Posted on Dec 11, 2019
SSG Squad Leader
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Seriously I wanna know. Mainly from you senior leadership and your mentality when it comes to this specific headgear, or even as to why it's frowned upon in the field when it's clearly authorized to be worn in the field.

Also if you are just going to bash me or make smart ass remarks because I'm asking this question, then don't even leave a comment. Thanks
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SGT George Edward Brown
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HISTORY OF THE FIELD AKA BOONIE HAT. IN 1904 THE US ARMY WAS PREPARING TO GO THE PHILLIPINES TO FIGHT THE MORO'S. IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE TROPICS A BRIMMED HAT WAS NEEDED, NOT THE CAMPAIGN HAT WORN BY THE NCO'S. IN 1904 A HAT WAS ADOPTED BY THE US ARMY.EXAMPLES CAN BE SEEN IN PICTURES OF THE MORO FIGHTS AND IN THE NEW ARMY MUSEUM. THE KICKER IS THAT ABOUT 1912 THE USMC WAS PLANNING ON THE CENTRAL AMERICAN CAMPAIGN TO TAKE THE MEXICAN PORT OF VERA CRUZ AND NEEDED A MORE SUITABLE HAT THAN THE CURRENT MC CAP. WITH NO OR FUNDS TO DEVELOP THEIR OWN "BOONIE" HAT THEY WENT TO THE ARMY QM AND PURCHASED THE 1904 FIELD HAT, ADDED A GLOBE AND ANCHOR PIN TO THE FRONT TO BECOME THE FIRST FIELD (BOONIE) HAT, HERE AGAIN DIFFERENT FROM THE PEAKED CAMPAIGN HAT THE NCO'S ALREADY HAD. I GOT INTERESTED IN THIS HAT FROM THE PICTURE POSTCARDS MY GRANDFATHER SENT HOME DURING AND AFTER THE CA CAMPAIGN OF AROUND 1914. THE SMITHSONISUM HAS PUBLISHED A BOOK SHOWING THE MC LABELED HAT. THE WAY THE FIELD HAT WAS CRUSHED AND WORN WOULD SEND ANY GARRISON TYPE INTO FITS, WHICH IS PRETTY MUCH THE STORY OF THE VN BOONIE HAT. THE NEW US ARMY MUSEUM SHOWS SEVERAL EXAMPLES OF THE 1904 HAT IN USE THROUGH WWI. A ORIGINAL GOES FOR $3500 ON EBAY, CLOSE COMMERICAL REPLICA GOES FOR LESS THAN $50 ON AMAZON FOR REENACTORS.
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MSG William Wold
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It doesn't fit the trim look, looks disheveled. Same as the wash and wear were then someone up the chain thought they should be starched.
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SPC Lyle Montgomery
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I wore the boonie cap in Nam when we didn't have to wear the steel pot. We loved it. On another matter, I'm glad that I ETSed in 1971 and never had to wear the stupid beret. It should be specific to the Green Beret special forces, It makes the rest of the army look like a bunch of French mimes.
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CSM Bob Stanek
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Boonie hats inherently represent an undiscipline image (in my opinion) that many senior NCOs tended to agree with in my full career. That agreement probably developed in the NCO training environment with decades of disciple and history associated with it.
The boonie hat has its places in the military world and life... particularly the jungles of the world (Vietnam, South and Central America...etc), which it was designed for and that's why it was called a JUNGLE HAT, and on occasion in the deserts of the world. But in the base cantonment environment on most posts/forts/camps around the world, that image is magnified when compared to the traditional symmetrical hats and covers of multiple shapes and forms.
With no disrespect, I'm guessing your career expands approximately 12 to 15 years or so which would bring you to the mid-2000's time frame or so. This is a different era compared to back in the 50s, 60s and 70s, and with some respect the early 80s, when starch was king, and when the boonie hat had its origins (first issued in 1967), the floppy sides and irregular shape made it a direct attack against the starch military world that existed at the time. Even in the early 90s when Desert Storm was the dominate event, the desert boonie hat had it's opponents. I was a young SSG at the time and worn one (Australian style with one side pinned to the top) but still heard my share of grief over wearing that hat.
But when i became a SFC and 1SG, my vision of the boonie "matured" because of the discipline I had to maintain with the troops. Again, as noted previously, this was based on educational knowledge I picked up from the NCO academies I had attended and were instructed by the OLD GUARD NCOS.
Even now as a retired CSM, I still believe the boonie hat has its place in the field, bivouac sites and jungles and deserts of the world. Just not a fan of wearing the boonie hat in the "civil" world of the base or post.
Hope that helps provides a vision of what a relic of the past tends to see when I see a boonie hat.

Respectfully
Bob S
CSM (R)
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1SG Ernest Stull
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To me the Boonie hat is not demonized, just as the PC everyone wants to wear the hat their way and the unit just wants you to put it on and wear it no shaping or fluffing it. The beret is another piece of head gear that seems to be demonized by the command. The next time you see a soldier in a B or P hat or beret look at how its shaped, there are many ways to wear them but only one way that they were meant to be worn.
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SMSgt Michael Gleason
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This is just a guess, but I'm guessing that it's because in the "eyes" of the Army, it's not "uni-form" - the shape of each individual hat varies from the manner in which it's donned by each individual wearer. "Function" or "utility" bear no importance in this consideration - it's all about their "not looking identical". (I started out in the Army, so I feel that I have a valid opinion in this regard.)
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SGT Wayne Grindstaff
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55 years later I still wear one. Whether fishing, boating, gardening and even shooting skeet in the summer. Baseball caps are for covering my bald spot LOL.
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TSgt Vehicle Maintainer
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I wore a BDU pattern boonie hat during Desert Storm, until I was issued 3 tone DCU the switched over. None really cared one way or the other, but we also didn't have an excess of SGM running around trying to make sure we remembered them.
I have been on sever rotations to hit climates, and not had anyone say anything, but nobody invades the motor pool looking for infractions.
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SSG Ronald Weber
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I wore one in Nam 1969 USMC Recon and Desert Strom Ron Retired Military
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SP5 John Burleson
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I got out of the Army when we were still issued rocks and slingshots. We got a choice of one fatigue-appropriate hat: baseball cap. There were no berets, no high-tech helmets and no boonie caps.
so I am obviously in no position to seriously comment on headgear except one: if the Army now has idiots worrying about headgear under combat conditions...we got too many idiots. Your job is to kill bad guys--not stroll in a straight line, polish belt buckles and make boots shiny. If your command can dance in the Sugarplum chorus line, y0u are a screwed up idiot. If they can swim up a sewer and bitew a bad guy's butthole off, I'll gladly buy you--and them--a beer.
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