Posted on Jun 24, 2014
Cpl Brett Wagner
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So this is more of a question for my army brothers than it is a discussion. I am curious to know what the colors mean.

Thanks Wags
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MSgt Darren VanDerwilt
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SPC Training Room Nco
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Red: Part of an Airborne Unit
Tan: Part of a Ranger Unit (usually Ranger qualified)
Black: Every soldier gets one in Basic Combat Training.
Green: Special Forces soldiers only are authorized to wear this most sacred of headgear.
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Christina Maziol
Christina Maziol
7 y
You can not wear a tan beret unless you are with the 75th or rtb (Ranger training bragade). Ranger training bragade is for ranger school not the 75th. You do not get one for being "Ranger qualified". Ranger qualified means you went thru Ranger school and are not in special operations. You have to go thru RASP to be in the 75th.
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SPC Training Room Nco
SPC (Join to see)
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Christina Maziol - 75th RGR RGT and RTB are Ranger units, as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Batt all fall under the Regiment. The side note of "usually Ranger qualified" comes form the fact that all Line personnel within the regiment are sent to Ranger School, and are, more often than not, sent back to FORSCOM if they fail to complete the School. The qualification has nothing to do with wearing the beret, however, it comes with being in the unit.
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LCDR Doug Nordman
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Thanks for the info, guys. The berets have been a mystery to submariners who didn't know someone in the Army.
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PO3 Tom Lewis
PO3 Tom Lewis
8 y
Yes, life is simple you are (SS) or not. There are no special coverings.
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LT Leonard Fahrni
LT Leonard Fahrni
8 y
I cross decked from the Navy to the National Guard and played in the Colorado national Guard Band. Right after the Army gave everyone a beret we were playing at some event and an audience member came over to me and was shaking my hand. He said "I know what it means to earn one of those berets." I was embarrassed to tell him that some one with a much higher paygrade had noticed that units with berets had a lot of pride, so figured we would all get a lot of pride by handing us berets. Having stars on your shoulder doesn't necessarily mean you understand cause and effect (or which is the horse and which is the cart)
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SGT James Colwell
SGT James Colwell
8 y
LCDR Doug Nordman could you explain something about submariner uniforms? A friend of mine has a son who was a submariner. I saw a picture of him in camo (blue) uniform. Why does a submariner need to wear a camo uniform? No offense, but the irony of that was pretty funny to this simple old Army grunt.
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LCDR Doug Nordman
LCDR Doug Nordman
8 y
SGT James Colwell -
You're right, James, that uniform's not necessary when submariners are on a submarine, but submariners are also assigned to shore duty at other commands in the submarine force where digital blues are the working uniform of the day.

The Navy's digital blues uniform is unpopular (to put it mildly), and later this year it's being replaced ("retired") by a different camo working uniform which looks more like the camo that the other services are wearing. If I remember correctly it's known as NWU Type III.

Underway on a submarine, the crew (from the CO down to the most junior E-1) wears coveralls with motivational t-shirts, motivational socks, and sneakers. Most of the time, the XO and CMC also authorize the men to grow beards. When my daughter was at sea on a submarine, she requested (and the XO approved) ponytails.
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SFC John Martin
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Dark blue: Cherry backed RAMC cap badge. General service beret.
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SSG James Oliver Nathan Jr
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Special units. Infantry shuold have Blue.
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PV2 David Holder
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Thanks but no thanks, liked our Stetsons far better. Glad I was out before the beret was a thing for everyone.
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SPC Donn Sinclair
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I got out way before the beret era. My son's in now, tried one of his on. Glad I didn't have to wear one. Like any other fashion, some guys can pull it off, most can't. I couldn't.
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SSG Byron Howard Sr
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When I 1st joined Cav got black, armor got gold, artillery got Red. I can't remember the rest I was Cav so I know we had black. Different MOS's got different colors so you could tell who was what.
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SSG Byron Howard Sr
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When I was infantry 11B in 2/12 Cav we wore black berets.
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Matt Moon
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United States Army . Black - Regular Army , Green - Special Forces, Tan - Ranger, Orange- Colition Forces. White - Honor Guard, Sky Blue- United Nations, Red - Military Police. Maroon - Airborne. Brown - Security Assistance Force. Gray - Cadets, Tankers, Sapper & Combat Enginers. Yellow - Unknown.
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Cpl Jackson Spurlock
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Just had to jump in here and let it be known, in the Marines we all wear Green Hats!!!
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Cpl Jackson Spurlock
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As an Old Jarhead I had to jump into this conversation...In the Marines we all wear Green Hats!!! Just Saying!!!
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MSG William Hesser
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The original Green Beret was awarded to the Special Forces by President Kennedy.
Years later, the Red Beret was adopted by other Airborne units and the Rangers adopted the Black Beret.
The Army Chief of Staff (I call him Gen 'Spingally' since I can never remember his name. I only know that he hated the SF since he tried 3 times and couldn't make it past pre phase selection to get qualified in SF) so he decided to award everyone the Beret, so he gave the whole Army the Black Beret, which no one in non Airborne units wanted, and he gave the Rangers the Tan Beret to replace the Black Beret he took away from them.
There have been several surveys and all of the conventional non Airborne units in the Army, and they want their service cap back.
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PFC Peter Bohnhof
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There was a time when not everyone wore berets. The 75th Ranger Rgt wore black. Then an asshat general named shitseki decided that all average soldiers could be super soldiers by merely issuing them black berets. Of course this is asinine and the Rangers were incredulous that this monkey was going to give something away that we had worked beyond hard for, so naturally 75th command switched to something else, the tan beret. It’s the participation trophy theory and it’s stupid for obvious reasons. Still waiting for the Army to wake up and put normal soldiers back into normal headgear. RLTW!
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PFC John Coble Jr
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We didn't where parades we were cowboy hats in the 1st Cav
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SP5 Charles Conley
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I knew Green was SF, Black Rangers,Maroon was Airborne, wore the maroon from 76-78
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PO3 Nicholas Crawford
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M I the only one wounderI got way the Army where’s head gear from a country that never one a war. Well guess the other Branches are for the winning
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MSG Gary Stewart
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Should have kept berets for Ranger Airborne and Green Berets only
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SSG Scott Jordan
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Don’t forget the orange one. They where it in the Sinai (MFO). I did two tours there.
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MSG William Hesser
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It isn't a piece of issued clothing, It is a part of your uniform you must earn by completing jump school and being assigned to a Airborne unit for the red beret, or the completion of Ranger school and (originally) being awarded the black beret now the tan beret, or the completion of the Special Forces qualification course and being awarded the Green Beret.
Most of the other soldiers have told me, that they would prefer the garrison cap in lieu of the beret. They all have told me that it is something that should be earned and not issued.
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