Tag Archives: Army

Someone Give Hollywood A Copy of AR 670-1

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Around the world, the beret is recognized as the official headgear of elite forces. The British SAS, the French Foreign Legion, and the United States Army Special Operations communities all wear the particular piece of head gear. Take a trip through various African rebel organizations and that scrap of felt with the leather band becomes an even bigger statement of pride.

A fine group of Sergeants Major

A fine group of Sergeants Major

Yes, that floppy piece of felt which fails to keep the sun out of your eyes and the rain from your face is largely seen as a testament to a warrior’s level of skill. The selective nature of these units, the particularly high washout rates of the entry courses, meant that those who wore the berets took a measure of pride in how they did so. After all, it is the warrior’s skill that made the particular piece type of cover bad ass, not the other way around.

That all changed in 2001 when General Eric Shinseki took the bold move to swap out the standard BDU cap for an Army-wide black beret. The Rangers, the previous (and rightful) owners of the black beret were outraged. Veteran’s groups were as well. And those of us who had to give up our much beloved patrol caps for those floppy felt things? Most of us didn’t want them either.

With that single decision, the quality control over the wearing of the beret was dashed. Why? Because the beret is not an easy hat to wear. At least, it’s not easy to wear correctly. The modern military beret must be shaped, which requires wearing a wet piece of felt and leather until it dries, all the while forcing the hat into shape. And more so, the modern military beret must be shaved. Yes, with a razer.

Shaping, fitting, and shaving a beret is a time consuming process, but when completed, the end result is a properly fitting cover that shows attention to detail and pride in uniform. It looks both professional and rugged at the same time. And maybe, just maybe, doing it right allows some of that warrior image to seep back into the soldier.

However, from the time John Wayne pulled on a green beret for the film of the same name, big name actors have been improperly wearing the headgear. Numerous movies and nearly every television show which attempted to visual signify a soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine as being “elite” by slapping a beret onto the uniform has usually done the exact opposite – often leaving that actor what we the army so politely calls “ate the #$%@ up.”

Of course, the movie that sparked this little lesson in Hollywood correction is the upcoming summer explogasm “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.” And yes, I am perfectly willing to suspend belief for the film, to swallow a secret terrorist organization with bleeding edge technology that blends asymmetric warfare with traditional 3rd Generation weaponry and tactics. I am completely able to suspend the ideas of teamwork and tactics for fancy “amplification suits” which turn elite forces into elite quasi-cyborg soldiers. Hell, I’m totally okay with a terrorist mastermind who wears a hood with eye holes and associates a little too much with reptiles. beretwear

But what I can’t suspend is the respect for wearing a beret the right way. Quaid, playing the G.I. Joe leader “Hawk” might look like a tough guy with his scowl and leather jacket. His eyes might just be shooting daggers. However, wearing his beret like that, the reason he’s angry probably stems from someone tugging his hat onto his head. Yes, wearing a beret is hard work, Hollywood, but if you wear it wrong you don’t look tough, you look foppish. And how the hell are we going to defeat Cobra if our esteemed commander is a fop?

Old Green Blankets

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Virginia, like much of the country, was recently hit with a cold spike that had many cigarettes dying half smoked on the front porch and whiskey serving as a cheaper alternative to high heating bills. However, as the weather reported the nightly lows dipping into the single digits, adding another blank to the bed seemed like a wise alternative to the previous nights inexplicable and cruel blanket theft.

Comfort Only a Soldier Could Love

Comfort Only a Soldier Could Love

Though I came to this decision earlier in the day, it was both dark and late by the time I pushed open the closet door and fished around the floor for the familiar feeling of wool. Like so many others in my generation, I have an extensive collection of military-issued materials littering my apartment, despite having received my honorable discharge over four years prior. There is a certain sense of practicality that is imbued through service, especially service during wartime. Call it a sense of spend-thrift, call it being a packrat, but a perfectly good blanket or duffle has a use, even if at the time it’s not obvious.

In the late hour I stripped back the comforter and heavy over-blanket from the bed, exposing the mess of thinly striped sheets below. With a practiced flip of my arms, an expanse of green wool shot out to cover those sheets. I paused. It didn’t matter that the dark olive drab would clash terribly with the pale beige or yellow of the sheets. It didn’t matter that Army-issue blankets are renowned for their scratchy demeanor. No, what gave me reason to pause was the hollow, black, san-serif US which was staring up at me.

In the very first day of basic training, you’re told to make your bed. Failure is expected, as you have yet to be taught how to do so. Later that day your bunks are all tossed, blankets and unfitted sheets, pillows which are purposefully uncomfortable, end up in chaotic rough messes. All the effort spent in a vain attempt to prove that you could make a bed is suddenly undone.

But, it’s to prove a point. Later that day you’re instructed on how Uncle Sam makes a bed. How to properly craft a hospital corner. How to situate a pillow. How to fashion a pillow cover out of a blanket. And what seemed to stick with everyone, why the US-side of the blanket always go down. Every drill Sergeant seems to tell the story differently, but the lesson is always the same. It’s US side down when the bed’s occupant is alive.

At the time, the stories of Vietnam still circulated readily amongst the Army. The image of showing up at a unit and replacing a fallen soldier, of having to turn over that blanket and hide the US side of the blanket, it struck a sense of mortality in the new privates there in the first day of Basic Training.

Apparently it struck a nerve in me too. I knew the blanket wouldn’t be seen. I knew that no one was going to assume that I’d fallen. But, without hesitation, I flipped the blanket over. I guess, with some things, you never do stop being a soldier.

In the end, I was warm.