US Army, HQDA policy from 1973 through 1979 permitted local commanders to encourage morale-enhancing distinctions, and Armor and Armored Cavalry personnel wore black berets as distinctive headgear until CSA Bernard W. Rogers banned all such unofficial headgear in 1979. Rangers received authorization through AR 670-5, Uniform and Insignia, 30 January 1975, to wear black berets. Previously, locally authorized black berets had been worn briefly by the 10th Ranger Company (Airborne), 45th Infantry Division, during the Korean War before their movement to Korea; Company F (LRP), 52d Infantry, 1st Infantry Division, in 1967 in the Republic of Vietnam; Company H (Ranger), 75th Infantry, 1st Cavalry Division, in 1970 in the Republic of Vietnam; and Company N (Ranger), 75th Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade, in 1971 in the Republic of Vietnam.

· Maroon Beret. The maroon beret has been the international symbol of airborne forces since its selection for use by the British Parachute Regiment in 1942. The color reportedly was chosen by novelist Daphne Du Maurier, the wife of the British airborne commander, MG Frederick Browning. In 1943 MG Browning granted a battalion of the US Army's 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment honorary membership in the British Parachute Regiment and authorized them to wear British maroon berets. US Army advisers to Vietnamese airborne forces wore the Vietnamese maroon beret during the Vietnam War. In addition, after HQDA encouraged the unofficial use of morale-enhancing headgear in 1973, airborne forces chose to wear the maroon international parachute beret until CSA Rogers' ban of all such unofficial headgear in 1979. On 28 November 1980, however, HQDA revised its ban on berets to authorize airborne organizations to wear the maroon beret.

· Brown Beret. While HQDA's morale-enhancing order was in force from 1973 to 1979, there was a proliferation of berets, in a rainbow of hues. In Alaska the 172d Infantry Brigade adopted an olive or brown beret. Members of the brigades 1/60th Infantry wore their brown beret with a light blue flash insignia. It was soon dropped when the Army standardized headgear policy in 1979 to limit beret wear to Special Forces, Airborne, and Ranger units.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

very informative desertfox..

I must point out, however, that a units commander can still designate headgear. I've found this to be at BDE or DIV level for the most part.

[DesertFox]

Absinthe, maybe I'm misreading you. To my knowledge, no unit commander can invent his own headgear. He can decide which among the already-approved headgear his troops will wear on a given day.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by DesertFox:
Absinthe, maybe I'm misreading you. To my knowledge, no unit commander can invent his own headgear. He can decide which among the already-approved headgear his troops will wear on a given day.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Invent?..no. I seem to have mistated my comment. I was intending on stating your last sentence. I've found that LTC's in command position of TF's can and do designate headgear, (pre-existing), based on different mission objectives.

Of course we all see the point in letting SOCCE, MI and other similar groups to wear whatever they feel is needed.

Here's the initial incedent that first got me started. Several years ago, we had some PAO people assigned to our TF from some REMF unit. They weren't by any means Airborne. Because they needed flexability for their mission, they got assigned to an observations unit tasked to us (Airborne). They went on to bitch and moan that they needed the red beret and eventually wore it... even when everyone else was still wearing Kevlars!. They even got so pompous that they took to wearing them at live-fire ranges.

I ask you, at what point have you ever heard of a bunch of lower EM's being allowed to goto a live fire range without proper headgear, repetedly?

guess I got a little carried away there....

[ 04-08-2001: Message edited by: absinthe ]

[ 04-08-2001: Message edited by: absinthe ]

[DesertFox]

Well, that never happened in MY Army. images/icons/smile.gif

The instance you cite is another example of demoralization and lowered standards in today's Army. Which can be summed up as lack of leadership.