Why is the boonie cap so demonized in the army?

Sorry I really could'nt tell you. I went in in 1978 and we wore them on a regular basis. There great for the jungle but I hear the new military has to fight in the city, I was not cut out for that kind of fighting. You guys and gals have big brass ones! Good luck and GOD bless.

My captain would only let us wear them in the field, but not during movement or anytime we would be seen by civilians or out of the AO.

For my time in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne I never even saw or heard of a boonie hat. We were out in the bush 24/7 and even slept with the steel pot on. And on occasion used the old steel pot [helmet] to cook up some Boonie Rat Stew. Mmmmmmm good.

I have zero reasons that boonie shouldn’t be worn. As long as it’s worn correctly. A boonie should be basically folded up and crunched then worn. The idea is to break up the outline. Any other wear is not correct.

Your point is well taken. Boonie hats were allowed in garrison during my first tour in Iraq in 2003 to 2004. On my second tour they were not allowed to be worn with ACUs and could only be worn with the PT uniform - which many "old" soldiers took exception to.

Personally, I think it should be allowed for wear in the field in hot weather. (We will define hot weather as over 85 degrees.)

I think it's dependent on the unit and COC.
I wore mine when issued and we wore them on deployments to Central America and in OIF.
In combat my goal was that everyone wore approved headgear appropriate for the mission, an approved soft cap of some kind on the FOB, COP or LSA and the only time I cared about uniformity was if we had an award or memorial ceremony (proper dignity for the occasion). ACH or K-pot when out the gate .

You’re preaching to the chorus here!

We used it a lot during the initial pases of both Afghanistan and Iraq, 2001 and 2003 respectively, but as time went over some soldiers began to wear it as if “back in the block” rather than just place the damn thin on their heads. Leadership, rather than get in their asses, decided to just simply ban it. Or to emotion that most of the leadership didn’t like the idea because, like I heard an old fart SGM from CFLCC, it resemble too much of ‘Nam troops!

My first deployment it went from “you can’t wear it” to “you can if you want” to “you have to wear it” to you can’t wear it” in the space of three months.

In Vietnam the boonie hat was issued along with your gear when you hit the repo depot. I was assigned to the 2d Battalion 3d Regiment(The Old Guard, George Washington's original unit in the Revolutionary War). The soldiers in the battalion shaped their boonie hats into a three corner shape much like you see in the Revolutionary War depictions. It was a unit identity and a morale booster to wear your hat like a colonial Revolutionary soldier. That is until some Colonel decided that it was not appropriate and forbid any such shape to the boonie hat. Nothing like killing morale in a war where morale was not the norm among the troops in many units. The 2/3ds had something of distinction that gave them an identity.
Too bad that someone couldn't figure out how important morale building is important to combat units.

I had one in Nam and liked it. Super great hat when it rained an in heavy sun.