US Army berets - blue, black, green, maroon, tan...

[seanmc1114]

Light blue beret worn by members of the 1st Battalion 5th cavalry 1st Cavalry Division early 70's when stationed at Fort Hood after returning from Vietnam.

[patches]

Light blue beret worn by members of the 1st Battalion 5th cavalry 1st Cavalry Division early 70's when stationed at Fort Hood after returning from Vietnam.

Thats a new one!

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Here's a Rasberry Beret nice flash eh

 

[12thengr]

Light blue beret worn by members of the 1st Battalion 5th cavalry 1st Cavalry Division early 70's when stationed at Fort Hood after returning from Vietnam.

I've been waiting for this post; My brother returned from Ft. Hood after a stint in the 'Nam' early 1970's. He had one of these light blue berets. And no, He no longer has it.

[seanmc1114]

I guess this the infamous United Nations blue beret. Worn during the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment's Bosnia deployment?

[seanmc1114]

Here's a 101st Airborne Division soldier in Vietnam in 1970 wearing what appears to be a tan beret. I can't read what his scroll says.

[seanmc1114]

Airborne Chaplain (Major) Richard Pace wearing his Christian Chaplain branch insignia on the flash of his maroon beret.

[seanmc1114]

Chaplain (Capt.) Jeff Struecker, a chaplain with the 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning, wearing his Christian Chaplain branch insignia on his tan beret. Note the Combat Infantryman Badge he earned as a Ranger NCO in Somalia.

 

http://www.christianindex.org/4501.article

 

[seanmc1114]

I'm not sure if this is a green or black beret with the Special Operations Command flash being worn by Chaplain (Captain) Peter Hofman. According to this story, he is the only chaplain in the history of the U.S. Army to earn both Ranger and Special Forces tabs.

 

http://www.kuyper.edu/News_Events/News/2014/Kuyper_alumnus_makes_U_S__Army_history/

 

Beret.Special Forces.Chaplain.bmp

[seanmc1114]

Here's an interesting one. Rabbi Zalman Lipskier wearing the Jewish Chaplain branch insignia on his black beret with red flash worn by many State Defense Forces. He is the first Jewish Chaplain in Georgia’s military history to serve in the Georgia State Defense Force and Army, Air and National Guard.

 

http://crownheights.info/shlichus/10836/chassidic-rabbi-first-ever-jewish-chaplain-to-georgias-state-defense-force/

 

 

[seanmc1114]

 

Sp4 Robert D. Law wearing a black beret with a LRRP tab and 52nd Infantry DUI. He served with the 1st Infantry Division's Company F 52nd Infantry and was killed in action on February 22, 1969 while serving Company I, 75th Infantry.

[MPage]

I was in Alaska for only a short time after LTC Schwartzkopf arrived. We had not been authorized berets by the time I left in Feb. 1975. The oval was a Brigade oval and anyone on jump status with the Brigade wore the oval.

My Battalion Commander was on jump status as was the Bn. CSM but they did not wear the bloused boots in class A uniform. They did wear the oval, tab and glider patch.

 

I recently obrained an older maroon beret with a cut-edge 4/9 Infantry flash (one of the "Charlie Airborne" companies), however the rank insignia pinned to the flash is for a CSM. I'm assuming that this means the battalion CSM wore a maroon beret since he was on jump status(?).

 

[patches]

 

I recently obrained an older maroon beret with a cut-edge 4/9 Infantry flash (one of the "Charlie Airborne" companies), however the rank insignia pinned to the flash is for a CSM. I'm assuming that this means the battalion CSM wore a maroon beret since he was on jump status(?).

 

You saying the rank was pinned to the flash rather than the DI right? That would be a first I think, would you think this rank pin was added years later by someone else? Is just for curiosity, is the rank subdued or Gold colored?

[MPage]

You saying the rank was pinned to the flash rather than the DI right? That would be a first I think, would you think this rank pin was added years later by someone else? Is just for curiosity, is the rank subdued or Gold colored?

 

The cut-outs on the back of the stiffener (inside the beret), which facilitate an insignia, are one above the other, indicating either a LT or perhaps the 9th Infantry DUI (which apparently has prongs arranged vertically). CSM rank, however, has the prongs side-by-side. I note however that there are a few 172d berets shown on this forum which show NCO rank pinned to the flash...so that wasn't uncommon in that brigade.

 

The CSM rank is either subdued with the black flaking off showing gold color underneath, or vice-versa. It looks like the former.

 

 

[MPage]

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172d beret.jpg

Right you are M, my foul up, forgot about this wearing of EM ranks in the Snowhawk Bde as seen here.

[MPage]

Right you are M, my foul up, forgot about this wearing of EM ranks in the Snowhawk Bde as seen here.

 

Would jump status necessitate a maroon beret do you think?

 

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Would jump status necessitate a maroon beret do you think?

 

I think it would have too, maybe it was worn in the period that Schwarzkopf was there? Certainly when I was in the unit in 81-82, the only troops, officers or enlisted who wore the beret in the Battalion was Charlie Airborne, and any HHC or E Co people who were in direct support of Charlie Airborne and were both jump qualified and on full jump status (loads of jump qualified people throughout the Battalion) like in example, HHC medics, a few RedEye guys I think, no others wore one.

 

Or this beret may date from a later period when things might of changed in this reguard. Hmm maybe not now that I,m thinking, as the 4/9th was redesignated as the 4/327 after awhile, sometime in 1983 after I left in December 1982, here they, Charlie Airborne or any other people that might of been given official jump status, would be wearing the 4 tick 327th Flash on their berets.

[MPage]

I think it would have too, maybe it was worn in the period that Schwarzkopf was there? Certainly when I was in the unit in 81-82, the only troops, officers or enlisted who wore the beret in the Battalion was Charlie Airborne, and any HHC or E Co people who were in direct support of Charlie Airborne and were both jump qualified and on full jump status (loads of jump qualified people throughout the Battalion) like in example, HHC medics, a few RedEye guys I think, no others wore one.

 

 

OK, on another forum someone who was there in March '75 when the berets were first issued, stated that everyone in 172d Bde wore the OD beret in the beginning, including the "C" airborne companies. So that might explain why Schwarzkopf in the above photos appears to be wearing an OD beret with jump oval.

 

 

[seanmc1114]

 

OK, on another forum someone who was there in March '75 when the berets were first issued, stated that everyone in 172d Bde wore the OD beret in the beginning, including the "C" airborne companies. So that might explain why Schwarzkopf in the above photos appears to be wearing an OD beret with jump oval.

 

 

Notice in the photo of Schwarzkopf and the brigade commander in their dress uniforms, they are both wearing berets and ovals with their jump wings, but they are also wearing low quarter shoes and not bloused jump boots. Is that any indication of whether or not they were on jump status?

[MPage]

Notice in the photo of Schwarzkopf and the brigade commander in their dress uniforms, they are both wearing berets and ovals with their jump wings, but they are also wearing low quarter shoes and not bloused jump boots. Is that any indication of whether or not they were on jump status?

 

Good observation. In an earlier post by BEAST, I see that he stated his battalion commander was on jump status as was the Bn. CSM, but they did not wear the bloused boots in class A uniform, though they did wear the oval, tab and glider patch. That was before the berets were authorized.

[TreasureHunter]

10th Special Forces group green beret, picked up this week, any info on era would be great. Marked Genuine Military Beret by........? Thanks

 

 

[seanmc1114]

Orange beret worn by soldiers of the 9th Infantry Division while assigned to the Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai Peninsula in 1989

[MPage]

By 1989 I see that troops were crimping the beret behind the stiffener like they do now.

[MPage]

This recently came up on ebay; the seller didn't know what the coin-shaped pin was, on the flash. Another ebayer explained it thus:

 

Just thought you'd like to know that the round silver pin on your beret is Cadet rank insignia. This beret was issued to a West Point or ROTC Cadet who participated in Cadet Troop Leader Training (CTLT) with the 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division during the summer after his junior year of college. I served in the 3rd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment from 1991-1994, and we had a few CTLT Cadets, usually one per rifle company, join us for a few weeks every summer. It was a pretty good program.