£750,000 cost of kilts for new regiment soldiers

[bubba]

Swiping the black beret from the Rangers was a gross insult. Trying to placate them by giving em the tan was stupid. Why in hell didn't they just issue tan and leave the black alone. I know it cost em veteran Rangers. A gentleman that lives a block from me resigned his commission at that time.

[arrogcow]

The black beret was originally worn by the cav in WWII and then stolen by the rangers. I for one and glad that was taken back from them, stupid rangers.

Adam

[bubba]

arrogcow, Just consider the loss of experience and ability it cost our armed forces. You're glad it left the Army weaker?

[cavscout]

Since my Scout PLatoon was attached to the infantry we were prohibited from wearing our sabers except on the back of our covers....

But being the trouble makers that cav scouts can be we typically wore them also pined under the flap of the left breast pocket. Not a glorious stand to make but it placed the duty of carrying on the tradition and heritage squarely on our shoulders.

[arrogcow]

arrogcow, Just consider the loss of experience and ability it cost our armed forces. You're glad it left the Army weaker?

Anyone who walked away from the Army because they took away his beanie, didn't deserve to wear it in the first place.

Is the Army weaker? Cav and Armor hold Bagdad. Marines hold most of the rest of the majorly troubled areas. How many rangers are in Iraq?

Shoot back in Desert Storm the only ground forces that saw combat were the Cav and the Marines.

The rangers are not an "elite" force, no matter how much they try to tell you they are. SF is elite, Pathfinders, yep, Delta Force (yeah I know they don't exist - I've seen where they don't train). The only skill rangers have over other infantry is that they knew how to wear their pretty (and stolen, again Cav wore them first and then the rangers, who then got the Cav forbidden to wear them) beanies, and they will go for days without sleep if you tell them to.

Or as MSG Sheridan (SF and fourth in the chain of command - Father, Son, Holey Ghost, MSG Sheirdan) used to say, "Rangers is stupid."

[Doc Hudson]

Anyone who walked away from the Army because they took away his beanie, didn't deserve to wear it in the first place.

Is the Army weaker? Cav and Armor hold Bagdad. Marines hold most of the rest of the majorly troubled areas. How many rangers are in Iraq?

Shoot back in Desert Storm the only ground forces that saw combat were the Cav and the Marines.

The rangers are not an "elite" force, no matter how much they try to tell you they are. SF is elite, Pathfinders, yep, Delta Force (yeah I know they don't exist - I've seen where they don't train). The only skill rangers have over other infantry is that they knew how to wear their pretty (and stolen, again Cav wore them first and then the rangers, who then got the Cav forbidden to wear them) beanies, and they will go for days without sleep if you tell them to.

Or as MSG Sheridan (SF and fourth in the chain of command - Father, Son, Holey Ghost, MSG Sheirdan) used to say, "Rangers is stupid."

Who says Intra-Service Rivalry is a thing of the past?

[Archangel]

okay, I'm outside the loop on this dicussion, what's SF?

Got the gist of it, when I was a teenager I used to wear a black beret, that was okay, but I was told I'd have to "earn" a maroon one (British Army) tradition. Gave up the black beret and para styles after I got picked up hitch-hiking by a Belgian Congo mercenary, that was scary for a teenager. He thought I was a buddy from the Congo, very scary.

[arrogcow]

SF - Special Forces, the guys who wear the green beanies.

[bubba]

Arrogcow, here's the history.

The tradition of wearing black berets began with armored units. In 1924 the British Royal Tank Regiment adopted the first modern military beret, based on the Scottish highland bonnet and French Bretonne beret. The regiment selected the headgear for its practicality--brimless for use with armored vehicle fire control sights and black to hide grease stains. In the US Army, HQDA policy from 1973 through 1979 permitted local commanders to encourage morale-enhancing distinctions, and Armor and Armored Cavalry personnel wore black berets as distinctive headgear until CSA Bernard W. Rogers banned all such unofficial headgear in 1979. Rangers received authorization through AR 670-5, Uniform and Insignia, 30 January 1975, to wear black berets. Previously, locally authorized black berets had been worn briefly by the 10th Ranger Company (Airborne), 45th Infantry Division, during the Korean War before their movement to Korea; Company F (LRP), 52d Infantry, 1st Infantry Division, in 1967 in the Republic of Vietnam; Company H (Ranger), 75th Infantry, 1st Cavalry Division, in 1970 in the Republic of Vietnam; and Company N (Ranger), 75th Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade, in 1971 in the Republic of Vietnam.

[Mike n NC]

Elite forces and their little mottos always tickled me. Yep we had ours also, "Death From Below" (submarine service). Then there is "Death From Above" (Airborn) and "Death From Afar" (Marine sniper) but the most frightening one I ever encountered and the one that will nearly make a grown man cry out for salvation... "Death From Within" (military mess halls). :-P

Mike