Re: Army Ditches Black Beret
For those interested, particularly those who continue to espouse false history on how the Rangers had "their" beret stolen, check out this link:
http://www.army.mil/features/beret/beret.htm Quote from above link:<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">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.
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Also, I know from personal interviews that Cav units on Fort Campbell and elsewhere were wearing the black beret w/red over white flash prior to the 1975 policy change that officialized the wear of the black beret by the Rangers. Today, Airborne Cavalry units wear a similar red/white flash on their maroon berets.
The old Cav ones looked like this, though I am not sure if they typically wore rank on them as well.