From my 26 May 2011 post about his next position as CJCS,
...good luck General Dempsey, congratulations!Wait for it .... wait for it ....
Before you leave as Army Chief of Staff - could you get rid of Shinseki's "everyone-gets-a-trophy" stoopid berets? Now get to work.
The U.S. Army said Monday that it was abandoning the beret, after a failed 10-year experiment.Not totally gone ...
The black beret, which proved deeply unpopular with American soldiers, will be replaced by a patrol cap for everyday wear, U.S. Army spokesman Col. Tom Collins said.
The move came after outgoing Army chief of staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, asked the Army's sergeant major "to go out and talk to soldiers across the force and see what was on their minds," Collins told AFP.
"One of the things that soldiers consistently brought up was the desire to wear the patrol cap as part of their duty uniform," he said.
The beret will still be part of the Army's dress uniform, but will no longer be worn in the field as soldiers complained that it was impractical, he said.... but I'll take it.
What is my scorecard? Multi-cam adoption: check. Beret gone: check.
Now, if I were only as successful with the Navy ....
Only problem I have is that he is doing this as he walks out as Chief of Staff. If this uniform nitpic has been hated since day 1 for the last ten years, then why not make the statement when you walk in the door?
ReplyDelete<span>He's only been CSA since 11 April 2011. I'd say he moved quickly. Interesting the official memo on AKO this morning was signed by SECARMY, not the CSA.
ReplyDeleteThe reaction I've seen among the troops is almost universally positive. We used to get a memo annually reminding that the beret is the preferred headgear, we are not authorized boonie hats (even if you can buy them at the AAFES store), and the Stetson is only for dining-ins by CAV regiments - if you have to remind people that often, there's a problem.</span>
Alas, a Prophet is without honor in his own house.
ReplyDeleteAfter 22 months serving with an Army unit I can say that as a squid I saw Shinseki's beanie as a disaster. Take a Brigade of Soldiers and line them up and you'd have as many different ways of wearing that beanie as you had Soldiers in formation. It couldn't be washed so you'd see so many filthy beanies on people's heads you thought it was a requirement for them to be taken to the motor pool to strain oil through before wear was authorized. Since I am a squid in ACU's I can only wear the patrol cap - it's washable and once you get past the Army's velcro fetish name badge on the back it's actually a nice cover. Plus you can work in it.
ReplyDelete<span>Given their track record, I almost would now expect TFU to be annoucing the adoption of berets for all Sailors.</span>
ReplyDeleteonly Troops in the US Army + berets = Black Rangers, Maroon Airborne, Green Berets.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me started on stetsons. By and large most Soldiers assigned to units with a Cavalry tradition are in favor of the regular wear of stetsons. SGMs on the other hand feel the need to issue policy letters, powerpoint slides and memos covering the places you can wear, can't wear, what you can put on, what you must take off of a piece of headgear that isn't even recognized by AR 670-1 (the Army Uniform Regulation). They regulate the crap out of it so Soldiers just give up and don't wear it...then they get mad when you didn't bring it downrange with you and don't have it for some dog and pony show that they dream up.
ReplyDeleteBring back the C-word cover (garrison cap).
ReplyDeleteTo hell with it. Issue kepis.
ReplyDelete<span>That's pi$s cutter in polite company</span>
ReplyDeleteExcellent news! And I just saw on the Fox News headlines that the Pentagon is going back to dress uniforms for everyday, which I think you've also been agitating for. It drives me crazy to see generals showing up to important occasions in rumpled field uniforms. All in all, a good day.
ReplyDeletePhib, you are a regular combat Carson Cresly.
ReplyDeletePerhaps they can move to LCS next.
nothing says cavalry like stetson-wearing bugler playing charge signal when moving out... (bonus point for movie geeks for scene spotting!)
ReplyDeleteApparently, the real mover behind this decision is the new Sergeant Major of the Army, SMA Chandler. And it is just about his first action.
ReplyDeleteWhat? No more bags for the Air Force?
ReplyDeleteSaw a bunch of them appear in Baghdad right after the invasion. Wouldn't surprise me if the Cav units actually had them during the invasion, but MOPP precluded their wear.
ReplyDeleteHey now. If you read the itty bitty, really tiny, small print of the board rules, you'll find that they prohibit people from being mean about the Air Force in comments to me. So, now you know. ;)
ReplyDeleteFore and aft cap to your mother and the Commodores's wife.
ReplyDeleteThere will always be bags for the Air Force. The stick actuators will concoct some "mission essential" reason to wear them. (cue yet another repost of that picture of the Guard outfit with the plump O-6 and five different uniforms...)
ReplyDeleteThe height of the bag-fetish came in the mid-90's when there was (apparently) serious talk of having us comm types wear blue bags in the Network Operations Centers, at the same time we decided the network was a "weapons system" (don't get me started on OPTN...). Hell, maybe now that 33SX comm has become 17DX "Cyber Ops", the idea will resurface. ((facepalm))
I wasn't there right after the invason but I had mine with me there in 2004 and again in 2006-07 and took it with me when I flew missions over Baghdad.
ReplyDelete