Army, why do you hate your berets?

The Army doesn't hate the Beret, but they hate the fact that no one in the Reg Army can wear it correctly according to the regulations. That is why the Army went back to the Patrol Cap for duty wear and the beret is only for wear with the dress blues. It made me sick sewing these young kids wearing their black berets like a soup sandwich from a 1 star chef.

1. Hot in the summer time.
2. Few Soldiers learned to wear it properly. Resulted in A TON of on the spot corrections.

The beret, although it looks professional when worn properly, is very unpractical in a field uniform for many reasons - maintenance, hot, doesn't block the sun, etc. and wasn't a good replacement for the patrol cap. Replacing the Garrison cap with the beret was a great idea. I've seen too many sloppy berets in my career. Shape and shave your beret or get a preshaped & shaved beret, and it will look fine, replace the flash when it starts turning color from sweat. I always kept a field one and a Class A one for appearance reasons. Once the patrol cap came back, the field beret was unceremoniously retired.

Personally, I loved mine. When formed, fitted and worn correctly, the beret can make one appear more professional. Additionally, the unit crest on the beret for enlisted personnel was a nice touch - helped you identify which soldier belongs to what unit, etc.

There were certainly a fair share of annoyances with them, a singular instance, black wool + sun in Ft. Hood heat - not ideal.

Even though I enjoyed having a beret, I still felt it was disrespectful to the soldiers who had earned them through more significant/meaningful ways, like Airborne or Green Beret. I will say it was a large aesthetic improvement upon the old flap hat - simply my opinion.

While they may look more "professional" than a patrol cap, and certainly better than the "garrison cap", they are not functional in a day-to-day application.

Furthermore, while there should be one standard appearance, this was not attainable based up multiple manufacturers and individuals ability to form and wear.

TO me the color was taken from a group of special personnel that earned the Beret. Then it was given to everyone, among others that were mention here also.

I used to refer to it as the "dirty Q-tip" It just wasn't practical for anything and you needed 2 hands to put it on correctly - P-I-T-A!! I agree with others here it looks great with the dress uniform, but that's about it.

Unless the beret is green or beige. Then it's a different story

I was in the reserves when the beret came out first and i did what i was told... we never wore it because we were engineers.

After i went active duty and was in MI, I realized two things.

1. The intent to give soldiers pride in their uniform is hogwash. I equated that idea to third world countries that issue the beret to every guerrilla fighter.

2. If it should have been issued, then it should only have been worn with the Class As and Bs.

In our ASU's I think the beret is great. For an everyday utility cap it's a poor choice. Greasy hands in the motor pool make the flash unserviceable with the white stars never being white. With the Patrol Cap there's shade from the face, 0 sun shade provided by the beret. I would accept beret's in garrison for special events, parades and ceremonies. For an everyday work cap I'll take the patrol cap all day.