What do the different color berets in the Army signify?

You guys are dumb with the weird labeling of the berets. Funny, but dumb Alpha Foxtrot.

Tell you what if you see a Red Beret from the Air Force. You obviously needed a nap and they’ll carry you to your bachelor pad and put you to bed with a ba-ba. Oh, wait that’s if you’re Air Force...

You guys forgot one color, orange. When I was on active duty the unit I was assigned to was deployed to the Sini desert. We were assigned and ordered to wear the orange berets.

I liked the Stetson better. My brother a friend were Calvary

CW2 John Brookins, only SF qualified in an SF slot can wear the Green Beanie, SF support wears maroon. CPL Wagner...perfectly good airplane, the scariest C130 I ever hurled my self out of was a USMC C 130. This was in 1992.

United Nations: Sky blue
Orange: Multinational Observers (Sinai Desert)

Wearing a beret should mean you are a highly qualified individual in a specialized Combat unit.

Handing out Black berets for finishing boot camp was right up there with participation trophies. That's just sad. Also the way it was communicated to the field when the uniform change came about was absolutely horrendous. The entire force found out about it through the media rather than through command channels. Finally, taking away the black beret from the Rangers was really insulting and just handing it to any old yokels that finishes basic training. . . It just seems that if you really wanted to give us all berets the tan beret should've been what was issued to the entire force and you would not have disrupted and insulted the Rangers. Having said that, the black beret for all is a horrendous horrible idea and I hope when the new uniforms come out in May the beret finally goes away and should the Rangers desire to go back to the black beret they should be allowed to with all due speed. And I say this as a five jump chump who had the privilege of wearing a maroon beret for very short while with the XVIII Airborne Corps.

Wags,

Bergdahl wore a maroon beret while assigned to the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 24th ID. He is not Airborne certified, he was awarded a Combat Infantry Badge. But, he will lose that as soon as his court Marshall is over. When you are assigned to an ABN unit, you wear the beret for uniformity. But you're still just a dirty "leg!" He never earned ANYTHING!

Sgt. Hawk

On reflection ... I think Mountain should get a beret as well.
How about granite gray?

Black
A 23rd Infantry Regiment soldier wearing his black beret, circa 2000
Main article: Black beret

A black beret was authorized for wear by female soldiers in 1975, and is used also for mechanized units, troops, and guards. The black beret is worn by soldiers in the United Army.[4]

On January 30, 1975, it was officially allowed to be worn by the newly created battalions of United States Army Rangers who had worn it unofficially during the Vietnam War. In 1978, Army Chief of Staff Bernard Rogers required all units to adhere to the uniform regulation AR 670-1, which had not been updated to authorize the black beret for Rangers. In 1979 the new Army chief of staff, GEN Edward C. Meyers, directed that the black beret be authorized wear by Ranger units only. AR 670-1 was updated in 1980 to include this provision.

In 2001, the black beret became the primary headgear for both the service uniform (in garrison setting) and dress uniform for all United States Army troops unless the soldier is approved to wear a different distinctive beret. In 2011, the Army changed back to the patrol cap for wear with the utility uniform, with the beret remaining the headgear for the dress uniform.[5]
Brown
A soldier from the 1st SFAB wearing her brown beret, circa February 2018

Soldiers of the U.S. Army's new Security Force Assistance Brigades (SFAB) are authorized to wear the brown beret—with a brigade specific beret flash and distinctive unit insignia (DUI)—to recognize these new specialized units whose core mission is to conduct training, advising, assisting, enabling and accompanying operations with allied and partner nations. According to an official U.S. Army article, "SFAB soldiers will be on the ground with their partners - fighting side-by-side with them in all conditions, so the brown beret symbolizes dirt or mud akin to the 'muddy boots' moniker given to leaders who are always out with the troops."[6]
Maroon
A former ACG of the 82nd Airborne Division wearing his maroon beret
Main article: Maroon beret

In 1943 General Frederick Browning, commander of the British First Airborne Corps, granted a battalion of the U.S. Army's 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment honorary membership in the British Parachute Regiment and authorized them to wear British-style maroon berets. During the Vietnam War, U.S. military advisers to Vietnamese airborne units often wore the Vietnamese French-style red beret.

HQDA policy from 1973 through 1979 permitted local commanders to encourage morale-enhancing distinctions. Airborne forces chose to wear the maroon beret as a mark of distinction. This permission was rescinded in 1979 when the army Chief of Staff, GEN Bernard Rogers, required all units to adhere to the uniform regulation (AR 670-1). On 28 November 1980, the updated regulation authorized airborne (parachute) organizations to resume wearing the maroon beret. In the interim, airborne units wore baseball caps with silver wings and the oval flash above the rank badge with the fatigue uniform, and the overseas cap with glider and parachute patch with the dress green uniform.
Tan
A former commander of the 75th Ranger Regiment wearing his tan beret
Main article: Tan beret

On 14 June 2001, U.S. Army Rangers assigned to the 75th Ranger Regiment were authorized to wear a distinctive tan beret to replace the black berets that had recently become the army-wide standard. The color was chosen by the members of the 75th Ranger Regiment as being similar to other elite units with similar missions worldwide, notably the British, Australian and New Zealand Special Air Service regiments.

The change in color also required modification of the associated flashes worn by the Ranger units, changing the borders from white to black in order to provide better contrast to the lighter beret.
Green
A Special Forces detachment receive instruction aboard a U.S. Naval ship—off the coast of White Beach, Okinawa, Japan—prior to conducting water insertion and demolition training in 1956, wearing their green berets prior to their approved wear in 1961.
The current JFK Special Warfare Center and School Command Chief Warrant Officer wearing his green beret
Main article: Green beret

In the U.S. armed forces, the green beret may be worn only by soldiers awarded the Special Forces Tab, signifying they have qualified as Special Forces soldiers.

U.S. Army Special Forces wear the green beret because of their link to the British Commandos of World War II. The first Ranger unit, commonly known as Darby's Rangers, was formed in Northern Ireland during the summer of 1942. On completion of training at the Commando Training Depot at Achnacarry Castle in Scotland, those Rangers had the right to wear the British Commando green beret, but it was not part of the regulation uniform at the time and was disallowed by the U.S. Army. [7]

The 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) had many veterans of World War II and Korea in its ranks when it was formed in 1952. Members of the 10th SFG began to unofficially wear a variety of berets while training, some favoring the red or maroon airborne beret, the black beret, or the green commando beret. In 1953, a beret whose design was based on that of the Canadian Army pattern, and which was rifle-green in color, was chosen for wear by Special Forces units.

Their new headgear was first worn at a retirement parade at Fort Bragg on 12 June 1955 for Lt. Gen. Joseph P. Cleland, the now-former commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps. Onlookers thought that the commandos were a foreign delegation from NATO.[8]

In 1956 Gen. Paul D. Adams, the post commander at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, banned its wear, even though it was worn on the sly when units were in the field or deployed overseas. This was reversed on 25 September 1961 by Department of the Army Message 578636, which designated the green beret as the exclusive headgear of the Army Special Forces.[7]

When visiting the Special Forces at Fort Bragg on 12 October 1961, President John F. Kennedy asked Brig. Gen. William P. Yarborough to make sure that the men under his command wore green berets for the visit. Later that day, Kennedy sent a memorandum that included the line: '"I am sure that the green beret will be a mark of distinction in the trying times ahead".[9] By America's entry into the Vietnam War, the green beret had become a symbol of excellence throughout the U.S. Army. On 11 April 1962 in a White House memorandum to the United States Army, President Kennedy reiterated his view: "The green beret is a symbol of excellence, a badge of courage, a mark of distinction in the fight for freedom".[9] Previously, both Yarborough and Edson Raff had petitioned the Pentagon to allow wearing of the green beret, to no avail.[9]