Thanks for the detailed information, it's so cool to know the history behind such items, thanks!

Not a beret itself, but an interesting part of their history. SMA William A. Connelly at McPheeters Barracks, Bad Hersfeld, in April 1982 with a memorial stone dedicated to the berets of 3/11th Cavalry. It reads, in full, "OUR BERET   MAY 73 - DEC 79   GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN".   Photo pulled from the National Archives: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6361588    

What happens in China is monitored here. We know your posts are restricted and monitored by the PRC.     "See also: WeChat § State surveillance, and Internet censorship in China The Chinese government has been strengthening its tight control over the Internet and digital communication. There are more than 750 million Internet users in China, and their online actions are strictly regulated.[60] In 2017, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) released a new regulation, which imposed restrictions on the production and distribution of online news.[61] The regulation required all platforms, such as online blogs, forums, websites, and social media apps, to be managed by party-sanctioned editorial staff.[61] These staff must obtain approval from the national or local government Internet and information offices and be trained by the central government.[61] As required by the Chinese government, major Internet platforms and messaging services in China established elaborate self-censorship mechanisms. Some have hired teams of thousands to police content and invested in powerful artificial intelligence algorithms.[62] In 2019, on the 30th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, China's AI censors cranked up.[6"

“Thanks for the detailed explanation! Really appreciate you taking the time to clarify the Espionage Act—always good to understand the legal background when discussing sensitive topics.”

"The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law that makes it illegal to obtain or disclose information related to national defense with the intent to harm the United States or aid a foreign nation. It prohibits activities such as obtaining information, capturing photographs, or copying descriptions that could be used against the U.S. or for the benefit of foreign entities. The Act was enacted shortly after the U.S. entered World War I and has been amended several times since its inception."    

These are the ceremonial belts currently authorized for Army officers of various branches (Marlow White and various other companies sell them for $60-$80 each).  All NCOs and enlisted men wear the same ceremonial belt, with a wide, medium blue piece of cloth in the center and narrow gold trim on both sides.  Any officer, NCO, or soldier can privately purchase one of these (to wear during a military wedding, if the groomsmen are under arms to form an arch of sabers, or during a military funeral, or if part of a ceremonial detachment). Second under shows that Marlow White still sells the older version of the dress belt authorized for company grade infantry officers (they cost $190 each). Third under is the current NCO / EM ceremonial belt (branch immaterial).   I wore the (unauthorized) field-grade officer's ceremonial belt while serving in a diplomatic posting in Europe. I also got The Old Guard to sign out (on hand receipt) one of their ceremonial dress blue officer's overcoat (and had the cuff braid changed to reflect my branch of service).  We also had a couple of "spare" dress blue overcoats in small, medium, and large sizes with appropriate cuff braid (also on hand receipt) that could be worn by any visiting general officer (but they had to give them back after the ceremony they were attending).  I served where it got really cold at outdoor ceremonies held in the dead of winter, and the GOs didn't want to wear the black "bus driver" combination raincoat / overcoat that was authorized at the time.  The dress blue overcoat was a lot warmer than wearing the officer's dress blue cape (which tended to blow open in the wind).  Capes are hard to find nowadays (Marlow White sells them for $460 each), but sometimes they show up in thrift shops at bases like Ft. Myer, VA or online. These are still authorized for optional wear with the various blue uniforms (dress blues and blue mess jacket or evening dress uniform).  The Army officer cape differs from the USN and USMC boat cloaks.  You do tend to attract attention when you wear this to an attaché ball or foreign service birthday celebration, especially when you wear one side thrown back over your shoulder, exposing the scarlet interior of a FA/ADA/ENG officer or the yellow interior of an Armor officer, or the sky blue interior of an Infantry officer.              

#1 German occupation made   #2 British made WW2   #3 US made WW2 production.

Not a lot of time to do much garandizing lately but I did get the rear sight installed tonight. It even works. It was a bit tricky until I realized the cover thingee was slightly bent out of shape. Nothing a small pliers couldn’t fix. 

Hello all,           I recently acquired what I think is a camp axe. I wasn’t familiar at all with these, only the larger Jeep axe so I picked it up.       I would appreciate any opinion on this as there doesn’t seem to be a lot of information online. I know there has been some discussion here in the past about these but is there a general idea of the production years for these? It does appear to be in pretty nice shape so it will display nicely for sure.    Thanks in advance for any input.    Sincerely, Hayman    

Several years ago, one of the officers who was my student at the National War College was promoted to Colonel and assigned to command The Old Guard after graduation.  I visited him in his office on Ft. Myer, had a long discussion, showed him the old Army uniform regulations as well as several of the original 'field grade' officers' dress belts in my collection, pointed out that TOG wrote its own uniform regulations, and explained that the gold stripe on today's Dress Blue trousers was exactly the right width to fit on the leather that underlay the dress belt they wore.  He agreed, the folks at TOG's uniform issue shop created several of them, and the rest is history.  TOG switched to the 'field grade' officer's dress belt, and they have continued to wear it ever since.   First is an earlier photo of a field grade officer in TOG wearing the 'company grade' dress belt before the switch.  Next is a photo of a field grade officer in TOG wearing the 'field grade' dress belt after the switch. Somewhat to my surprise, even field grade officers wear nylon braid on the bands around the base of their dress caps, rather than gold bullion braid.