As a rule I don’t pick up on other stories to post on my site, but this time I just couldn’t resist. Just read this:
The black beret, which proved deeply unpopular with American soldiers, will be replaced by a patrol cap for everyday wear, US Army spokesman Colonel Tom Collins said Monday.
The move came after outgoing Army chief of staff, General Martin Dempsey, asked the army’s sergeant major “to go out and talk to soldiers across the force and see what was on their minds,” Collins told AFP.
“One of the things that soldiers consistently brought up was the desire to wear the patrol cap as part of their duty uniform,” he said. The beret will still be part of the Army’s dress uniform, but will no longer be worn in the field as soldiers complained that it was impractical, he said.
“It does not have a visor and doesn’t shield the sun, doesn’t absorb sweat well,” Collins said.
One soldier put it more bluntly.
“I hate wearing a wet sock on my head,” Chief Warrant Officer Mark Vino, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, told the Army Times. “Plus it makes head/skin break out.”
I mean honestly. These are members of the best professional army in the world, the ones who are supposed to hack it out in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan, endure the frigid climate of the Arctic, laugh at the asphyxiating humidity of the tropics, not to mention be willing and able to engage in combat and even fight to the death, and they get all worked up about sweating and coming out in minor skin rashes on the brow?
Trust me, I am being somewhat tongue-in-cheek here, they have the right to ask for the most suitable outfits possible; but you have to admit the article makes our armed forces look a little whiney. Just imagine them in the middle of an ambush, and one crying out, “Jeeze, I forgot my lip balm. Let’s go back.” What would John Wayne have to say about this!
