What do the different color berets in the Army signify?

Black - Low Speed High Drag
Maroon - High Speed Low Drag
Tan - Bad A$$ Michael Foxtrot
Green - Insanely Bad A$$ Michael Foxtrot, facial hair optional

Just to put this in perspective, this comment is just simple Army humor about beret colors and what units wear them. No disrespect to anyone's achievements or merits is intended based on what beret they wear/wore.

I'm was a commo guy and our chief of police flew Cobras. He calls me, "cable boy" and I call him, "rotor head."

All - Thank you for your willingness to explain the beret to an outsider. From the time I saw the movie "The Green Beret" I always had great respect for those men and their uniform. However IMHO they are the only ones I ever thought looked good in a beret. Any other time I see one I tend to think it and what it takes to earn one has been... well borrowed. Again in my opinion if you have a Ranger badge that already says you are a bad ass, if you have jump wings it already says there is something very seriously wrong with because you will jump out of a perfectly good aircraft. lol - Yeah you guys don't need a hat that is also worn by girl scouts and snooty French artists. You all have my respect.

What bothers me now after learning all of this is I now know that Bergdhal is Airborne. He is obviously the odd man out when it comes to that very honorable group of men.

Black: Let's see if we can simultaniously piss off the Rangers AND everybody who isn't a Ranger.

Before the changeover in 2001, the green beret signified Special Forces, the maroon signified Airborne, and the black signified Ranger. The black beret was "taken" from the Rangers and given to the whole Army as the new headgear. The Ranger black beret was changed with a tan beret.

That someone at or above the O-7 pay grade has nothing better to do, or, is looking for their next star.

Cpl Fermil, here is a good link to find out the history of the military use of the beret.
http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/generalinfo/a/berethistory.htm

I particularly like this line: In 1951, the Marine Corps experimented with green and blue berets, but dismissed them because they looked too “foreign” and “feminine.”

In general, the only use the beret has these days is to distinguish "special" units and provide esprit de corps. Practically, the beret is horrible. It holds in the summer heat, provides no shade from the sun, stinks when wet, and once it gets dirty it is ruined. The patrol cap is much more practical as a daily duty uniform headgear. The beret does, however, look really good with dress uniform and jump boots. I happened to be in Korea when the black beret was mandated for wear by the Army. It was horrible. There is an elaborate ritual to prepare a beret for wear that includes shaving and shaping the beret. There is also a particular way that the beret should be worn. I was one of the only airborne troops in my unit in Korea, so it fell to me and one or two others to educate the entire unit on how to prepare and wear the black beret. Oh, the horror! Those guuys had no clue how silly they actually looked.

my personal favorite beret comment was from Marine Commandant Krulak. When asked about a uniform upgrade to a beret, his reply: “I don’t want my Marines looking like Frenchmen”

Green (Special Forces)
Red (Airborne)
Tan (Ranger)
Black (Feel good beret)

The special forces Green Beret color is homage to their connection to the British Commandos during WW11 who wore that color. Do knot know what the green specifically means though.

Ranger Regiment Tan Berets: Black used to be the color they wore until the (poor) decision was made to make black the army wide color. Tan was used to replace the (stolen) black. The tan color symbolizes the buckskin caps worn by the Rogers' Rangers during the French and Indian War in the 1750s

Airborne Maroon Berets: First worn by British airborne under General Frederick Browning. Supposedly the color was chosen by the General's wife. I don't think it has significance other then what it has now earned as an international symbol of airborne forces.

If anyone else knows more specifics about the meanings of the colors, please chime in.

Black berets signify theft,,,,,er they signify completion of training and being a Soldier.
Maroon berets are for those who need a reserve to the reserve chute. (Airborne)
Tan berets were property attained after the theft of the black berets for the Rangers.
Green berets are sung about in song often enough that you should know they are for Special Forces.
Raspberry beret is to signify the prince.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdUbQTsE-cM

CPL Wagner: To Caveat what SSG Redondo has stated below, there is a red ball cap that only parachute riggers wear, and that is the only headgear they wear most of the time - at least in their unit and anytime they are performing duties as a rigger. I don't think that technically they are authorized to wear them outside of their unit AO or when they are not performing duties (such as when they are out and about at the exchange or something), but I see them doing this all the time at Fort Bragg so I may be wrong on that.

One of the Army's dumbest ideas, and they've had many. Where's the distinction if everybody has one? Felt bad for Rangers when the black beret was authorized for everyone. Other than the distinctive feature, berets are completely useless!

I was never prouder when I was awarded my Green Beret. It made me feel like I was something special. Then the Army started issuing berets to everyone who had completed basic combat training. Not as much pride in the Beret as before. HHC, 19th SFGA, 1st SF.

The Air Force also wears berets.

CCT/STO – Scarlet
PJ/CRO – Maroon
TACP/ALO – Black
Weather Parachutists – Grey
Security Force – Blue
SERE Specialists – Sage Green

A functionless piece of uniform. At least the baseball cap offered shade. The baseball cap took one hand to put on and it didn’t take special manipulation to “shape “ correctly. The military should be about killing the enemy not how pretty you look. Give me a cap with pockets-extra ammo carriers-knife holder -something-anything functional- not something that takes more time to do nothing but look good.

Black - graduates basic

Maroon - Yard Dart

Tan - Didnt get peered out and was able to stand at graduation

Green - The only one actually earned any more.

The ones that got fucked were the Rangers - about all that needs to be said on the color fiasco! Should have NEVER dishonored them by removing their namesake. As a non-tab bearing leg medically retired MI puke, that is my honor to you fine men and women of the Ranger Regiment! God Bless and Hooah!

Bergdahl is NOT Airborne. He got to wear a maroon beret because of the unit he was attached to. What a fucking travesty.

US troops in Europe began adopting berets at the discretion of unit commanders. They were generally worn as a means of informal differentiation and often followed our Allies' approach. For example, tankers began wearing black berets similar to German tankers to be easily distinguished from the mech units with whom they were often colocated. The airborne beret is the same shade as the British 1st Para Regiment headgear. When, in the 1960s, President Kennedy commented about the absence of berets amongst S.F. troops at a formal review, it was taken as an executive order authorizing wear of the Green Beret. This, amongst other factors, is why the Special Warfare Center at Ft. Bragg is named in his honor... he was considered the patron, almost the Patron Saint of SF.
When General Shinseki determined all troops should wear berets, and chose black as the universal color, the Ranger Regiment switched to tan, the color of the 22nd SAS Regiment, as their distinctive color.

You all missed 2, that are regularly worn by Army units, though, I believe anyone assigned to said mission can wear them. I add them for clarity, since I have actually been asked. Light blue is for personnel who have been attached to the United Nations, or UN duties, such as "peacekeeping" or "peace enforcement"(surprisingly differing levels of danger there), and brick red berets, for troops assigned to the Sainai peace keeping mission. Also, there is a new, though I'm not 100% up to speed on it, ADVISORY force, who have a new, I believe "brown" beret. They were originally to have a "shade of green" beret, but that, and their unit insignia's similarity to that of SF, led to a communal "Shit Fit", in the SF community.