MPage Posted February 4 Share #576 Posted February 4 1/12th Cavalry! Link to post Share on other sites
patches Posted February 5 Share #577 Posted February 5 12 hours ago, MPage said: 1/12th Cavalry! That's an interesting one, first best guess is one worn when the 1st Battalion 12th Cavalry and the 1st Cavalry Division was in that TRICAP phase. the late phase. Initially the 1st of the 12th Cav was still fighting in Vietnam when the The Cav was reformed at Ft Hood, in May 1971, it being in the division's 3rd Brigade (Separate) that remained in South Vietnam. It, the 1st of the 12th Cav Colors along with the rest of the 3rd Brigade (Separate) come home to Hood June 1972, and it replaces the 2nd Battalion 12th Cavalry in the division's 1st Armored Brigade as a Mechanized Infantry Battalion, the 2nd of the 12th is inactivated. albeit briefly (2nd of the 12th was my old unit, May 1980-May 1981). Guess the Black Beret showed affiliation for it's assignment to the 1st Armored Brigade, as it was the only infantry unit in the brigade and thus the Infantry Blue Flash, the other two were the 1st Battalion 13th Armor and the 1st Battalion 81st Armor, both these tank battalions were inherited by The Cav from the 1st Armored Division when the 1st Armored Division is Reflaged into the 1st Cavalry Division in May 1971. Link to post Share on other sites
MPage Posted February 10 Share #578 Posted February 10 I picked this up recently. It has the 50th Signal Battalion's flash, but I did some digging and found out that the flash originally was used by the 35th Signal Group, to which the 50th belonged, during the beret craze in the 70s. The 35th Signal Group had airborne status, but since the beret is in Signals branch color, I'm curious as to what component unit could it represent? From what I can see, during part of its time the 35th Signal Group had at least two non-airborne battalion assigned to it. Since these were separate battalions, I guess they would all wear the 35th flash, with their battalion DUI (?). Maybe Patches can add some expertise here. Link to post Share on other sites
patches Posted February 11 Share #579 Posted February 11 6 hours ago, MPage said: I picked this up recently. It has the 50th Signal Battalion's flash, but I did some digging and found out that the flash originally was used by the 35th Signal Group, to which the 50th belonged, during the beret craze in the 70s. The 35th Signal Group had airborne status, but since the beret is in Signals branch color, I'm curious as to what component unit could it represent? From what I can see, during part of its time the 35th Signal Group had at least two non-airborne battalion assigned to it. Since these were separate battalions, I guess they would all wear the 35th flash, with their battalion DUI (?). Maybe Patches can add some expertise here. This type of "Airborne" units are airborne really in name only, or mostly in name only, they wear their own unit patches, but they fall under XVIII Airborne Corps, and even if some actual personnel in units throughout the group/brigade that were on jump status in connection to direct support of any XVIII Abn Corps (ones from the corps that were/are on actual jump status) or 82nd Abn Div elmts, back in the 70s unauthorized beret period, would probably wear the Maroon Beret. In example a more recent photo from the HHC of the Brigade, note they are wearing black Berets rather then Maroon. However This sub unit, the 50th Signal Battalion was only title AIRBORNE very briefly in the 50s , and had a novelty type of patch for it. and does not as far as we can see a true Jump Capability in the 70s, today it's new title 50th Signal Battalion (Corps) (Forced Entry) (Airborne) there seems to be one company on jump status?, the 514th Signal Company? On the Orange Beret. Here's an earlier photo from this topic posed by seanmc1114, that does show that Signal Corps Branch Berets were worn, 57th Signal Battalion Ft Hood 1974-75, so my guess is the beret you got for the 50th Sig Bn is from the 70s time period. Link to post Share on other sites
MPage Posted February 11 Share #580 Posted February 11 Right I was sure I had a Signal beret, but was curious about the exact unit, as the 35th Signal Group was wearing that flash prior to 1981 (when it became the 50 Sig Bn flash). Would all the units of the Group have worn the flash, or just the HQ? I ask because I thought I might narrow down the likely unit, and find a DUI for it. Link to post Share on other sites
cavcon Posted February 11 Share #581 Posted February 11 Pretty sure everyone in the entire unit would wear the same beret but each regiment/battalion would have their own flash. Link to post Share on other sites
patches Posted February 12 Share #582 Posted February 12 9 hours ago, MPage said: Right I was sure I had a Signal beret, but was curious about the exact unit, as the 35th Signal Group was wearing that flash prior to 1981 (when it became the 50 Sig Bn flash). Would all the units of the Group have worn the flash, or just the HQ? I ask because I thought I might narrow down the likely unit, and find a DUI for it. Would all the units of the Group have worn the flash, or just the HQ? I don't know, maybe. The DI for the 35th Sig Grp will be this one I'm seeing, while it is for the 35th Sig Bde today, it was originally adopted for the 35th Sig Grp in 1968, I guess you can split the difference and pick up one of these, a pre or post 1974 one will do (Post 1974 will now have MADE IN USA on them). Link to post Share on other sites
12thengr Posted February 19 Share #583 Posted February 19 25th ID, 1987, light blue or grey beret. Link to post Share on other sites
patches Posted February 20 Share #584 Posted February 20 On 11/9/2017 at 6:20 AM, seanmc1114 said: I have posted a little bit about this under a different topic. The Army is developing a new type of unit, the Security Force Assistance Brigade with the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade already activated earlier this year and currently training at Fort Benning. The Facebook page for the 1st states as follows: "On order, 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade deploys in support of a combatant commander, integrates with foreign partner forces, assists and advises local security operations to build partner security capacity and capability to achieve regional security in support of U.S. national interests." The members of the brigade are wearing a new SSI although I cannot find it on the Institute of Heraldry website. Now it appears there is a move to allow the members of the Security Force Assistance Brigades to wear a green beret in a shade slightly lighter than the one worn by Special Forces. Because of the beret issue, the resemblance of the new SSI to the Special Forces SSI and the similarity in their missions, this is apparently causing some concern among Special Forces soldiers. https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2017/10/27/the-rumors-are-true-the-army-plans-to-issue-distinctive-berets-to-its-new-military-training-advisers/ http://www.sof.news/sfa/sfab-beret/ http://soldiersystems.net/2017/10/26/ask-ssd-is-there-a-new-sf-group/ Here's a 2018 shot of the Berets in question, a Brown Beret. Link to post Share on other sites
seanmc1114 Posted February 21 Share #585 Posted February 21 Joint Casualty Resolution Center around 1974-1975. Link to post Share on other sites
seanmc1114 Posted February 26 Share #586 Posted February 26 The photo identifies this as Fort Greely, Alaska - 1976. I believe the SSI is the 171st Infantry Brigade, but it could be 172nd, The photo further identifies the officer in the brown beret as company commander Cpt. Jim Morehouse. Link to post Share on other sites
seanmc1114 Posted February 26 Share #587 Posted February 26 This one has 1970's written all over it. Black beret with pin-on rank and Trainer Personnel DUI on a black beret and U.S. Army Training Center Armor SSI and nylon name and Army tapes worn on perma press fatigues. The rank insignia on the beret is definitely brass - as opposed to subdued - and the insignia on the collars looks to be brass as well. Link to post Share on other sites
cavcon Posted February 26 Share #588 Posted February 26 That is a great pic! Link to post Share on other sites
Grunt1SG Posted February 28 Share #589 Posted February 28 Black beret that I wore while assigned to 1-4 Infantry. OPFOR at what was then CMTC Hohenfels, Germany. Link to post Share on other sites
seanmc1114 Posted March 28 Share #591 Posted March 28 Here's the maroon beret and flash being worn by members of the Thornbirds, sort of an elite airborne corps commanded by Col. Clay Thornbush that operated out of Fort Biloxi, Mississippi in the late 70's/early 80's. They were one of the earliest airborne units to allow women in their ranks. Note they also had their own unique SSI which was worn on the right sleeve. Link to post Share on other sites
MPage Posted March 28 Share #592 Posted March 28 1 hour ago, seanmc1114 said: Here's the maroon beret and flash being worn by members of the Thornbirds, sort of an elite airborne corps commanded by Col. Clay Thornbush that operated out of Fort Biloxi, Mississippi in the late 70's/early 80's. They were one of the earliest airborne units to allow women in their ranks. Note they also had their own unique SSI which was worn on the right sleeve. It's still March! Link to post Share on other sites
easterneagle87 Posted March 28 Share #593 Posted March 28 Ooohhh, please! That there’s PVT Benji , aka Goldie Hawn. should have saved that for April Fools day. 😆 Link to post Share on other sites
Manny C Posted March 28 Share #594 Posted March 28 Had me completly fooled. Now I feel silly. lol Nice job Link to post Share on other sites
seanmc1114 Posted April 1 Share #595 Posted April 1 Medal Of Honor recipient Sergeant Major Thomas Payne. Note he is wearing the shoulder sleeve insignia, DUI and beret flash of the Special Operations Command with the Ranger tan beret. I thought the tan beret was limited to wear by members of the 75th Ranger Regiment and the Ranger Training Brigade. However, according to wikipedia, for what it's worth, "On June 14, 2001 the U.S. Army Rangers assigned to the 75th Ranger Regiment were authorized to wear a distinctive tan beret to replace the black berets that had become the army-wide standard. In the U.S. Army, the tan beret can be worn only by those assigned to the 75th Ranger Regiment, the Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade, or have served with the regiment for at least one year and is still serving within a unit under the U.S. Army Special Operations Command." Link to post Share on other sites
McChizzle Posted April 3 Share #596 Posted April 3 That is correct seanmc1114. When I was serving with the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) as an military intelligence (MI) sergeant in the 1990s, my first sergeant, also an MI NCO, had come from the 75th Ranger Regiment. Since he was still serving within U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), he was authorized to continue wearing his black beret--that's what they wore before Shinseki messed it up in 2000--but if he left special ops and got assigned to a regular MI unit he would not be allowed to wear the black beret anymore. This rule still exists with the now tan beret. Link to post Share on other sites
McChizzle Posted 6 hours ago Share #597 Posted 6 hours ago Does anyone have information that could corroborate the fact that 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Regiment (Mountain) wore gray berets at some point in its history, as this seller proclaims on WorthPoint? https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/army-mountain-battalion-beret-172-150166249 Link to post Share on other sites
patches Posted 1 hour ago Share #598 Posted 1 hour ago 8 hours ago, McChizzle said: Does anyone have information that could corroborate the fact that 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Regiment (Mountain) wore gray berets at some point in its history, as this seller proclaims on WorthPoint? https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/army-mountain-battalion-beret-172-150166249 Kinda reminds me of the Hodden Grey of the old London Scottish. Link to post Share on other sites
patches Posted 1 hour ago Share #599 Posted 1 hour ago 3 hours ago, patches said: Kinda reminds me of the Hodden Grey of the old London Scottish. Seen one unit has a Facebook Page, no berets, but maybe they can be contacted to ask??? Facebook Page C/3-172 IN MTN Link to post Share on other sites
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