Topic: Dark Blue Berets return

[Journeyman]

Those of us who took pride would iron the hat into shape ...

Well, it is  Pride month;  I'm sure you looked lovely.   

[FJAG]

Well, it is  Pride month;  I'm sure you looked lovely.   

I looked gorgeous. 

See post above.

I rest my case.

 

[RomeoJuliet]

I looked gorgeous. 

See post above.

I rest my case.

 

Sporting the bush cap, no you did not.


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[FJAG]

Sporting the bush cap, no you did not.


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[Target Up]

Despite what some late '90s and early '00s pop stars may want you to think, no one looked good in a bucket hat. 

No one.

The first thing to get modded was hacking out that stupid ear warmer flap. Then, you folded a crease into the crown so it sat flat, it looked far less like a ten pin ball with green towel over it.

[RomeoJuliet]

The first thing to get modded was hacking out that stupid ear warmer flap. Then, you folded a crease into the crown so it sat flat, it looked far less like a ten pin ball with green towel over it.

Wearing mine this summer as OPFOR



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[Good2Golf]

That was the way to do it to not look like an idiot.

[FJAG]

For those youngsters who do not understand "Robin Hood" style, THIS is full-on Robin Hood mode and was the way we in 2 and 3 RCHA were required to wear combat caps except when in the field.



 

[RomeoJuliet]

For those youngsters who do not understand "Robin Hood" style, THIS is full-on Robin Hood mode and was the way we in 2 and 3 RCHA were required to wear combat caps except when in the field.



 

Thanks for the bad memories:)


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[Dimsum]

For those youngsters who do not understand "Robin Hood" style, THIS is full-on Robin Hood mode and was the way we in 2 and 3 RCHA were required to wear combat caps except when in the field.

And to think someone actually did that and said to themselves "I look good"   

[Old Sweat]

And to think someone actually did that and said to themselves "I look good"   

Excessive foot stamping, combined with the fumes from Capo and Brasso will, in time, rot the brain.

[Dimsum]

Excessive foot stamping...will, in time, rot the brain.

So, concussion through the body?   

[Fred Herriot]

If people are proposing new beret colours for the Army, here's an idea for airmobile infantry/cavalry.  It's noticeably different from the airborne maroon and special forces tan, but unique.

(And I apologize.  I took the picture from my iPhone, but it won't make it stand up)

[Dan M]

If people are proposing new beret colours for the Army, here's an idea for airmobile infantry/cavalry.  It's noticeably different from the airborne maroon and special forces tan, but unique.

(And I apologize.  I took the picture from my iPhone, but it won't make it stand up)

Fixed that for you.

[daftandbarmy]

Fixed that for you.

That is remarkably like the Balmoral most Scottish (Militia Infantry) units wear in the field.

I love mine... nice and warm with a solid fit all the way around the brim so it soaks up the sweat much better than a beret.

[Fred Herriot]

Yeah, it's the way the person who made it for my little lady there makes them.  Still, it's easy to imagine it being like the standard berets we wear/once wore, eh?

[Castus]

For those youngsters who do not understand "Robin Hood" style, THIS is full-on Robin Hood mode and was the way we in 2 and 3 RCHA were required to wear combat caps except when in the field.



 

Was this for garrison wear as well, replacing beret?

[daftandbarmy]

Yeah, it's the way the person who made it for my little lady there makes them.  Still, it's easy to imagine it being like the standard berets we wear/once wore, eh?

If she makes adult sized versions, she might get some business!

[FJAG]

Was this for garrison wear as well, replacing beret?

At this time we had gone away from berets in the field. From inception you wore the combat cap (hat) with combat dress. The beret was only worn with Greens and we had a baseball cap to wear with work dress. From what I recall, even with Greens, the primary headdress was the peaked cap.

I'm trying to recall when the beret came in for wearing with combats in the field but have lost track of the time only remembering that many of us didn't like it because the combat cap was much more practical and you didn't have to worry about it getting dirty in the field (just throw it in the washing machine) I know I wore my old combat cap as long as I could get away with it and resurrected it for field wear much later in my career with the legal branch (as per the picture further up in the thread)

I think that originally the combat cap was withdrawn from service some time in the mid 1970s in favor of the beret but was reintroduced a few years later. I know that I've seen pictures of them being worn until the late 1990's. The original caps were a little bit different in that the cloth was a lighter weight cloth and the brim just a tad smaller than the later version. If I remember correctly, the early version didn't have the dopey earflaps either. It was difficult to turn the later version into a decent looking Robin Hood style as it was too stiff and the brim didn't fold up quite right and to my recollection it was mostly worn bucket style.

[dapaterson]

I think that originally the combat cap was withdrawn from service some time in the mid 1970s in favor of the beret but was reintroduced a few years later. I know that I've seen pictures of them being worn until the late 1990's. The original caps were a little bit different in that the cloth was a lighter weight cloth and the brim just a tad smaller than the later version. If I remember correctly, the early version didn't have the dopey earflaps either. It was difficult to turn the later version into a decent looking Robin Hood style as it was too stiff and the brim didn't fold up quite right and to my recollection it was mostly worn bucket style.

As I recall, i wore mine into the early 2000s, until I was issued CADPAT everything.

Mine remains in my closet, ready to be returned when I finally release, in order to make junior Sup Techs in clothing stores say "What the hell is that?"

[Loachman]

Try turning in one of the old black air mattresses that had not been used for about twenty-five years (since I bought my Thermorest pad, long before the knock-offs were issued) and had turned crispy.

[Dimsum]

The beret was only worn with Greens and we had a baseball cap to wear with work dress.

So we *were* able to wear a ball cap with operational dress back in the day?  Those same people thinking it's unprofessional (except when the RCN does it) now?

 

[FJAG]

So we *were* able to wear a ball cap with operational dress back in the day?  Those same people thinking it's unprofessional (except when the RCN does it) now?

 

I wouldn't call it "operational dress". It looked like what a gas station attendant wore back in the days when they had them and was supposed to be for "working" around the base--an almost coverall outfit. Unfortunately we started gussying it up so as to "look sharp" in it which made it impractical as a true "working" outfit. I mostly wore mine in an office environment where we also wore the pants bloused with combat boots and linden green short sleeved shirts (instead of the blueish-green one). Subsequently we wore the Corcoran boots with work dress pants and the coat of many colours as "Garrison Dress"

It got quite confusing for a while.

 

[Blackadder1916]

So we *were* able to wear a ball cap with operational dress back in the day?  Those same people thinking it's unprofessional (except when the RCN does it) now?

 

This is a CWO in 1972 in work dress and wearing the ball cap. Cap badges were not supposed to be worn on the ball cap, but there was a lot of "gussying it up" in those early days in an attempt to make it recognizable as a military uniform.  The ball cap did not last long;  the "Elmer Fudd" cap (a winter version of the cap) lasted much longer and was, IMO, a useful piece of kit.



The photo is from https://www.armycadethistory.com/Argonaut/Argonaut_camp_RSMs.htm

[Good2Golf]

As I recall, i wore mine into the early 2000s, until I was issued CADPAT everything.

Mine remains in my closet, ready to be returned when I finally release, in order to make junior Sup Techs in clothing stores say "What the hell is that?"

Yup, it was still issued while OG107 was worn.   Of all the funky late-70s/early-80s stuff I returned to Clo Strs on release, I felt worst about giving back my ‘boonie cap’ (what I called it, due to a cousin in the 82nd calling it that the first time he visited me on base and saw it...he got me hooked on a woobie and real rain gear too, at a time when Canada just had that think rubber-coated crap rain gear that smelled like a cross between puke and dog crap...)

I also returned a steel pot helmet painted black with white ‘BDF’ underneath the cam cover, a fully-functioning Black Betty that Loachman refers to (but mine was in awesome shape - loved it!) and the piece de resistance was a couple of the old OG107 intermediate coats with the corduroy collar. 

At least they let me keep my vibram’d Mk. IIIs.