Berets Part I

by **sid guttridge** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 12:03 am

Hi Reb,

To go completely off thread - I hate berets!

They look like a cow turd sliding off the top of one's head. If you look carefully they even have the same concentric rings as a cow turd.

Instead to renaming French Fries as Freedom Fries, the US should have struck back at French cultural influence by banning berets! (I was about to suggest a return to the kepi worn by both sides in the US Civil War, but on second thoughts that would only compound the problem.)

Cheers,

Sid.

by **Reb** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 6:07 am

Why Sid - before I joined up I always used to wear a cow turd on my head!

I liked the beret myself but for the bush usually stuck with my lucky baseball cap. (to the disgust of certain anal types in the chain of command)

But my beret is still with me - when I xferred to RAR I sewed my RhACR insignia on the green beret. My wife surprised me by wearing it to our wedding!

I guess the debate will go on for ever - to some, like me, the beret is the obvious military headgear - to others, perhaps with more sense, the forage cap variants are preffered.

Maybe we should all compromise on the baseball cap! Doesn't blow off the head, doesn't constrict blood to the brain, and DOES offend officious superiors!

cheers
Reb

by **Kitsune** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 9:08 am

[OFFTOPIC]I must say, I hate barrets as well always having preferred the simple fieldcap. But according to some myth, barrets do look good. I really wonder who has managed to convince so many military organisations of that nonsense.[/OFFTOPIC]

by **phylo_roadking** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 11:05 am

welll..... with a beret you pull it on and flatten it to one side; with a cap or field cap in modern, peace-time armies you have angles of brims, position, all THAT anally-retentive rubbish LOL

by **sid guttridge** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 5:22 am

Hi Guys,

I have started a new thread on berets in the uniform section, as I fear I have contibuted to diverting a good thread here.

Cheers,

Sid.

by **John W. Howard** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 1:09 pm

Hello Gents:
Sid, you beat me to the punch!! This technically challenged moderator was going to split the thread, but you started a new one!!! Still, I don't think two beret threads will hurt!! Best wishes.

by **Hans** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 4:01 pm

Personally I prefer the slouch hat and was mortified when I transferred to an armoured unit and was required to wear a beret. Still, there's next to no maintenance and you can always wrap your sandwiches in it.

- Hans

by **Paddy Keating** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 5:12 pm

Well, I suppose that when you haven't worn a red beret, you might feel that way...

by **Hans** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 8:29 pm

Paddy,

I suppose you get attached to whatever you wear first. To wear THE red beret, well that's one thing, you have to earn it. For an infantry anti-tank commander to lead armoured vehicles, and in a black beret was quite another, it simply came with the vehicles.

- Hans

by **sid guttridge** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 4:57 am

Hi Guys,

It doesn't matter what the colour of the beret, the effect is always the same - a cow pat sliding off one side of the head.

Why was it adopted? I presume we have the French chasseurs alpins to blame for it originally, but who was the practical joker who allowed the infection to spread amongst the Anglo-Saxon and other armies?

Cheers,

Sid.

by **Tom Houlihan** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 5:16 am

sid guttridge wrote:... but who was the practical joker who allowed the infection to spread amongst the Anglo-Saxon and other armies?

An Anglophobic agent provocateur? In deep, deep cover?

Cover! Get it???

I kill me!

by **Reb** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 10:42 am

Hans

i wouldn't say the black beret comes with the equipment. I was not allowed to wear until I completed some pretty serious training and had in effect - earned it!

However - in the Rhodesian Army the loyalty point was less to the beret than to stable belt in regimental colours. That too, had to be earned!

My happiest moment was when I realized my armour belt was a chick magnet!

Struck me as odd but what the hell!

cheers
Reb

by **Hans** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 2:34 am

Hi Reb,

Mine just came with the equipment. I was so naive about armoured vehicles [I looked at them as prey] I didn't even realise why it took two men to carry a battery. When I lost the front of my uniform to battery acid I learned a very valuable lesson and my men thought I was a "good bloke" for trying to show them how it was done. Anyway I learned, but the black beret came "before" the wisdom.

- Cheers - Hans

by **Reb** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 7:14 pm

Hans

Sounds to me like you earned it anyway brother!

cheers
Reb

by **Hans** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 7:56 pm

Reb,

Lucky the acid only ate the uniform!

- Hans

Berets Part I

Damn!!

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