Q: I read several months ago that the U.S. Army was going to do away with the berets that soldiers have been wearing for a number of years. Yet, all the soldiers I see on TV and otherwise are wearing their berets. Did the Army rescind that order?
— Willis Reasons, Roswell
A: The patrol cap replaced the black beret as the headgear of soldiers wearing U.S. Army Combat Uniforms (camouflage fatigues known as ACUs) in June 2011, but Special Forces still wear green berets, Airborne troops wear maroon berets and Rangers still wear tan berets, according to published reports. Also, black berets remain the official headgear for the Army Service Uniform (ASU), a dress uniform. The Army switched to black berets in 2001, but complaints from soldiers led Gen. Martin Dempsey, the Army chief of staff for part of 2011 and the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to make the switch to patrol caps, which look more like baseball caps. Soldiers complained for years that the wool beret was "hot, hard to adjust and took two hands to put on. Others said it looked out of place in combination with the uniform soldiers wore when doing their grubbiest work," CNN.com reported in June 2011. Rangers had to switch from black to tan berets in 2001, but have stuck with the tan ones despite the more recent change. The Army said the move will save about $6.5 million because soldiers will be issued one beret instead of two.
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