The rumors are true: The Army plans to issue distinctive berets to its new military training...

You mean like how Airborne get a badge and a maroon beret? Or how Rangers get a tab and a Tan beret? or how Special Forces get a tab and a Green beret? Lets think outside of the box; awards and decorations are for building morale of troops and creating a low cost incentive to fill the formations of job fields the Department of the Army has deemed critical enough to warrant such.

Try not to be so quick to jump on the witch hunt for "participation trophies," and recognize their historical purpose and benefit towards the all-volunteer mission of the United States. Now if folks have an issue with the creation of the SFAB in general, that is a different argument; but arguing the proposed incentives falls flat in comparison to U.S. History.

SFC (Join to see) well you got tabs like jungle warfare, sniper as well as badges like air assault, diver, EIB, and CIB I don't think those necessarily warrant a beret for and not to mention most of my colleagues don't even want to wear beret for garrison duty they remeber the days of the black beret they don't want to back.

PFC (Join to see) - My point is, the beret as an item is irrelevant, it is only a physical representation of incentive. There is nothing special about a beret, it's the Soldiers that make it special. If it's determined at levels above us that a beret is warranted, then that is no different than the origins of the common berets of today.

From my view, choosing to cherrypick a beret is directly equivalent to nitpicking a badge, tab, or award; it's all the same, and serves similar purpose.

When I came in, I had the black beret throughout IET, and I personally liked it. Berets, in my opinion, create a more streamlined appearance, when worn properly. Unfortunately, many folk who wore the berets didn't take pride in their appearance.

If you and your colleagues don't prefer the incentive, then it's clearly not the place for you, as you would not be properly motivated to be there. To each their own.

SFC (Join to see) sgt I think you misinterpreted my post I never meant to imply that beret wasn't a good note of distinction and badge of excellence as said by President Kennedy in regards to the green berets of the special forces. I myself am going to get into Special Forces but to me it has to be more then just the beret for its the job the job seemed worthwhile suffering and bleeding for to if it's not about the job and more for a head gear then the reasoning for anyone to go either airborne, ranger or special forces is flawed that's all I meant. In terms of garrison wear it's just uncomfortable and impracticle for some of our garrison duties.

I respect your stance, because unlike most, you are able to see it for what it is, an incentive. In the long run, non-monetary incentives might be mostly useless to the Soldiers that volunteer to fill those ranks, but it's not out of line with historical precedence.

Pertaining to the particular beret color, the Army Times referenced a page from Soldier Systems Daily http://soldiersystems.net/2017/10/26/ask-ssd-is-there-a-new-sf-group/ of which they state:

"Earlier today, several readers sent us this photo of a Green Beret with a new flash. Naturally, they came with the question of whether there was a new Special Forces Group. Considering that in the US Army, the Green Beret is worn by Special Forces qualified personnel, it’s a good question."

I don't necessarily question the authenticity of the author, because it is written fairly objectively; they only report the information as supplied to them. However, I do question the authenticity/legitimacy of the person who made the original pictures, as they could have created an unapproved/unofficial uniform standard (many soldiers create personalized tabs and other unauthorized uniform items). It also could have been someone trolling military personnel, knowing we would get amped up about any and everything, without even verifying authenticity. However, it also could be completely true, and the photos were legitimate leaks.